Resolved — City Council voted July 21, 2026

Wooddale Avenue keeps its parking. And cyclists get a real improvement too.

On July 21st, the Edina City Council voted unanimously to resurface Wooddale Avenue without removing a single on-street parking space — while still adding new and improved bike facilities where the road's width allows. This page tells the story of how Wooddale neighbors made their case, and thanks the people who listened.

A yard sign reading Thank You City Council For Listening, signed by the Wooddale Neighborhood
See What Was Decided Read Our Thanks
129
on-street parking spaces on Wooddale Avenue — all of them preserved
120+
households represented in the coalition that made its voice heard
5–0
the Council's vote to adopt Option 4 — unanimous
Why This Page Existed

This was never a bike-lane debate. It was a question of proportion.

Wooddale-area residents were glad to see cycling improvements come to their street. What they asked the City to reconsider was solving a safety concern the data barely supported by removing something 120+ households, three neighboring institutions, and a wide circle of nearby residents relied on every week. This page is a record of the case Wooddale neighbors made — and a thank-you to the Council that heard it.

The Outcome

The Council adopted Option 4 — a design jointly developed by Council Member Carolyn Jackson and Transportation Planner Andrew Scipioni.

Option 4 keeps every on-street parking space on Wooddale Avenue, while still making real, tangible improvements for cyclists everywhere the road's width allows. It passed by a unanimous vote.

Option 4 roadway reconfiguration diagram, showing the three Wooddale Avenue segments and their proposed lane widths 🔍 Click to enlarge
Option 4, as presented at the July 21st meeting
0 Parking spaces removed, anywhere along the corridor
7–15+ yrs Expected life of the resurfaced road surface
Unanimous Every Council Member voted for Option 4

Wooddale Lane to W 56th Street

The only segment where the road's cross-section actually changed. The southbound bike lane grows from a shared 5’ lane to a dedicated 6.5’ lane — taken entirely from travel-lane width. Parking is untouched.

Before
Bike
5’
Travel lane
11.5’
Travel lane (shared)
11.5’
Parking
7’
After — Option 4
Bike
6.5’
Travel lane
10’
Travel lane (shared)
11.5’
Parking
7’

35 feet total, curb to curb — unchanged. Only the striping moved.

W 56th Street to W 61st Street

Unchanged. This segment keeps its existing shared travel lanes and parking exactly as they are today.

W 61st Street to Valley View Road

This commercial segment had no dedicated bike lanes at all before — just shared travel lanes. Option 4 adds a new dedicated bike lane in each direction. No parking existed here previously, and none was added or removed.

Before
Travel lane (shared)
15.5’
Travel lane (shared)
15.5’
After — Option 4
Bike
5.5’
Travel lane
10’
Travel lane
10’
Bike
5.5’

31 feet total, curb to curb — unchanged. This segment gains dedicated bike lanes it never had.

A word for the Transportation Planning Department, too

It's worth saying plainly: this project's bike-lane improvements were pursued because the department saw a genuinely opportunistic way to advance Edina's bicycle network at little to no incremental cost, by piggybacking on maintenance that was happening anyway. Wooddale residents applaud that kind of resourcefulness. It worked, too — the southbound bike lane on Lower Wooddale is wider and fully dedicated now, at no incremental cost to the project. We're glad this approach found a version that also worked for the neighborhood.

Why this was the best available outcome — not just a compromise

Wooddale Avenue has been scheduled in the City's Capital Improvement Plan for two years for a routine grind-and-overlay — resurfacing work that extends the road's life without changing curb lines or road width. That work was set to begin in August, which is part of why a decision was needed at the July 21st meeting rather than later.

A grind-and-overlay only allows restriping within the existing curb-to-curb width. The only way to add full-width protected bike lanes and keep parking everywhere would be a full reconstruction project that physically widens the road — and Minnesota cities typically fund that kind of project by assessing adjacent property owners directly. Wooddale property owners were already assessed for a reconstruction of the W 58th Street–Valley View Road segment less than 20 years ago, under an understanding that reconstruction operates on a roughly 50-year cycle. Asking that same corridor to absorb another assessment now would have broken that understanding.

Given that real constraint, Option 4 represents the most that could be done for cyclists within the road's existing width, without asking residents to pay for it twice. At the meeting, City Manager Scott Neal recommended the Council move forward with the resurfacing without delay and accommodate residents' wishes by not removing on-street parking — a recommendation the Council adopted unanimously.

Our Thanks

To the Mayor and every Council Member: thank you for listening.

Throughout this process, our coalition heard from representatives of more than 120 households — not only on Wooddale Avenue itself, but on the surrounding streets, at Edina Country Club, and at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. The Mayor and Council gave every one of those voices a patient, attentive hearing, and ultimately voted in their constituents' interest. We're grateful, and we know it took real time and real listening to get here.

Mayor

James Hovland

Council Member

Kate Agnew

Council Member

Carolyn Jackson

Council Member

James Pierce

Council Member

Julie Risser

Thanks are also due to City Manager Scott Neal, for a clear and balanced recommendation at the meeting, to City Engineer Chad Millner, for his clear technical and financial explanations for why the project should not be postponed, and to Transportation Planner Andrew Scipioni, for the work of developing Option 4 into a design that genuinely serves both cyclists and residents.

A Few More Things Worth Noting

This engagement produced some good side effects, too.

A smaller note for the record: some residents have also raised trimming or removing the buckthorn hedge along the golf course where it limits sightlines for cyclists and drivers — Council Member Risser has been especially supportive of looking into this. It's a separate, smaller conversation still to be had, not something this page is taking a position on today.

The Case We Made

A brief record of what Wooddale neighbors told the Council.

For anyone new to this story, here's the short version of the case our coalition made — not to relitigate it, but so the record is clear on why this outcome mattered.

Still Worth Doing

Wooddale's parking is settled. The Willson Road / East Frontage Road bike route is still a great idea.

A zero-displacement corridor with no adjacent homes at all, connecting straight into the City's planned bike network. Worth pursuing on its own merits.

See the Route →
Looking Forward

How to stay involved, now that this chapter is closed.

This process worked because neighbors showed up, stayed informed, and spoke with one voice. Here's how to keep that going.

Stay connected locally

Keep in touch with your neighbors.

The coalition that came together for this issue is worth keeping alive informally — a quick way to compare notes if something new comes up on Wooddale or a nearby street.

Join a city commission

Consider a seat on the Transportation Commission.

This resident-appointed commission advises the City Council on street operations, traffic calming, and non-motorized transportation planning — exactly the kind of decision this was. It meets 6 p.m. the third Thursday of each month; the staff liaison is Andrew Scipioni.

A second commission worth knowing

The Energy & Environment Commission also weighs in on projects like this.

It's a separate resident-appointed commission that reviews and endorses transportation and infrastructure recommendations from a sustainability lens. Having a thoughtful Wooddale-area voice there is worth considering too.

Keep an eye on City Hall

Follow the Council and Transportation Department directly.

Project updates are posted to Better Together Edina, and City Council and Transportation Commission agendas are posted a few days ahead of each meeting on the City's Agenda & Minutes portal.