Eagle Brook Plan To Build Megachurch in Plymouth Set for Dec. 12 Vote
The Plymouth City Council will soon decide on a plan that some residents say will dramatically change their neighborhood’s character.
Eagle Brook Church is proposing a 65,000-square-foot campus on farm land in northwest Plymouth, just north of Meadow Ridge Elementary School, at Chankahda Trail and Maple Grove Parkway. The church would be built next to residential neighborhoods. It would have seating for up to 1,500 people and provide 685 parking spaces.
The Plymouth Planning Commission recently reviewed the proposal in a nearly four-hour discussion. Nearly three dozen residents came to speak, a majority of whom were against.
Those in opposition raised concerns about traffic, light pollution and a project that they say would be “grossly out of place.”
“This is not an issue of use, it’s an issue of scale and intensity,” said Molly Kramer, who lives to the north of the proposal. “What they are proposing is far too large for this particular location.”
Eagle Brook members have held services at Wayzata High School for the past five years. The congregation has long sought a permanent west metro campus. Eagle Brook currently has 10 other permanent locations across the Twin Cities, including a campus that opened this month in Maplewood.
Those in favor of the proposal expressed how it would bring a positive change to a growing neighborhood and a burgeoning school system.
“We actually love the idea of not having to turn this 55-acre parcel into yet another subdivision,” said Carl Stamp, who also lives near the project.
Plymouth Planning Commission Recommends Approval
Other west metro proposals by Eagle Brook also faced heightened scrutiny. Residents of Minnetonka circulated a petition against a similar building proposal. Eagle Brook eventually withdrew the Minnetonka plan. The Corcoran City Council also rejected plans for a large Eagle Brook campus in that city.
The Plymouth site proposed for the church was supposed to become 137 single-family homes, but the developer behind that plan did not proceed last year.
At its Nov. 13 meeting, the Plymouth Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval for the Eagle Brook proposal. Commission members stated that a church fits within the city’s zoning and land use regulations.
“The use is within the guiding,” said Plymouth Planning Commission member Marc Anderson.
The Plymouth City Council has the final say. It’s slated to vote on the project at its Dec. 12 meeting.
