PHOTO: Death Threat Sent to Eagan Council Over Parkview Issue

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Eagan police are investigating an anonymous death threat against the Eagan City Council received on Tuesday by city officials.

On Tuesday night, the council that would allow a local developer to build a residential development on the 80-acre Parkview Golf Course site. The handwritten letter, shown above, was sent prior to the meeting and appears to denounce any support the council chose to give to the developer, Hunter Emerson.

Read aloud at Tuesday's council meeting by Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire, the note was met with gasps and angry words by a packed house of audience members who were there to discuss the Parkview proposal.

“There’s not a place in our community for this kind of discussion,” Maguire said at the meeting. “I’m not going to tolerate us lowering the level of discourse on this issue to this kind of garbage.”

City Administrator Tom Hedges said the letter was sent to his office in the mail on Tuesday morning. At first, Hedges thought the letter had been sent by a grade school student, because of the boxy, child-like handwriting on the exterior of the envelope. But when he opened the letter and read its contents, his opinion changed.

"I thought, 'For heaven’s sake, this is really ridiculous, and this is terroristic, it's a threat,'" Hedges said.

Hedges called the council members into a closed session prior to the Tuesday night meeting to discuss emergency evacuation plans. As per city policy, a police officer was present at the council meeting on Tuesday.

While Hedges can remember plenty of heated exchanges between elected officials and local citizens, this may the first time the council has received a threat of this nature, he said.

Pat Campbell, a spokesperson for a citizens' group opposed to the redevelopment of the golf course, denounced the note at the meeting and said his organization—"Save Parkview"—had nothing to do with the threat.

According to Minnesota law, a person charged with terroristic threats could face a maximum of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.