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Welcome to Ultraground - your boots on the ground at your local planning meeting. It's lake season. We're in Minneapolis. Let's go.
This report will catch you up to speed on one of May's big meetings.
Estimated read time: 0:02:28
Original meeting time: 3:14:30
On May 9th we saw the following approved:
271 units over 5 projects
Adaptive reuse of a church to apartments
40k sf of new public school
There were 5 total projects that will bring multifamily units to the twin cities. One of those is a church, which we will take you through next.
We'll start with the most opposition. Aka the projects with the most people speaking against them.
We'll start with the most opposition. Aka the projects with the most people speaking against them.
2 Single family homes become 28 units - approved
This project was met with some unsurprising pushback from the neighbors - it literally will go up in their backyard.
Nimby neighbors said it should be denied because it doesn't have affordable units. But they were okay if it moved to 3 stories instead of 4. Hmm.
A String Test determined the front yard setback (connecting points of neighbor's bldgs, black dash).
Why no affordable units?
Because of Inclusionary Zoning (IZ). An affordable housing rule for small to medium projects aka 20-50 units.
Right now, building 50 or more units triggers the need for affordable units. When they hit 500, it goes to 20.
We’ll let you know when this gets close. (For reference, they approved 63 at this meeting, bringing the total to 371).
53 Mixed-use units coming to University Ave. - approved
I've never heard a NY Times article be referenced at a zoning meeting. Or the word "vibe." But there's a new day for everything. And they both dropped at this hearing.
This project's vibe struck a nerve with a concerned citizen.
Did it have Venice Beach style corrugated metal?
Nope. The team chose brick to match the other buildings on the street.
The buildings form? No - standard rectangle.
What's wrong then? Oh, that's right, it was just a “general vibe” of the street that this building doesn’t fit in. They backed their argument with a NY Times article about the qualities of University Ave.
3 project stats:
56 off-street parking spaces.
Keep 2-story building.
OR2 Zoning + C1 to keep the liquor license.
There was also a huge talk about the parking spaces driving up traffic. This is a residential building not a shopping mall though. And the room was reminded of that by a board member.
The projects below were not met with any pushback.
155 Units in North Seward - approved
7 Units in Northeast Minneapolis - approved
Church becomes 28 Units - approved (8 for 8)
I loved seeing this project get unanimous approval. It's led by a BIPOC team. Plus, just imagine waking up under those gables.
They are reusing the 40,000 SF church and adding a 2-story, 7-unit new building.(total of 28 units).
In a past life, I did a project that converted a parking structure into modular residential units.
We struggled with floor-to-floor height. Our units were long and narrow, kinda like a parking space dimension.
I don't think this church will have that ceiling problem. But hmm. Those studios look strangely similar.
A 40,000-square-foot addition to a public high school was approved. The main condition was that the art murals be done by high school students. Awesome.
Part of it is a gym building. There was a point about "visual interest."
Adding visual interest means adding windows, apparently. Even if it means adding them in a gym. This was later walked back by the board as a requirement.
Thank you for being a part of Ultraground.
How'd we do?