Scenic Hills Development · Inver Grove Heights
Keep Scenic Hills Scenic
Neighbors standing together for the community we chose
What’s Happening
The City of Inver Grove Heights has zoned a parcel of land immediately adjacent to our Scenic Hills neighborhood — a single-family residential community off 80th Street — for High Density Residential (HDR) use. This designation would allow for the construction of a large apartment complex on approximately 5 acres of land that sits in the middle of an established low-medium density neighborhood.
We believe this decision was made without adequate consideration of the impact on our community, the available infrastructure, or the other more suitable parcels of land in the surrounding area that could accommodate high-density development far more appropriately.
The Proposed Zoning
The zoning map shows a single HDR parcel surrounded entirely by LMDR (Low-Medium Density Residential) properties — our neighborhood.
High-density residential development DOES NOT belong in this location, and the city has viable alternatives.
What we are asking for
We are not asking the city to abandon plans for additional housing. We are asking for a rezoning decision that makes sense.
The property at 1401 80th St E (formerly the Abbott property, recently purchased by Kurt) is currently zoned Agriculture, but its future land use designation is set to be High Density with plans for a large (100+ unit) apartment building to be built.
We are asking the city to instead rezone this property to Low or Medium Density — consistent with the surrounding Scenic Hills neighborhood. In fact, there are multiple parcels of land surrounding Scenic Hills that are not embedded within existing single-family neighborhoods and would be far more appropriate for high-density development.
Anticipated Timeline
The development process for a project of this scale is not immediate. Securing an architect, completing design drawings, obtaining city approval, and pulling a building permit typically takes around a year from the point of land purchase.
We have time — but we need to act now while the city is still in the decision-making process. Getting our petition in front of the city council as early as possible puts them on notice that this community is united, organized, and paying attention.