Eric R. Pratt (born January 23, 1964) is a Minnesota politician and member of the Minnesota Senate . A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota , he represents District 54 in the southwestern Twin Cities metropolitan area.
23-537: Prior Lake is an exurban city 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Minneapolis , next to Savage and Shakopee in Scott County in the state of Minnesota . Surrounding the shores of Lower and Upper Prior Lake, the city is south of the Minnesota River in an area known as RiverSouth and establishes the urban fringe of the south-southwest portion of Minneapolis-St. Paul , the 16th-largest metropolitan area in
46-532: A Minnesota Statutory City with federally recognized tribal lands resulted in litigation to clarify the boundary and voting rights. In 1984, the United States District Court affirmed that Prior Lake's municipal boundary did include the tribal lands in question. The Court further clarified that the tribal residents were thus residents of the city and entitled to vote in municipal elections and to emergency police, fire, and rescue services. The Court ordered
69-508: A male householder with no wife present, and 26.5% were non-families. 20.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.14. The median age in the city was 37.8 years. 28.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 28.9% were from 25 to 44; 27.4% were from 45 to 64; and 9.3% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of
92-436: A non-navigable spillway and culvert under County Road 12. As of the census of 2020, there were 27,617 people, 10,845 households. As of the census of 2010, there were 22,796 people, 8,447 households, and 6,211 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,476.4 inhabitants per square mile (570.0/km). There were 8,882 housing units at an average density of 575.3 per square mile (222.1/km). The racial makeup of
115-470: A private Roman Catholic parochial school, St. Michael Catholic School, which serves grades PreK through 8, and a Missouri Synod Lutheran church parochial school, St. Paul's Lutheran School Prior Lake, which serves children from infants through grade 8. Exurban An exurb (or alternately: exurban area ) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburban area , at the edge of a metropolitan area , which has some economic and commuting connection to
138-549: Is commonly read in Prior Lake. The Star Tribune South Edition also offers some coverage. The Mystic Showroom at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake is an entertainment venue that frequently features A-list musical and comedy performers. After the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre , journalist Elinor Burkett spent a year following students and teachers at Prior Lake High School. She chose Prior Lake because it
161-743: Is in Minnesota Legislative District 54B. The State Senate District 54 senator is Eric Pratt . The district 54B representative is Ben Bakeberg . Prior Lake is in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district , represented by Angie Craig . Parts of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) tribal lands are within the boundary of the City of Prior Lake as annexed in 1972. The SMSC is a federally recognized, sovereign Native American tribe of Mdewakanton Dakota people. The overlap of
184-525: Is land and 2.89 square miles (7.49 km) is water. Upper Prior Lake and Lower Prior Lake sit at the city's center in an elongated shape to the southwest to Spring Lake. Prior Lake as a whole is the southern metro area's largest lake. The nearby Dakota people called Prior Lake Bdé Mayá Thó ("Lake of the Blue Banks"). Prior Lake (renamed after Charles Prior, of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad )
207-566: Is made up of two sections, Upper Prior Lake and Lower Prior Lake. The area of each is 354 and 810 acres (3.3 km), respectively. Upper Prior Lake flows northerly, draining into the larger Lower Prior Lake via a navigable channel that runs under Eagle Creek Avenue (Scott County Highway 21). The lake is popular for fishing, water sports, and snowmobiling, and is accessible by the Scott County Snowmobile Trail and other designated trails. In 2009, zebra mussel shells were discovered on
230-410: The urban center . Exurbs can be defined in terms of population density across the extended urban area, for example "the urban core (old urban areas including Siming and Huli , where the population density is greater than 51 persons per ha), the suburban zone (old urban and new urban transitional zones including Haicang and Jimei, where the population density is greater than 8 persons per ha), and
253-532: The U.S. Northeast megalopolis , exurban areas incorporate pre-existing towns, villages and smaller cities, as well as strips of older single-family homes built along pre-existing roads that connected the older population centers of what was once a rural area. The Brookings Institution listed exurban counties, defined as having at least 20% of their residents in exurban Census tracts . Eric Pratt Pratt's family moved to Prior Lake, Minnesota in 1978, where he graduated from Prior Lake High School . His father
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#1732854571337276-590: The United States. The population was 27,617 at the 2020 census . Prior Lake was incorporated as a village in 1891. It is one of the oldest cities in the south metro area. The city's modern rapid growth is due in part to the ease of access for commuters to the rest of the region, via the upgraded State Highway 13 . According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has an area of 18.33 square miles (47.47 km); 15.44 square miles (39.99 km)
299-482: The city to provide equal emergency services to the tribal residents even though the tribal lands' federal trust status deprives the city of the authority to tax the lands. In recent years, the SMSC has voluntarily contributed funds to the City of Prior Lake in support of public safety services. The Prior Lake American was the main city newspaper, but ceased publication after its final issue on April 27, 2024. The Savage Pacer
322-458: The city was 49.7% male and 50.3% female. Prior Lake is governed by a mayor and four council members serving at large. These offices are nonpartisan. The mayor is Kirt Briggs. He succeeded Ken Hedberg, who won an uncontested election in 2012, succeeding Mike Myser. The council members are Kevin Burkart, Zach Braid, Kim Churchill and Victor Lake. The city is run by a city manager, Jason Wedel. Prior Lake
345-419: The city was 91.0% White , 1.5% African American , 1.6% Native American , 3.0% Asian , 0.5% from other races , and 2.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.1% of the population. There were 8,447 households, of which 40.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.3% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.1% had
368-537: The exurban areas (newly urbanized areas including Tong'an and Xiang'an , where the population density is less than 8 persons per ha)". The mixture of urban and rural environments raises ecological issues. Since the Finding Exurbia report by the Brookings Institution in 2006, the term is generally used for areas beyond suburbs and specifically less densely built and populated than the suburbs to which
391-467: The exurbs' residents commute. To qualify as exurban, a census tract must meet three criteria: These are based on published datasets. Alternative approaches include working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory LandScan data and GIS . Exurban areas incorporate a mix of rural development (e.g., farms and open space) and in places, suburban-style development (e.g., tracts of single-family homes, though usually on large lots). In long-settled areas, such as
414-411: The metro area, low housing-density, and relatively high population-growth. It shapes an interface between urban and rural landscapes, holding a limited urban nature for its functional, economic, and social interaction with the urban center , due to its dominant residential character. Exurbs consist of "agglomerations of housing and jobs outside the municipal boundaries of a primary city" and beyond
437-520: The shore of Lower Prior Lake and the DNR confirmed that they were also in Upper Prior Lake. The eastern part of Spring Lake along Scott County Road 12 is also within the city of Prior Lake. Spring Lake, with 290 acres, offers similar recreational opportunities as Upper Prior Lake with a more rural character and less traffic. Several feet higher in elevation, Spring Lake flows north into Upper Prior Lake via
460-467: The surrounding suburbs. The word exurb (a portmanteau of extra (outside) and urban ) was coined by Auguste Comte Spectorsky , in his 1955 book The Exurbanites , to describe the ring of prosperous communities beyond the suburbs , that are commuter towns for an urban area. In other uses the term has expanded to include popular extraurban districts which nonetheless may have poor transportation and underdeveloped economies due to their distance from
483-632: Was a commercial banker for Bank of America and a commercial real estate broker. His mother taught elementary school for 40 years, finishing her career in Shakopee, Minnesota . He attended the University of Colorado Boulder , graduating in 1987 with a B.A. in economics , and the University of St. Thomas , graduating in 1993 with an M.B.A. Pratt played outside linebacker for the University of Colorado Buffaloes under Hall of Fame head coach Bill McCartney . He
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#1732854571337506-574: Was also a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He was a member of the Prior Lake-Savage School Board from 2000 to 2012 and served as its chair. Pratt was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 2012, winning with 55% of the vote over Kathy Busch in the general election on November 6, 2012. He was reelected on November 6, 2016, over Ali C. Ali with 69% of the vote. In 2020 he won reelected over DFL nominee Sahra Odowa with 62% of
529-579: Was virtually identical to Columbine demographically. She documented her experience in the book Another Planet: A Year in the Life of a Suburban High School ( ISBN 0-06-050585-0 ). The City of Prior Lake is within the Prior Lake-Savage School District. Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools (PLSAS) serve students in Prior Lake, Savage, Credit River Township, Spring Lake Township, Sand Creek Township, and Cedar Lake Township. Prior Lake also has
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