A Hennepin County judge has ordered Minneapolis officials to stop implementing the city’s long-range development plan amid concerns around its potential environmental impact.
Wednesday’s ruling by Judge Joseph Klein does not kill the plan, known as Minneapolis 2040, and leaves open the possibility of restarting it once the city takes steps to address environmental concerns.
Klein, though, made it clear the city had failed to address the environmental concerns raised by groups in court. The city’s expert, he wrote, failed to “specifically address, or purport to rebut to any degree of specificity, the many detailed assertions advanced by plaintiffs” such as the effects of increased traffic and noise, loss of green space, effects on air and water quality, and stress on existing infrastructure.
The judge added that the city’s argument that allowing the 2040 plan to move forward and then doing environmental reviews for individual projects, would “result in residential construction being allowed until the city is one project away from — or even one step beyond the point of no return from — material and adverse environmental impacts.”
In a statement, Erik Nilsson, deputy city attorney for Minneapolis, said the order is being reviewed and “while we anticipate filing an appeal,” the city will “consider all options.”
Approved in 2018 by the City Council, Minneapolis 2040 includes goals for the city on areas from employment to arts and culture, public health and the environment. Although much of it has not been controversial, there’s been significant pushback on areas dealing with zoning changes to allow for increased density to spur affordable housing.
A coalition of groups including the Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis, and Minnesota Citizens for the Protection of Migratory Birds, sued the city in 2018 arguing “the 2040 Plan, with its massive, citywide upzoning, will materially adversely impact the environment” and that the city “has refused to identify, let alone address, these material adverse environmental impacts.”
— MPR News reporters Dan Gunderson, Matt Sepic and Tim Nelson, and editor Andrew Krueger contributed to this report.