Minnetonka Planning Commission recommends approval of Minnetonka Middle School East expansion

The Minnetonka Planning Commission unanimously recommended that the City Council approve a conditional use permit and site-and-building plan review for additions and site changes at Minnetonka Middle School East, 17000 Lake Street Extension.

Staff planner Ingleson told the commission the 32-acre campus, with a building dating from 1963, would receive two major additions—a gym/auditorium totaling nearly 14,000 square feet and a science wing just under 10,000 square feet—plus two small bathroom additions, a new west-side bus corral and a reconfigured parking layout. Staff reported the site currently contains about 203 vehicle parking spaces and 22 bus parking spaces and identified roughly 184 city-regulated trees on the property; staff said 16 trees would be removed under the proposal and that tree-protection thresholds would still be met.

The project is funded through a recent school bond referendum, Paul Briscois, the district’s executive director of finance and operations, told…