City Council Item
| Item | North Lotus Lake Park WQ Project Cooperative Agreement with RPBCWD |
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| File No. | ENG 27-05 |
Item No: D.6 |
| Agenda Section | CONSENT AGENDA |
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| Prepared By | Charlie Howley, Director of Public Works/City Engineer | |
| Reviewed By | Laurie Hokkanen | |
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SUGGESTED ACTION
"The Chanhassen City Council approves a cooperative agreement with Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District related to the North Lotus Lake Park Water Quality Improvement Project." |
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| Motion Type |
Simple Majority Vote of members present
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| Strategic Priority |
Operational Excellence
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This cooperative agreement is made by and between the Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District (RPBCWD) and the City of Chanhassen for purposes of improving water quality, vegetative diversity, soil health, native habitat and facilitating connection to natural areas in and adjacent to North Lotus Lake Park.l
Lotus Lake is listed by the MPCA as impaired due to excess nutrients (phosphorous). Chanhassen operates its public stormwater assets under the regulation of the MPCA Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit which obligates the city to work toward waste-load allocations of impaired waters within its jurisdiction. This project will contribute to that obligation and will make a meaningful difference to the water quality in Lotus Lake.
North Lotus Lake Park is both an active and passive park that has significant open space creating an opportunity for regional stormwater management. The area of the park that the project is located is an open grass field with trails around the perimeter of the area, and is mainly used by walkers and as a dog run.
RPBCWD has developed this water quality project in alignment with its comprehensive watershed management plan. RPBCWD is fully funding the design and construction of the project, except for the city's financial contribution covering the costs of needed stormwater management requirements related to its 2026 Street Improvement project, which is located in the adjacent Fox Hollow neighborhood. The city's project is grading a temporary channel to convey stormwater from new storm sewer installed by the project to the existing ditch in the park.
The main purpose of the agreement is due to the project being located entirely within the city owned park, and that the city will own and maintain the improvements created by the project.
RPBCWD held a public hearing concerning the project and has done extensive public outreach to obtain public input.
RPBCWD has met with city staff on numerous occasions to discuss the project over the last couple of years and has also presented the project concepts to the City Council on multiple occasions. The project is expected to be constructed in 2027 and is currently at the 60% design stage (plans and cost estimate attached to this report).
This is a featured project for RPBCWD and they have a project page established on their website at this address: https://rpbcwd.specialdistrict.org/north-lotus-lake-park-project
The overall project cost is estimated at $3.7M, with the city contributing $275,000. The city's funding will come from the 2026 Street Improvement project budget.
This agreement was approved by the RPBCWD Board of Managers on 10/21/2026.
The agreement has been reviewed by the City Attorney and staff recommends approval.