One of Minneapolis' most walkable areas may one day be friendlier and more attractive for people on foot, under new rules nearing approval at City Hall.
The City Council's zoning committee signed off this week on rules that discourage low-density, auto-oriented design in the greater Uptown area. The new pedestrian district would require new developments to limit the amount of surface parking facing major streets and install a lot of sidewalk-facing windows, while barring drive-throughs and new fast-food buildings, among other design guidelines.
Council Member Lisa Bender, a co-author of the plan, said it is a response to constituent complaints about suburban-style proposals for single-use buildings like Walgreens and Wells Fargo.
"These regulations are really about more traditional urban designs," Bender said. "It's more like the buildings that were traditionally found on the streetcar corridors, for example."
The new pedestrian district generally follows Hennepin and Lyndale avenues S., from W. Franklin Avenue to W. Lake Street, and Lake Street from Lake Calhoun to Interstate 35W. A similar but less restrictive district was already in place around Lake Street from Irving to Lyndale avenues S.
Some elements of the new district echo all other pedestrian districts around the city, including a requirement that buildings be no more than 8 feet from the front property line.
Other components of the Uptown plan have been applied elsewhere, such as a requirement that new buildings be at least two stories, and no mandate that commercial properties provide off-street parking.
The Uptown district will also have some entirely new rules, such as forcing new buildings on corner lots to have doors facing the major streets and barring buildings on corner lots from having driveways that cross sidewalks along those major streets.