Minneapolis housing density rules, without there having been notice or
hearings/meetings to discuss its wisdom. The two Council Members sponsoring
the change are Bender (Ward 13?) and Reich (Ward 1).
Without providing any reasons for reducing the required lot size for
duplexes by half, except to say that they want to reduce the required lot
size, the proposal would permit duplexes in about 96% of lots zoned low
density R2 and R2B where duplexes cannot currently be done. This changes a
rule from 1995 that said you had to have at least 10,000 sq. ft. to have a
two-unit residence; single-family homes usually have lots upwards of 5,000
sq.ft.
There's no context to this proposal, that might explain the abuses by
investors that pushed the city twenty years ago to require 10,000 sq. ft.
for duplexes (lots of it had to do with rampant "converting" of viable
single-family homes into a cheap and dirty two-units, for the income).
There is no indication of how many applications for variances there have
been in the past ten years, say, that would indicate some kind of urgent
demand to make higher-density enclaves of what are now low-density
residential areas. We have no idea who wants this. Supposedly we are to be
persuaded that This Is Good for Us because, well, it increases density. And
they actually say: Hey! this is like accessory dwelling units, which we
already have! (since last year, and with warnings from some of us that ADW
is a lot like illegal duplexing on small lots)
We have to conclude from the lack of explanations or rationale, that it's
behind-the-scenes business or investor pressures. That would explain also
the "stealth" method of presenting almost as a fait accompli what some of
us fought against very hard a few years ago.
Maps attached to the Planning Department's staff report do indicate that
the areas of Minneapolis where there is no R2 or R2B low density zoning
will not be affected. That includes CM Bender's ward, plus wards 11, 12,
the south part of Ward 2, and the far NE corner or CM Reich's ward 1. So
the proposers don't live where this proposal will destroy single-family
housing, nor do they live among people who will have to deal with such
destruction.
Those of you who don't care about housing issues don't have to worry. The
cognoscenti, though, will see that this is a significant and silent attack
on single-family homes in the central city, where R2 zoning occurs (I was
struck, that there's no R2 or R2B at all in Southwest Minneapolis!) The
report is part of the agenda for the Planning Commission's next meeting.
Connie Sullivan, whose single-family home is zoned R2B
Como, in Southeast Minneapolis