Edina could see its first zoning update in 50 years

The city is working with a consultant to review city zoning codes and better incorporate modern development, such as mixed-use apartment buildings.

The Minnesota Star Tribune
April 18, 2024 at 12:30PM
Construction near the 50th and France intersection in Edina in 2018. The city is considering updating its zoning code for the first time since the 1970s. (Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Contractors are working on a proposal for new zoning in Edina, which last saw its zoning updated in the 1970s.

Edina is paying Minneapolis-based planning consultants HKGi $30,000 to review the city zoning codes and recommend ways to change them to line up better align with Edina’s comprehensive plan, and to better allow types of developments that were uncommon 50 years ago, such as mixed-use apartment buildings with businesses on the ground floor, or smaller apartment buildings.

The Edina Planning Commission and City Council have increasingly relied on “planned unit developments” or special carve-outs, to zoning codes, to allow small apartments and mixed-use developments. The zoning overhaul also aims to streamline some zoning-related processes such as subdividing large lots.

The contractors are set to present their recommendations this summer.

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Josie Albertson-Grove

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Josie Albertson-Grove covers politics and government for the Star Tribune.

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