City Council Meeting Date: January 6, 2026
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: Mikayla Schmidt, City Planner
Title
Contract Approval to Hire Houseal Lavigne to Update & Redesign the City’s Zoning Code.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council is being asked to approve the contract with Houseal Lavigne to update and redesign the City’s zoning code.
Summary Report:
The city updated its comprehensive plan in March of 2025. The next step is to update the zoning code to reflect the updated comprehensive plan and make any changes identified.
Staff went through a rigorous selection and interview process. A Letter of Interest (LOI) request was submitted and posted to the American Planning Association and the MN American Planning Association’s websites to solicit responses. Staff also directly reached out to 12 consultants to submit. Those consultants were a combination of staff connections and planning commissioner connections / recommendations. We received six LOI’s and interviewed all six consultants. The interview panel consisted of Mikayla Schmidt, Jake Reilly, Mathias Hughey, Nate Carlson, Melissa Hanson, Emery John, Risi Karim, Bill Kuhlmann, Will Schroeer, Steve Schmidt, Kara Trygestad and Kari Bonde. A grading rubric was used to score responses to our questions and after the first interviews we held two sessions to debrief and share our top three picks. The shared consensus that Houseal Lavigne, Codametrics and WSB were the top three candidates. After further staff discussion and a second interview with Houseal Lavigne and Codametrics, staff decided on Houseal Lavigne.
Houseal Lavigne was notified they were the top choice and that the city would like to pursue a formal proposal and contract with them. City staff, including myself and Mathias, and the zoning update steering committee, made up of Bill, Will and Steve, participated in the review of the formal proposal. We arrived at an agreed upon scope and budget, which came in less than the budgeted $180,000.00. The contract is written to not exceed $178,940.00.
The scope of services is broken down into seven steps.
Step 1: Project Initiation
To “kick off” the update process, meetings will be conducted with city staff, the Zoning Technical Advisory Committee, and the Zoning Policy Advisory Committee before undertaking other community outreach activities. This approach allows Houseal Lavigne and the various city-designated individuals to discuss roles, responsibilities, scope, and issues and opportunities with existing regulations, to ensure the project gets off to a good start.
Step 2: Community Engagement
The Zoning Code Update and Redesign requires a unique community engagement approach. Outreach will consider the impact of code changes on property owners, development rights, and investment in current development in the community. The engagement will also bring community members to the table who can shed light on local market realities, the level of tolerance for increased regulation, first-hand experience with development review and entitlement, and gauge public response to the introduction of new standards and regulations, in order to accomplish the long-term goals of the Northfield community as established in the 2045 Comprehensive Plan.
Step 3: Analysis and Preliminary Recommendation
This step will include the preparation of a Preliminary Recommendations Report informed by a detailed assessment of the City’s current Northfield Zoning Code and provide Houseal Lavigne’s recommendations for the Zoning Code Update and Redesign. It will be based on issues and opportunities identified in outreach, alignment with 2045 Comprehensive Plan, information provided by the City and partner agencies, and the experience and expertise of Houseal Lavigne.
Step 4: District and Use Standards
This step will entail the preparation of the first third of the Zoning Code including base and overlay district specific standards and use standards. Applicable definitions will also be prepared and provided in a memo to assist with city staff, public, and ZPAC review.
Step 5: Development, Building, and Design Standards
This step will entail the preparation of the heart of the Zoning Code including general development standards, building, and design standards. Applicable definitions will also be prepared and provided in a memo to assist with city staff, public, ZTAC and ZPAC review.
Step 6: Sign Standards and Decision-Making Procedures
This step will entail the preparation of the latter third of the updated Zoning Code including sign standards and decision-making procedures. Applicable definitions will also be prepared and provided in a memo to assist with city staff, public, ZTAC, and ZPAC review.
Step 7: Draft and Final Zoning Code
Based on the previous steps in the update process, the full draft and final Zoning Code will be prepared and presented for local consideration and adoption.
Staff recommend approval of the contract not to exceed $178,940.00 with the scope attached as an exhibit in the contract.
City Plans & Policies Relevance:
The zoning code update is an action step staff is recommending related to the following strategic plan initiative:
Strategic Priority:
Improve financial strength - A financially responsible organization;
Increase housing availability - Addressing the city's affordable housing needs;
Enhance service delivery - A community that cares about its residents
Desired Outcomes:
Increased commercial-industrial tax base;
Expanded availability of single-family and multi-family housing
Key Outcome Indicator:
Net new Commercial/Industrial Valuation & Commercial/Industrial Permit Valuation;
Increase in residential units (single-family and multi-family);
Capacity improvement implemented equals an easier to read and use code for all
Target:
$50M net increase in commercial/industrial valuation 2025-2028
$50M net increase in commercial/industrial valuation 2025-2028
50 new units of single-family homes every year
50 new units of multi-family units every year
Strategic Initiatives:
Strategies to develop high potential commercial/industrial properties;
Identify long-term service delivery needs;
Why is this an important action step as a strategic initiative and why is it important to the 2045 Comprehensive Plan?
A well-written zoning and subdivision code is a foundational tool for growing the City’s industrial and commercial tax base and residential units because it directly influences where, how, and how efficiently development can occur. Clear, modern, and predictable regulations aligned with the comprehensive plan and economic development goals reduce uncertainty for employers and developers, making the City more competitive for investment. When appropriate land is designated and ready for industrial, commercial and residential uses, with clear development standards and review processes. This makes projects able to move forward more quickly and with lower risk-key factors in attracting development that strengthens the tax base and offers more home options and units in Northfield.
At the same time, strong zoning and subdivision regulations support fiscally responsible growth by encouraging efficient land-use patterns that maximize the return on public infrastructure investments - another important component of the 2045 Comprehensive Plan. By promoting development in locations already served by streets, utilities, and public services-or where those services can be extended efficiently-the City can grow its tax base while controlling long-term operating and maintenance costs. Mixed-use, employment, and higher-intensity commercial areas can also support density benefits and help place jobs, services, and daily needs closer to where people live, reducing transportation costs and improving overall accessibility.
Finally, a well-crafted code helps advance broader community values while strengthening the tax base. Community values from the 2045 Comprehensive Plan and policies rooted in New Urbanism-such as compact development, walkability, compatible land uses, and environmentally sound design-support equitable access to jobs and services, reduce land consumption and infrastructure sprawl, and promote sustainable development patterns. By aligning tax base growth with goals related to equity, environmental stewardship, and efficient service delivery, zoning and subdivision regulations become not just regulatory tools, but strategic instruments for building long-term economic resilience and community well-being.
The new zoning and subdivision standards ordinance will not be effective until 2027. So, the impact on the goals to grow the tax base may not translate to direct new tax base (valuation) growth within this strategic plan. However, the growth in the tax base has historically been a challenge in Northfield and is anticipated to be a priority in the future. Therefore, this foundation is worth the resources to implement now even though it may not directly translate to growth during by the 2028 strategic plan goal. The City does have more immediate tactical action steps occurring concurrently with this longer-term strategy. Those include things like added recruitment of new development, working with local businesses on incentives to expand their buildings, implementing new infrastructure in high demand new growth areas for commercial/industrial development, and others.
Alternative Options:
Staff would like to continue forward with Houseal Lavigne. We are unsure if the other top two consultants would have availability to work on this project now as potential alternative options.
Financial Impacts:
The zoning code update and redesign has been budgeted for and planned for in conjunction with the completion of the comprehensive plan. The cost is split three ways where the Economic Development Authority, the Housing & Redevelopment Authority and Community Development Department budgets are all contributing to the project.
Tentative Timelines:
Approval of the Contract: January 6, 2026
Kick-off meeting(s): January 2026
PC Public Hearing on Text Amendment: by March 18, 2027
City Council First Reading: by April 6, 2027
City Council Second Reading: by April 20, 2027
Ordinance Effective Date: May 26, 2027