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Council advances zoning change to redefine group homes and make them permitted in residential districts
Summary
The City Council advanced an amendment to the zoning code that redefines group homes and would make them permitted uses in several residential districts; the council approved first and second readings and the measure will return for a third and final reading.
The City Council advanced an amendment to the Maplewood Zoning Code concerning “group homes.” The ordinance would revise definitions in Chapter 56 and permit group homes as an allowed use in several residential districts rather than as a conditional use. Council discussion noted that the state statutory language cited in planning materials (referred to in the meeting as “chapter 89”) defines group homes in a way that limits them to care for persons with mental or physical disabilities and would not include halfway houses. Council members and staff emphasized that the proposed local definition aligns with state definitions used in their planning memo and that the change would remove the conditional-use hearing requirement for qualifying group homes. The bill passed first and second readings at the meeting; the item will come back for a third and final reading at the council’s next meeting. Staff and planning-and-zoning representatives were present to answer council questions; councilmember remarks showed the item was intended to clarify the city’s land-use categories and reduce the permitting burden for certain group-home uses, not to change state law or to alter licensing required by other agencies.
