Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s affordable housing project nabs support from Minnetonka after early roadblocks

UPDATE: Minnetonka city staff issued a new report on May 2 supporting the affordable housing project by Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. The report also recommended that the City Council approve the project at its May 6 meeting.

In 2022, Minnetonka welcomed its first single-family affordable house in more than twenty years. A family moved into the house last summer, and now calls the western suburb home.

Dark blue signs posted on neighbors’ lawns surrounding the house read, “NO REZONING of Historic Mtka Mills,” in opposition to a proposal by Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity to build 10 more affordable housing units on nearby land. Minnetonka Mills is a neighborhood on the suburb’s east side that consists mostly of single-family homes.

The proposed project hit a major roadblock when the city’s planning commission voted on April 18 to deny the plan because Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity wants to build five duplexes on a 2.2-acre plot of land. That would be too dense for what the city allows in the neighborhood, the city planners said. The maximum number of units allowed in the neighborhood, which is designated as low-density, is four units per acre, according to the city’s comprehensive plan.

The commission’s vote acts as a recommendation to the Minnetonka City Council, which will ultimately decide whether to rezone the project site.

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity proposed amending the comprehensive plan to change the property to medium density, which allows up to 12 units per acre. But city staff rejected the proposal, stating in a report that allowing medium density is “not reasonable” and is “inconsistent with the established low-density neighborhood character.”

The city would need to both amend its comprehensive plan and rezone the project site in order for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity to build on the 2.2-acre plot. The density designations laid out in the comprehensive plan are separate but related to the city’s zoning, and changing either are separate processes.

City planning staff expressed concern that if the city changed the density designation, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity could pull out from the project in the future and open the door for a new developer to jump in and add more units.

City planning commissioners said at the April meeting that there was a need for affordable housing in Minnetonka, but said Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity has two options if it wanted to proceed with the project: reduce the number of units or add more land to its proposal.

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity argued that the city’s zoning and land use rules do not support growing housing needs, and that its comprehensive plan identifies the Minnetonka Mills area as an opportunity for higher density to address population growth.

“We’re in the middle of a housing crisis, and it’s just hard to see us getting out of it if it takes us several years–even if we’re successful–to get to actually break ground on a project,” said Chris Coleman, president of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.

Mills Church owns the project site, and began planning in 2019 to add affordable housing on the land. The affordable house built in 2022 sits on a different parcel of land owned by the church, and was developed by Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. The church wants to continue its partnership with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, and plans to sell the land to the nonprofit at a significantly discounted price for the new project.

The monthly housing payment for each of the duplexes’ units would be different for each homeowner, and would be capped at 30 percent of the monthly income they’re earning when they close on their home.

The church’s lead pastor, David Landt, said uncertainty about the project and the time it has taken to get going has worn down the developer, churchgoers, and neighbors.

The church has hosted several community meetings about the project over the years, and incorporated feedback to adjust the project, Landt said. The height of the proposed twin homes were lowered, the number of units was cut from 12 to 10, and a bigger swath of land was dedicated to creating a buffer between the project and a nearby property.

Given the adjustments, Coleman said, he didn’t expect that city staff would recommend denying the project.

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity has spent more than $80,000 on the project so far, according to the nonprofit’s spokesperson. Coleman and other project supporters said the roadblocks they face in Minnetonka prevent them from affecting historic discriminatory housing practices, such as redlining and racial covenants, that segregated people of color from predominantly white neighborhoods.

“Other projects and proposals don’t face that kind of scrutiny,” Landt said of the challenges facing the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity project.

The city published a report on April 15 analyzing its current zoning ordinance. A national zoning consultant firm, ZoneCo, conducted the report, and found that Minnetonka’s current zoning doesn’t set a clear path to meet goals for growth and development.

The city will hold discussions about the report in the near future, said Julie Wischnack, Minnetonka’s community development director.

The report also said the city has a history of unclear standards, that it has taken a “piecemeal” approach to revising its zoning, and that it has a pattern of separating land into rigid categories.

“Where it does allow for commercial development, the code applies zoning in a one-size-fits-all manner that creates generic development patterns not reflective of the diversity of character of the numerous unique areas within the city,” the report said.

The report also offers recommendations to support the city’s vision for growth and its hope to address housing needs. Some recommendations include tailoring the zoning code to different neighborhoods, building new construction on unused land, and combining certain zoning districts.

Landt said the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity project aligns with the report’s recommendations.

“Our property meets all of those things,” said Landt, who also lives in the neighborhood.

Some neighbors have voiced opposition against the project for years because they worry about increased traffic, and want to preserve the neighborhood’s single-family home character.

“It’s just the cohesiveness of the neighborhood—that’s what we bought into when we bought our home, was to buy into a single-family neighborhood,” said Abbey Campbell, 36, a nearby neighbor who opposes the rezoning. “It’s only two acres, and most of us, like all of these houses over here, all just sit on an acre—just one house.”

The church agreed to sell a portion of its playground to Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity so it can proceed with its development plan without having to convince the city to change the comprehensive plan. However, the land would still need to be rezoned in order for the project to move forward.

That would expand the lot size from 2.2 to 2.5 acres, and will require more funding, said Chad Dipman, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s director of land development. The cost for the additional land is about $80,000.

The Minnetonka City Council will vote May 6 whether to rezone the land from a single-family district to allow multi-unit buildings. The City Council will also vote whether to contribute city funds to assist the project, including covering half the cost of buying the church’s playground land.

The post Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s affordable housing project nabs support from Minnetonka after early roadblocks appeared first on Sahan Journal .