Senate Committee Rejects Amendment That Would Limit Local Decision-Making Over Residential Development

The proposed amendment would have required administrative approval for all multifamily housing development, limited parking minimums, restricted certain design standards, and impacted requirements pertaining to homeowners associations.

On May 1, on a 6-5 roll-call vote, the Senate State and Local Government Committee rejected a delete-everything amendment (pdf) to HF 2309 that included four provisions from previous zoning and land-use reform bills. Those provisions had stalled earlier in this session in both the House Elections Finance and Government Operations Committee and Senate State and Local Government Committee.

Testimony on the amendment

The League of Minnesota Cities, along with Eagan Community Development Director Jill Hutmacher, and Mankato City Manager Susan Arntz, testified in opposition to the amendment. Cities raised concerns — both in written and in-person testimony — about the amendment’s potential negative impacts on:

• Development standards.
• Parking regulations.
• Development design considerations.
• How cities navigate agreements and maintenance with homeowners associations.
• Due process for city residents.

The language would have impacted all of Minnesota’s 856 cities, by:  

• Requiring cities to establish and follow an administrative review and approval process for all residential developments, with no more than two “community meetings” (public hearings would still be prohibited) prior to approval.
• Prohibiting cities from imposing residential design standards beyond the state building code for all residential development including large multifamily buildings, specifically regarding exterior materials, such as siding, shutters, columns, gables, decks, balconies, porches, garage size, roof pitch, and minimum number and placement of windows.
• Prohibiting cities from conditioning the approval of a residential building permit, conditional use permits, subdivision developments, or planned unit development on the creation of a homeowners association or requiring services, features, or common property that would necessitate one.
• Prohibiting cities from imposing minimum parking requirements on all residential developments.

LMC staff take

While the Senate State and Local Government Committee rejected the amendment, discussions around land use and zoning reform are expected to continue. These provisions could resurface later in the legislative session as a part of an omnibus bill or in other legislative conversations.

The League will continue working in good faith with the bill sponsors and legislators to balance the state’s housing goals with the need for local flexibility and authority.

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