Maplewood planner presents comprehensive-plan findings; housing, parking and floodplain flagged as top issues

Catherine Hamaker, an urban planner with PGAV, told the Maplewood City Council on Jan. 14 that the city's housing stock, parking and land-use patterns will be the focus of upcoming scenario planning for the comprehensive-plan update.

Hamaker said the city's average household size is smaller than neighboring communities and that much of Maplewood's housing stock is older and limited in scale. "The average household size is significantly smaller than neighboring communities," she said, and only 477 housing units have been built in Maplewood since 1980.

The presentation matters because the comprehensive plan guides long-term policy and zoning decisions. Hamaker and the steering committee will use the baseline analysis and public input to test alternative land-use scenarios this spring; the steering committee will then fold preferred options into a draft plan for review later this year.

Hamaker reviewed existing conditions showing single-family homes occupy roughly 37% of the city's land while commercial, multifamily and parks make up the remainder. She said about 58% of units are renter-occupied, roughly 70% of units have one or two bedrooms, and the majority of rental units are under $1,500 per month. Commercial vacancy and rent figures were presented as square-foot measures rather than storefront counts, a point several council members questioned.

Public outreach to date included an in-person open house (about 50 attendees), an opt-in online community survey (approximately 274 respondents at the time of the presentation) and a Realtors Association's statistically valid survey (360 respondents, 5.2% margin of error). Common themes were concern about housing affordability, property maintenance, support for local businesses in downtown, and interest in pedestrian and bicycle safety. The Realtors-funded survey showed residents generally rate Maplewood's quality of life highly, but nearly half of respondents in both surveys identified for-sale housing as somewhat or very unaffordable.

Hamaker noted Maplewood's land-use diversity, with both a historic downtown and larger newer developments, and flagged the presence of significant floodplain areas as a constraint the plan will need to address. She also said the city does not control all roadway ownership in key corridors, which may limit how the city can implement some changes.

Next steps: between now and April PGAV and the steering committee will identify scenario areas and model alternatives (for example, converting mixed areas to different mixes of residential/commercial uses) and evaluate likely impacts on population, tax base, parking and environment. The consultant expects to produce a draft plan over the summer and aim for adoption in late summer or early fall.

Council members asked for more granular vacancy metrics (storefront-level counts in addition to square-foot vacancy) and for clarity about interaction with the Planning & Zoning Commission. Hamaker said she has presented to the commission and noted that, under Missouri practice, Planning & Zoning has the authority to adopt a comprehensive plan; the chair of Planning & Zoning serves on the steering committee. The council did not take formal action on the presentation.