On Tuesday, November 13th, 2018 PPNA Staff took community feedback about the Lake & Chicago Development Proposal to the City of Minneapolis Planning Commission.
Feedback was compiled from community meetings, one-to-one meetings, email and social media from Powderhorn residents and stakeholders. In the video above, Tabitha Montgomery, PPNA Executive Director is sharing this feedback.
Here is a summary of the response from the City Planning Commission:
The project requires a conditional use permit and site plan review. These applications do not give the City unlimited discretion to deny a project. There are no variances requested.
The project—in terms of scale and mix of residential uses and ground-floor commercial uses—aligns with what the City’s land use policies and regulations call for in a location right in the heart of an Activity Center and well-served by frequent transit.
Neighborhood opposition is not a legally sufficient reason to deny a development project, especially when the project pretty clearly fulfills current land use policies for an Activity Center like Chicago and Lake.
While the price point of the dwelling units is something we’ve heard about from some commenters, affordability is not something the City is able to consider or mandate through conditional use permit or site plan review applications.
At this time PPNA will continue to communicate feedback, concerns and experiences of our community directly with policy makers. We welcome you to reach out to us at info@ppna.org or 612.722.4817 to share any comments you may have.