Public Comment period open: 1-4 Unit Housing Study, phase II
It’s finally time for our first round of advocacy for more housing choices in Saint Paul!
Background: In January, the City of Saint Paul’s Planning Department formally proposed a series of amendments to the zoning code that would legalize a variety of neighborhood-scale housing choices (e.g., duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, cottage clusters, and townhomes) citywide. (Check out City’s slide deck for an overview; for even more information, check out the City’s 1-4 unit housing study website.) Now, the Saint Paul Planning Commission has scheduled a Public Hearing during their meeting on Friday morning, April 14th, at which residents of Saint Paul can comment on the City’s proposal. The Planning Commission will then make changes to the City staff’s proposal, and forward their recommendations to the City Council.
We strongly support the Saint Paul Planning Department’s proposed zoning code amendments! (We do have some ideas about how they could be improved; more on that below). Our primary concern is making sure that dozens of supportive folks show up to testify in person at the City Council’s public hearing, which will probably occur in mid or late May. In the meantime, we encourage you to submit a public comment to the Planning Commission by noon on Thursday, April 13th to voice your support for the proposal, and potentially offer some suggestions for improving the proposal before they send it on to the City Council for final consideration. (If you can attend the public hearing in person at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, April 14th, awesome! Here’s an article with some more info about how to attend a public hearing at Saint Paul City Hall. If you have further questions, send us a note at info@sustainstpaul.org)
To send a public comment to the Planning Commission, send an email to 1to4HousingStudy@ci.stpaul.mn.us. Be sure to include your first and last name, and your address: if you don’t, your comment won’t be included in the testimony.
What to say in your public comment to the Planning Commission
Among Sustain Saint Paul’s members, there are different opinions about if and how the City’s proposed amendments could be improved; some think that the proposal is bold enough, and others think it should go further. If you think the proposal is good enough as it is, great! Send that email. If you need some helping articulating some philosophical reasons why you like the proposal, check out this article and this article we wrote a while back. If you want to mention some technical details in the City staff’s proposal that are really good, here a few suggestions:
It’s really exciting that this proposal would legalize a great number of homes-per-lot throughout the City, and a wider variety of housing types to accommodate the various dimensions of diversity among Saint Paul households: the number of residents, physical abilities, the amount of indoor and outdoor space residents want and need, etc.
The proposed changes to setback requirements and building height limits are really positive. By reducing the distance that residential buildings have to be from the sidewalk, the alley, and the sides of each lot, our Code will become much more flexible and enable more infill housing.
The proposed “density bonus” for 80% AMI affordable homes and three-bedroom apartments is a great addition. We need more ways of incentivizing the construction of unsubsidized affordable homes in our city, and this is a good start.
If you’d like to see the City adopt even more ambitious changes to the existing zoning code, here are a few ideas for what to suggest:
Eliminate the proposed zoning district H1, and simply consolidate the existing zoning districts R1, R2, R3, R4, RT1, and RT2 into the proposed zoning district H2; and change the name of the existing zoning district RL to “H1.” The City staff’s proposed amendments would only allow three units of housing to be built on lots which are currently zoned R1, R2, and R3 (except on corner lots, or when the proposed Density Bonus is utilized).
The City staff’s recommendation is arbitrary; there is no compelling reason for limiting the number of Homes Per Lot to three in areas currently zoned R1, R2, and R3, which tend to be more expensive and exclusive neighborhoods.
Lots in the areas currently zoned R1-R3 are generally larger than lots zoned R4-RT2, and thus provide more opportunities for building infill housing. The technical standards of the proposed H1 zoning district (e.g. minimum Lot Area Per Unit) would effectively prevent infill development in many of the places that are most conducive to it.
Consolidating the zoning districts of the current code into one new district (H2) instead of two different ones (H1 and H2) would make our Zoning Code simpler and easier for would-be small-scale developers to navigate.
Increase the number of places where the proposed H3 district is applied. The City staff’s proposal recommends applying the new H3 District (which allows up to six homes per lot by right) within 1/8th of a mile of Neighborhood Nodes, the Green Line light rail, and Bus Rapid Transit Routes. It should be applied in more places! For example, H3 could be expanded in one or both of the following ways:
Within a quarter-mile of Nodes and transit, instead of just 1/8th of a mile (e.g. two blocks, instead of just one block). The city has previously identified a quarter-mile as the typical distance that people are willing to walk to a transit stop. Let’s legalize more homes within walking distance of transit stops.
Along every arterial street in Saint Paul.
Thanks in advance for submitting comments! And remember: this is Round One of Two. We’re going to ask you to submit another comment to the City Council and to attend the public hearing in May!
