In Minnesota: Minneapolis 2040

      In October 2019, Minneapolis City Council adopted a resolution to approve Minneapolis 2040, which took effect Jan 1, 2020. Minneapolis 2040 has multiple goals for the city, including eliminating disparities, promoting growth in residents and jobs and increasing affordable and accessible housing.

Jason Wittenberg, manager of code development for Minneapolis, explained, “We’re taking a multifaceted approach to amend the text to allow duplexes and triplexes as one piece of an overall approach.”

This zoning change is part of a comprehensive plan that needs to be updated every 10 years.

Historically, Minneapolis has been zoned exclusively single-family homes, but it now has a tight housing market. In 2014, it took an initial step by allowing accessory unit dwellings, like mother-in-law units, citywide.

The city is now taking it further by allowing duplexes and triplexes. Wittenberg said some senior citizens have expressed the desire to downsize while also wanting to stay in their own neighborhoods, and they haven’t been able to.

“Hopefully, in the future, they’ll have that ability,” he said.

The zoning change is not focused on any one particular neighborhood, but the neighborhoods farther from downtown and those developed after WWII are the most exclusively zoned single-family.

Wittenberg said feedback from the public on these changes was mixed. “It was a fairly contentious process with some who expressed concerns about the character of their neighborhood changing, but others were very strongly positive that this was a good thing.”

He added some people were surprised by the number of people who were showing up at public engagements asking for options in housing.

When asked if the mixed-use zoning would allow for some commercial development, he replied that the city grew up along street car lines and there were some intermittent commercial properties.

“The goal is to increase the amount of land available for mixed-use development and to approach coming years’ development,” Wittenberg said.

The next step in the process, according to Wittenberg, is built form policies to address heights of buildings, setbacks, floor plans and dimension standards. A couple of years out in the plan are land use policies.

“One of the policies that receive a great deal of attention is the policy related to duplexes and triplexes. Specifically, in our lowest-density areas, it says, ‘New and remodeled buildings in the Interior 1 District should be small-scale residential. Individual lots are permitted to have up to three dwelling units. Combining of lots is generally not permitted. Building heights should be 1 to 2.5 stories,’” he said.

“The key point is we’re not deregulating everything and saying anything goes,” Wittenberg said, “but perhaps the city went a little too far segregating after WWII.”

Wittenberg advised those seeking to do something similar. “You have to have a real strong strategy for engaging the public — including those who are not normally included in typical engagement.” He added, “You don’t want to hear from just the people you typically hear from.”