The Eagan City Council held its regular meeting on January 6, 2026, at 6:30 PM at the Eagan Municipal Center. The council adopted the agenda, approved the consent calendar without discussion, and considered two major items: an ordinance amendment to allow places of worship in additional zoning districts and a conditional use permit for outdoor vehicle storage. Councilmember Blacken was absent. The meeting adjourned shortly after 7:00 PM.
1. Ordinance Amendment to Chapter 11 – Places of Worship City Planner Schultz presented a proposed ordinance to replace the term “church” with “places of worship” and to allow such uses in the Neighborhood Business (NB) and Business Park (BP) zoning districts, which previously did not permit them. The amendment, modeled after Apple Valley and Woodbury, establishes two thresholds:
The existing permitted uses in Public Facilities (PF) and Limited Business (LB) districts remain unchanged. Housekeeping corrections to numbering were also included. Councilmember Sabina noted that the ordinance text for conditional uses incorrectly wrote “less than 40%” when the intended threshold was “greater than 40%”; staff confirmed the error and clarified the intent. The council confirmed the standards align with federal land use law. The ordinance was approved unanimously (4-0).
2. Conditional Use Permit – UP Seneca LLC (1971 Seneca Road) The applicant, UP Seneca LLC, requested a CUP to create a 9,075 square foot fenced enclosure in the northeast corner of a 3-acre industrial parcel (zoned I-1) for overnight parking of vehicles used by two tenants. The property currently has a 41,000 square foot building built in 1967; no building changes are proposed. The enclosure would be accessed via the existing parking lot, with new paving, removal of a gravel driveway (to be replaced with turf), addition of 30 parking stalls, and landscaping along Seneca Road. Staff found all six review criteria satisfied. A condition prohibits outdoor storage or sale of vehicles outside the enclosure or inside the building. The applicant’s representative was not present; the council noted the CUP had no issues. Councilmember Sabina inquired why such uncontested CUPs could not be handled administratively; City Attorney Bauer explained it would require a code amendment. The CUP was approved unanimously (4-0).
I'd like to welcome everybody to the January sixth regular meeting of the Egan City Council. It's our first meeting of the month of January, and our first meeting of uh the two thousand and twenty-six year. So I hope everybody had a uh good New Year and a happy holiday season. Um we are uh without Councilman Blacken tonight. Uh, he will be our returning from uh holiday break uh uh before our next council meeting. And we have a fairly efficient agenda tonight which explains the wrongs of citizens who have shown up to see uh our uh work being done. So uh with that, um uh Ms. Miller, are there any changes to the agenda? No, Mr. Mayor. Uh council, any changes the agenda. No, sir. Motion. Take a motion, Councilman Hansen. To adopt the agenda is presented. Second. That's moved and seconded. Uh is there any further discussion on the agenda? Saying none, all in favor saying I. And opposed, nay, that motion carries. Uh, we have no we say we have an agenda. We have no recognition of the presentations tonight, so I'll go right to the consent agenda. Um, just because it's what I do. Are there any members of the public who are here on items appearing in the consent agenda and one is see those items pulled for separate action head questions? Seeing none, I'll bring it back to council. Council, same question. For motion, council member subpoena for a motion. Move to approve the consent agenda. Second. That's moved and seconded. Any further conversation on the consent agenda. Saying none, all in favor, some saying aye. Opposed, nay. That motion carries, and we've adopted the consent agenda. We have no public hearings tonight. Uh, so I'll go right to old business. We have one item of old business, it's to approve an ordinance amendment to chapter 11 involving land use definitions and allowing places of worship within certain zoning districts, including NB, neighborhood business, and business park BP. Um Ms. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Uh, in terms of background, uh, in October of 2024 at a special council meeting, our planning staff did present council and the advisory planning commission with review of religious facilities as part of their 2025 work plan. And then last year in September at the special council meeting, staff presented an update to both council and APC members as part of their annual joint meeting. Council did provide input and direction to staff regarding the ordinance ordinance amendment presented to you this evening. The planning commission held a public hearing on the ordinance amendment on December 18th of 2025 and recommended approval. So I will turn it over to City Planner Schultz to summarize the proposed ordinance amendment. Thank you, Ms. Miller. Mayor, Council. Um, I'm just gonna highlight a few of the changes. We did not necessarily do uh, you know, multitude of changes.