Title
Amending the 2040 Comprehensive Plan to allow for larger block sizes in industrial development and redevelopment. (Public hearing closed on May 25.)
Body
WHEREAS, the Land Use Chapter of the 2040 Saint Paul Comprehensive Plan (hereinafter, “2040 Plan”) identifies the former Hillcrest Golf Course site (hereinafter, “Hillcrest”) as an “opportunity site” which, under the 2040 Plan, are sites guided for redevelopment with “higher-density mixed-use development” or “employment centers with increased full-time living wage job intensity;” and
WHEREAS, the City, for the purpose of guiding redevelopment at Hillcrest, commenced a master planning process to identify future land uses and site layouts within Hillcrest; and
WHEREAS, the master planning process indicated that an amendment to the 2040 Plan to allow an increase in block sizing within light industrial areas was desirable in order to provide flexibility to successfully develop Hillcrest by attracting a range of users, including site users which provide high-quality jobs with low entry barriers; and
WHEREAS, on March 4, 2022, the Saint Paul Planning Commission (hereinafter, “Commission”) duly conducted a public hearing on a draft Hillcrest Master Plan (hereinafter, “HMP”) and associated actions including amending the 2040 Plan; and
WHEREAS, following the March 4, 2022, public hearing, the Commission reviewed the comments from the said hearing and after consideration the Commission, under its Resolution 22-21 dated April 15, 2022, recommended to the City Council and Mayor, approval of the draft HMP and associated actions including amending the 2040 Plan to allow increased block sizing in light industrial areas; and
WHEREAS, the planning division of the department of planning and economic development also recommends approval of the proposed Comprehensive Plan amendment; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Minn. Stats §§ 462.355 and 473.864, municipalities may amend a comprehensive plan through the procedures stated therein; and
WHEREAS, the Council of the City of Saint Paul, having duly provided notice of a public hearing before it and having conducted the same at which all interested parties were given an opportunity to be heard, and having considered all the testimony and recommendations received concerning the draft HMP and associated actions, Commission Resolution No. 22-21, the memorandum of the Commission’s Comprehensive and Neighborhood Planning Committee and its rationale for the Commission’s recommendations, and the recommendation of the department of planning and economic development’s planning division, all of which the Council finds persuasive and thus hereby incorporates by reference into this action for the specific purpose of articulating the Council’s reasons and rationale for this action to amend the 2040 Plan;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Saint Paul City Council hereby adopts the following amendment to the 2040 Saint Paul Comprehensive Plan and, pending required review by adjacent and overlapping jurisdictions, forwards it to the Metropolitan Council for final adoption:
Policy T-31. Outside of areas being developed for industrial uses, Eestablish (or re-establish) the right-of-way grid with block lengths of 300 to 600 feet as redevelopment occurs on large sites in order to increase neighborhood connectivity and accommodate pedestrian-oriented, higher-density development.