Edina City Council — Transcript
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Park Use Regulations & Enforcement
Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs)
City Budget & Fiscal Sustainability
Infrastructure Maintenance (Bremer Arena & Dead Trees)
Water System Cybersecurity
Niml Creek Regional Trail Connection
Legislative Advocacy Methodology
Primary Election Results
Votes (7)
Public Comment on Various City Issues
Dissent: N/A
Citizens raised diverse concerns including commercial-style events and noise at Arnison Acres Park, privacy implications of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), the need for a long-term plan for Bremer Arena, the danger of dead trees on public land, and the city's 2027 budget. Concerns were also voiced regarding the proposed park ordinance's potential for racial profiling and criminalizing youth.
City Manager's Update & Responses to Previous Concerns
Dissent: N/A
City Manager Neil reported that Edina's water systems were unaffected by recent cyber attacks and detailed continuous monitoring and defense strategies. The Mayor briefly addressed concerns about dead tree removal, linking to a 'mayor's minute' on the topic, and noted a $40 million commitment to Braemar Ice Arena, promising a fuller report later.
Proposed Construction Cooperative Agreement for a Local Trail Connection to the Niml Creek Regional Trail with Three Rivers Park District
Dissent: None
Moved by Council member Risser [00:32:41] · Seconded by Council member Jackson [00:32:43]
Council Member Risser removed this item from the consent agenda for discussion, expressing strong support for the cooperative agreement. She emphasized its importance as a 'missing link' that would enhance accessibility for residents in Edina's southeast quadrant, particularly to the new Hennepin County Library, and benefit Richfield schools and residents.
Resolution 2026-46 Accepting Donations
Dissent: None
Moved by Council member Jackson [00:34:04] · Seconded by Council member Pierce [00:34:05]
The council considered and adopted a resolution to officially accept donations made to the City of Edina. Specific donations mentioned were $3,200 from Paulie Norman and Richard Fox for a park bench, and an in-kind donation from the MPX group to the communications department.
Proposed Ordinance 2026-12: Additional Restrictions for Parks and Publicly Owned Properties
Dissent: Council member Jackson initially expressed concern about delaying action but ultimately supported postponing for further discussion.
Moved by Council member Pierce [01:03:00] · Seconded by Council member Jackson [01:03:01]
Director Veter presented a revised proposed ordinance to amend Chapter 24 of the Edina City Code, aiming to regulate large gatherings and commercial uses in parks. Key changes included requiring permits for groups over 25 using specific facilities (buildings, shelters, athletic fields), establishing priority for permit holders, and special restrictions for Arnison Acres Park due to commercial pop-up picnics. Council members engaged in extensive debate, expressing concerns about potential racial profiling, over-engineering regulations, the impact on casual park use, the cost of permits, and ensuring fair and consistent enforcement by police and park staff. After significant discussion, the council decided to postpone the first reading to a September 1st work session for further refinement of the language and a more in-depth collaborative review.
Revised Methodology for Legislative Platforms
Dissent: None
City Manager Neil proposed streamlining the city's approach to legislative advocacy by primarily adopting the platforms of organizations like the League of Minnesota Cities and Metro Cities, while also maintaining a small, Edina-specific list of 5-10 priorities. The rationale was to reduce redundancy and leverage the collective voice of larger municipal organizations. Council members expressed support for this focused and efficient methodology.
Primary Election Results Report
Dissent: N/A
City Clerk Sharon Allison presented the results of the recent primary election, noting a significant increase in voter turnout (37%) compared to previous years. She detailed the breakdown of voting methods and highlighted the effectiveness of the 18-day early voting period at City Hall. An anomaly was reported: approximately 200 voters attempted to vote at City Hall on election day, contrary to procedure, and were successfully redirected by staff.
Notable Quotes (20)
I am asking the city to protect it as a public park and not allow it to become an unregulated venue for large private commercial style events.
I think this is a decision that the public should get to be involved in as this technology, you know, the way that it works is that it tracks every single person regardless of whether or not you've committed a crime.
There needs to be a long-term plan for that facility because it's way past its useful life.
My concern is that the proposition or policy as it stands right now, as I understand it, um could allow for um racial profiling.
His magnumopus of unsound and unsustainable. The so-called 6% levy increase is once again not based on spending cuts, but optics.
I think it the restrictions that has been mentioned and recommended will create more problems and more uh biased towards young people where uh they will be criminalized.
After reviewing our environment, state staff found no indications that Adina systems were affected by this attack.
My only point is that we've we've committed to spending a little over $40 million at Braarice Arena.
I am just so happy that this is actually going to happen and it's sort of a missing link. I think it's really important that people who are in the southeast quadrant of Edina, particularly with this new Henepin County Library, have multiple means of ac accessing that.
There were a couple of uh nice donations in this reporting period uh for the park and wreck department. Paulie Norman and Richard Fox donated $3,200 for a bench donation.
We're trying to balance the needs and expected uses of our park system while also preserving people's right to assembly and their right to protected and first amendment speech as well.
Arnison Acres is being used um basically right now for a commercial use and it kind of feels like the social media boom. It's a little bit of the gig economy where um people are using that for um commercial uses of organized picnics and events.
If there isn't an ordinance we may be able to come and encourage them, but if they say no, we can't do anything about it. So, and that sounds to me like a trained response that all the parks and and police officers are doing.
I do want to urge us not to over react and overgineer in ordinance against those three things.
I am still concerned that this could, you know, there are some things that need to be worked out, especially with 17. Um, and also, you know, we want to be we we do want our parks to be welcoming and we don't want people feeling like, oh my gosh, I could get into a huge amount of trouble just for kicking a soccer ball around with my friends, you know?
I think what what we're all wrestling with, and I think you are too, is that with respect to the Anie Park episode, there were a bunch of good kids down there just playing soccer and playing touch football. And then some other people showed up that weren't of the same mindset. And I think everybody's worried about, you know, do at the end of the day, if we're not careful, do we end up punishing good behavior?
It really came to to staff if we've been doing this for the past couple of years that perhaps there's a lot of there's some unnecessary redundance uh redundancy in what we're doing.
I think this is a great idea. Um it will help us also when we go to Washington um to sort of take up that large voice of of what the National League of Cities is talking about.
We had nearly a 20% um higher turnout than we've had um in past in the last uh two years. Um so we had 37% uh turnout um for the primary.
One anomaly that we did experience was that, um, on election day, it is not, uh, strange for voters to come into city hall thinking that they can vote at city hall on election day, but we had 200 voters come into city hall trying to vote at city hall.
Ordinances & Resolutions (18)
Resolution accepting donations on behalf of the City of Edina.
Proposed amendment to Chapter 24 of Edina City Code regarding additional restrictions for parks and publicly owned properties.
Existing city code regulating parks, proposed to be amended by Ordinance 2026-12.
Section of city code requiring permits for commercial photography/video production in parks.
General term for permits required for large group gatherings or specific park uses.
Specific type of permit for reserving park buildings, shelters, or athletic fields.
City-wide permit for large events like the Art Fair or parades.
City Manager's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, subject of citizen comment.
City's contract for automated license plate readers (ALPRs), subject of citizen concern.
Public information material released by the police department regarding Automated License Plate Readers.
Current methodology for developing legislative priorities for state and national levels, proposed for revision.
Legislative agenda of the League of Minnesota Cities, proposed as a base for Edina's advocacy.
Legislative agenda of Metro Cities, proposed as a base for Edina's advocacy.
Legislative agenda of the Municipal Legislative Commission, proposed as a base for Edina's advocacy.
State-level legislative topic discussed by the League of Minnesota Cities.
General term for city rules governing park use.
Mentioned as lacking a mechanism for permit priority, highlighting the need for the new ordinance.
Example of an existing ordinance used for comparison regarding enforcement challenges.