HomeMy WebLinkAbout2.d. Prezoning Process CITY OF ROSEMOUNT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR DISCUSSION
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
DATE: December 15, 1997
AGENDA ITEM: Prezoning Process AGENDA NO. Discussion
PREPARED BY: Rick Pearson, City Planner �TEIYI � � �
ATTACHMENTS: Density Calculations discussion(add-on)
Tnere are a number of reasons for"prezoning"property. Obviously, zoning is the primary"tool"cities have to
zegulate land use and development. But how the zoning tool is used in some respects is a function of how the
Legislature"enables"cities with zoning authority balanced with other mandates or requirements.
l. The Land Use Planning Act (as amended)requires cities in the metropolitan axea to prepare and submit
Comprehensive Plans to the Metropolitan Council for the primary reason of coordinating the delivery of
regional services-primarily highways,waste water treatment and to a lessor extent, airports and parks.
Cities are required to bring zoning into conformance with their comprehensive plans as a key part of the
process. Therefore, in the metro area, the primary land use authority that cities have is how the
comprehensive(guide)plan is used to designate land use. In this sense,zoning"fine tunes"the
designated or"guided" land use. For example, land zoned for agriculture that is designated by the
comprehensive plan for commercial use could have the unwanted gas station forced upon it by the
courts. The only way to effectively discourage the unwanted gas station is to have the land guided for
non-commercial use, or to exclude it through zoning up front. Zoning the property to C2, Community
Commercial which excludes gas stations would be the best method successfully defending against a law
suit.
2. Land that is properly zoned in accordance with the Comprehensive Guide Plan gives the property owner
and prospective developers the best indication of future potential and value. Beyond those obvious
advantages, such zoning is a time saver for elected and appointed officials, and city staff. The frequency
of speculative or unrealistic development proposals can be sharply reduced or even eliminated.
In the past, Rosemount had a history of"zone-as-you-go"which might have been viewed as providing a higher
level of control over land use. This may have been possible because of limited sewer capacity which resulted in
a"land bank" approach to expanding the metropolitan urban service area(MUSA). This method of amending
the Comprehensive Guide Plan for every new development was eliminated with the adoption of the updated
Guide Plan in 1993. The real "teeth"of the rezoning lay with the comp plan amendments given the current
approach the land use planning act.
.
Density Calculations
City of Rosemount, Minnesota
City staff called many of the surrounding cities regazding their use of density calculations
in zoning districts, The responses varied with some using gross and others using net
acreage calculations. Based on further discussion, staff is recommending that the City of
Rosemount consider the following:
• Remove any density references in the R-l and R-l A zoning districts since the lot
size really dictates the resulting density. The comprehensive plan will continue to
identify density for land use categories. In addition, the Met Council's density
target for single family detached is 2.3 (net) dwelling units per acre, which is
generally met in Rosemount. A comparison of lot sizes for single family lots is
attached for surrounding cities.
• Keep the ordinance density at a gross (vs. a'net calculation) for all multi-family
zoning districts (R-2, R-3, R-4). Although a change may address some density
concems, further research needs to be done to determine the pros and cons of this
change. Further discussions with the Met Council will take place to determine
their definition of density in order to provide some consistency throughout the
metropolitan area.