At its June 17, 2025 meeting, the Golden Valley City Council approved a $6.9 million purchase of property at 6100 Olson Memorial Hwy for construction of a new City Public Works facility. This action moves the City one step closer to achieving its Building Forward plan to reinvest in essential services—in this case maintaining streets, parks, utilities (sewer and water infrastructure), and vehicles.
The purchase is funded through local sales tax revenue, which was originally approved by voters in November 2023.
Current Facilities
Currently, Golden Valley Public Works is housed on the Civic Campus near City Hall in three different buildings that do not meet the department’s needs. For example, these buildings:
- are outdated in both size and configuration, including an unheated storage facility and storage yard located off-site, which create inefficiencies
- do not accommodate modern vehicles and equipment
- lack facilities for employees of different genders
In addition, the movement of large equipment often conflicts with other activities in the downtown area and on the highly used City Hall campus.
Acquisition Process
There are several ways cities can acquire property for public purposes. In this case, the City used a process called friendly condemnation, a type of eminent domain. This approach allows the City and the property owner to work together in a way that closely resembles a typical real estate deal, allowing for open communication and mutual agreement.
Here’s a quick overview of how the process works:
- The City may identify a property for purchase, or the property owner may reach out with interest in selling to the City.
- An independent appraiser determines the fair market value of the property.
- The property owner reviews the appraisal. In this case, they agreed that the value was fair.
- The City Council passes a resolution approving the purchase and formally authorizes the use of eminent domain. At that point, a written offer is made to the property owner. Once the offer is made, any tenants on the property become eligible for relocation assistance, which the City provides.
- The property owner has 30 days to accept, reject, or negotiate the offer.
- After the offer has been accepted and filed, the City takes ownership of the property in 90 days.
For updates, and to learn more about Building Forward, visit the City’s website at www.buildingforwardgv.org.