An arts group that wants to buy Eagan’s former fire administration building and turn it into a hub of activity is getting resistance from neighborhood residents who say it would bring noise, air pollution from kilns, and traffic from outdoor events.

In January, Art Works Eagan signed an agreement with the city to buy the vacant two-story building at 3795 Pilot Knob Road, kitty-corner from City Hall, for $500,000. The sale could close in July, the city said.

The nonprofit group, which was formed last year, plans to offer programming and studios for working artists, a small performance venue, a fine-art gallery and a workshop with equipment for metalworking, woodworking, digital fabrication and more.

But first the group must receive a conditional-use permit from the city council, and that request is opposed by residents of the Kingswood Pond Road neighborhood, which abuts the building.

The 12,700-square-foot building was built in 1999 and used by fire department staff until 2011, when the city’s new fire safety center opened. About a year later, the city council rezoned the property from public facilities to limited business — a designation that does allow for an art studio and gallery through a conditional-use permit.

At an Eagan Advisory Planning Commission public hearing June 27, several Kingswood Pond Road residents voiced their opposition to the art group’s request. They urged commission members to recommend to the city council that the permit be denied.

The neighborhood says it is concerned with potential loud music, machinery noise, parking and traffic problems, lowered property values and health issues caused by the kilns.

“We are not against the arts, or community art,” said Steve Thielen, a neighborhood resident. “It’s the activities planned that are not appropriate to the proximity of our neighborhood.”

After listening to Art Works Eagan and area residents for more than two hours, the planning commission recommended approval of the art group’s request. The city council is tentatively scheduled to take up the issue July 18.

Conditions of approval include that the installation of kilns be approved by city building inspectors, and that Art Works Eagan enters into an agreement with the city where extra parking would available at city hall if needed. Hours of weekend outdoor events would also be limited.

“I’m worried for this community that another business may come in here and bring other things that are unwanted to the community,” commissioner Ben Weimert said. “So I think they could do a lot worse than what we have sitting in front of us.”

According to a planning commission report, Art Works Eagan would use the building’s garage bays for a ceramics studio, with a gas kiln and two or three electric kilns.

Space on the first two floors would be open to individuals or groups for “an assortment of gatherings or meetings with the principal goal of fostering community connectiveness.”

A second-floor space would host theater, dance and music performances, as well as readings.

The basement would house a “communal makerspace,” allowing artists access to “traditionally cost-prohibitive equipment.”

Jerri Neddermeyer, a founder and the president of Art Works Eagan, told the planning commission that the group would like to host about two outdoor events, such as small theater performances, each month during the summer.

City Planner Mike Ridley said temporary outdoor events require a special permit from the city and that the limit is three events, totaling up to 20 days a year.

Neddermeyer introduced Donovan Palmquist, a Farmington potter who has been building kilns as a career for 25 years. Palmquist said the group’s kilns would be vented through a stack on the roof and that they “don’t create fumes or smell issues.”

“A properly set-up kiln situation … it’s to code, is safe, is approved,” he said, adding he’s installed them in other residential neighborhoods across the country and just put one in Apple Valley High School. “It is no different than your gas grill or your gas stove at home, none whatsoever.”

Sean Boodoo, who lives closest to the building, wasn’t buying it. He said his back deck is about 30 feet from the building and believes his family and neighbors will be exposed to “very toxic emissions.”

“Art Works Eagan says it wants to be a good neighbor, but a good neighbor would not bring so many safety and health hazards into a neighborhood,” he said.

One Eagan resident spoke in favor of the group’s request.

“I hear the pain and the anguish and the concerns,” said Marie Zepeda, who doesn’t live in the Kingswood Pond Road neighborhood. “I welcome Art Works and I do hope that we have them as a member of our community.”