Minneapolis has put aside its 2040 Comprehensive Plan after a judge declined to delay an earlier order blocking its implementation.
The city has now updated its website with an announcement that until further notice, it would return to 2030 land use ordinances. Those guidelines, which reinstate single-family zoning and roll back requirements that a certain proportion of new units be affordable, inject uncertainty into dozens of ongoing projects.
The Envision Community — 20 microhomes for people who are or have been homeless — was to go before a city planning board when Judge Joseph Klein ordered Minneapolis to drop the 2040 Plan.
Envision had been poised to buy land from the city at 21st and Penn avenues in north Minneapolis, development consultant Chris Wilson said. But because half the project would be possible only under 2040 zoning codes, the group had to go back to the drawing board, which translates to higher construction costs, interest rates and design fees.
“If the project is delayed significantly, there will be problems that may result in the loss of $1.2 million in [COVID relief] capital funding for the project,” Wilson said. “This will likely derail Envision’s work entirely.”
A group of Minneapolis residents successfully sued to block the plan, saying it required an environmental impact study under the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act. City leaders did not conduct such a review before approving 2040 five years ago because comprehensive plans — which local governments submit to the Metropolitan Council every 10 years — have never been subject to them before.
— Susan Du, Star Tribune