Planning Commission Meeting Date: May 16, 2024
To: Members of the Planning Commission
From: Jake Reilly, Community Development Director
Title
Consider amendments to PC Res. 2024-001 Recommending Adopting an Interim Ordinance Limiting Development in the Northwest Area.
Body
Action Requested:
Consider and discuss staff amendments to PC Resolution 2024-001 recommending an interim ordinance enacting a moratorium on new development applications in the 530 acres of land known as the Northwest Area.
Staff has added text to reflect the complete set of actions taken related to the Northwest Area prior to 2024 in order to strengthen the request. Council actions taken in 2019 are now reflected in underlined text to the staff report, the recommending resolution, and the draft ordinance language.
Summary Report:
Under Minnesota law (Minn.Stat. ?462.355 Subd. 4), a city may adopt an interim ordinance, often called a moratorium, to protect the planning process. Such an ordinance may, "regulate, restrict, or prohibit any use, development, or subdivision within the jurisdiction," if certain conditions are met. Those conditions include if the municipality is conducting studies (or has authorized a study), has scheduled a public hearing to consider adopting or amending a Comprehensive Plan or official controls, or if the area includes land for which plans and/or controls have not yet been adopted. States statute limits such ordinance to expire in one year, unless otherwise addressed before the one-year mark.
In the fall of 2023, the Northfield City Council adopted an Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR) (Attachment 3 - link to website) for an area of approximately 787 undeveloped acres (530 acres in the city limits and the remainder in Greenvale Township) northwest of downtown and west of the Northfield Hospital complex. The AUAR is a unique-to-Minnesota environmental review process intended to evaluate cumulative impacts under multiple development scenarios, incl...
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