At the March 18 Albertville City Council meeting, Wright County Commissioner Jeanne Holland updated the council about concerns regarding the Missing Middle Housing Bill, which is going through the Minnesota State Legislature.
Also during the meeting, the council approved plans for a 105,157-square-foot warehouse/distribution industrial building.
Missing Middle Housing Bill
The Missing Middle Housing Bill has been making its way through the Minnesota Legislature and many cities have voiced concerns about the bill. Commissioner Holland spoke about Wright County Commissioner Nadine Schoen, Wright County Commissioner Tina Diedrick, St. Michael City Administrator Steven Bot and her visiting Senator Eric Lucero (R-St. Michael) to discuss the topic.
Another meeting was coordinated with Lucero which included Albertville City Administrator Adam Nafstad, Bot, St. Michael Community Development Director Marc Weigle, Holland, Schoen and Monticello Mayor Lloyd Hilgart.
The Middle Housing Bill is meant to combat the housing shortage and would restrict local government zoning authority by allowing duplex, triplex and fourplex units on many lots.
The bill was authored by Representative Larry Kraft (DFL-St. Louis Park) and Sen. Nicole Mitchell (DFL-Woodbury). The bill would affect minimum and maximum lot size restrictions for residential developments.
This could cause an increased demand for sewer, water and utilities on lots that were designated for smaller developments. According to Nafstad, an amendment to the bill by Lucero (SF 3303) would also eliminate local government aesthetic standards and limitations on the size of garage and accessory structures on lots.
“We told him we would like his amendment to be taken out. He said at this point because it’s omnibus, he doesn’t think it can be taken out and was pretty adamant about that. He said if he wouldn’t of presented this bill, somebody else would and he wanted to be at the table for this discussion,” Holland said.
According to Holland, Lucero said he has been getting a lot of feedback from constituents in favor of the bill. Holland stated many cities have expressed problems with the bill.
“This bill, if passed at the state — they are not responsible for the end product, they’re not responsible for any of the detrimental issues that arise from it, they’re not responsible for the utility provision for increased density, they’re not responsible for anything. That all falls back to the city without the authority to make the decisions locally,” City Planner Al Brixius said.
Medart Industrial Development
Medart Inc., an automobile parts facility, is seeking approval from the council for a 105,157-square-foot warehouse/distribution industrial building. In August 2022, the council approved plans by Medart Inc. for a self-storage facility, but the plans have not moved forward.
To move forward with the warehouse/industrial building, the planning and zoning commission and the city council will need to repeal the self-storage facility plans.
Medart Inc. is seeking approval to combine lots one and two of the development site into one lot. Phase one of the project will be the office/warehouse and phase two will be a future 70,000 to 84,000-square-foot warehouse expansion.
“The PUD gives us opportunity to allow for a variety of uses, there’s some flexibilities that are being requested,” Al Brixius said.
Flexibilities include allowing the loading area to be near a public street and for proof of parking to meet the city’s parking requirements. The phase one parking stalls will be 73, which is below the required 121 stalls but is based on Medart’s phase one parking needs.
Medart Inc. is also asking for a fire lane portion of the site to remain unpaved until 2035 to allow Medart time to pave the fire lane at the same time as the phase two warehouse expansion.
Albertville is asking for changes to the plans including more landscape screening in the southern loading area and screening along the western edge of the west parking lot to block headlights directed towards the public street, which Medart Inc. has agreed to do.
The council approved the development plans.
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