Council Preview: New Fire Station, Massage Business Sanctions?

The Eagan City Council will convene at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening at City Hall to hold a work session meeting. Here's a preview of a selection of agenda items the council is expected to discuss. For a full agenda, click here.

• City officials are interested in building a new consolidated fire station, and think they've found the perfect site for a new facility. The Eagan City Council is expected to vote whether to approve the purchase agreement with Eagan Pointe Senior Living LLC. for the acquisition of roughly 4.3 acres of land at 4232 Blackhawk Road. The purchase price for the land is $625,000, according to documents published by the city. The council may also approve a contract with CNH Architects to develop preliminary architectural designs for the proposed station.

• Last month, the Eagan City Council scheduled an administrative review of Heavenly Asian Massage, a massage parlor on Nicols Road. Police conducted an undercover investigation at the parlor after prostitution-related complaints. They found no evidence of prostitution, but discovered evidence that the parlor was employing unlicensed masseuses—a violation of city ordinances. On June 4, the council is expected to hear the results of the administrative review, and decide whether to take any action against the massage parlor.

• The Eagan council is expected to decide on Tuesday night whether to tighten its massage parlor-related ordinances by requiring all massage businesses operating in the city to post therapist and establishment licenses prominently at the business.

• On a tobacco-related note, the council is expected to vote whether to revise City Code to prohibit all smoking, including sampling, at licensed tobacco stores in the community. The Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act already prohibits indoor smoking in public places, but there is an exemption in the act that allows customers in tobacco products shops to smoke for the purpose of sampling the product. If approved, the council's code update would close that loophole, preventing businesses like hookah lounges from operating in the city.