Saint Cloud adopts major comprehensive-plan and zoning updates after public debate over Florida Avenue and Lakefront

The Saint Cloud City Council on Thursday approved a package of planning and zoning measures intended to steer growth over the next 20 years, including a large-scale comprehensive-plan amendment, new “JPA infill center” standards in the land-development code and a revised transportation element.

The council approved the comprehensive-plan amendment and a series of companion land-development-code updates and rezonings after hours of presentations from planning staff and an extended public comment period in which residents urged the council to protect the character of Florida Avenue and the Lakeshore.

The plan update, staff said, is driven by regional population forecasts and a persistent imbalance between housing and jobs. Melissa Dunklin, the city’s director of community development, told the council the city’s jobs-to-housing ratio is roughly 0.57 — about one job for every two households — and that the update seeks to move the ratio closer to 1.0 by directing new employment, commercial and mixed-use land to specific locations in and near the city.

“The intention is to balance character and growth, expand employment opportunities and celebrate parks, lakes and open space,” Dunklin said. She described new future land use categories, an overlay for “neighborhood commercial” along some corridors, and protections such as a 250-foot average lake-buffer policy for lakes inside the city limits.

Why it matters: The package changes where and how the city anticipates commercial, industrial and higher-density residential development will occur. Council and…