Maplewood planning commission outlines comprehensive plan timeline; council advances multiple zoning code changes

Kevin Sullivan, chair of Maplewood's Planning and Zoning Commission, presented the commission's annual report to the City Council on May 13, 2025, saying the commission has recommended PGAV for the comprehensive plan work and that PGAV has completed phase 1 (data collection and existing conditions). Sullivan said the steering committee's next meeting will focus on objectives and key results and that the commission aims to work with PGAV on a draft plan with an adoption goal of August 2025.

Sullivan described continued work on zoning code updates. The ordinance review subcommittee and staff recommended multiple amendments that the commission forwarded to the council, including changes to minimum lot sizes and front-yard setbacks to better match existing streetscapes; a limit on new single-family home size to no more than 10% greater than the average square footage of homes within a 300-foot radius; and a cap on additions to existing single-family homes at 500 square feet. Sullivan said the commission updated the zoning-code definition of "family" (working with the city attorney) to focus on a single housekeeping unit rather than blood, marriage or adoption language.

The council considered several code-change bills at the meeting. Bill 62-80 would amend Chapter 56, Article 2 (CB-1 district) to allow additional entertainment uses, permit pop-up stores and retail pet stores with grooming, make tattoo and piercing studios conditional uses with limits, and remove tattoo studios and convenience stores from the list of prohibited uses; it would also prohibit private entertainment clubs in the district. Bill 62-81 would amend multiple sections of Chapter 56 including the definition of family, conversion or change in uses of single-family dwellings, and related provisions; the bill also lists section 56-40 that would prohibit blood banks in all districts. Both bills were advanced through first and second readings and will return for third and final readings at the council's next meeting.

Sullivan said the commission has held 10 meetings and two work sessions over the past year and noted a small number of petitions handled in that period: one short-term vacation rental, one accessory dwelling unit permit, conditional use petitions such as the Crows Nest expansion and a proposed daycare at an old convenience site that fell through. He described a rezoning compromise for 7433 Hazel, in which the rear portion of the property could be commercial while the street-facing portion remained residential.

Council members praised the commission's work and the ordinance subcommittee's research. Sullivan said the subcommittee will continue work on outstanding items including the definition of group homes and accessibility considerations. The planning commission and staff signaled continuing code revisions to align the zoning ordinance with the forthcoming comprehensive plan.