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Council adopts rezoning to redevelop long-vacant Minnehaha Avenue site for housing
Summary
The council gave final approval to an ordinance rezoning an HRA-owned, long-vacant industrial site at 694 Minnehaha Ave. E. to residential and mixed-density districts to clear the way for redevelopment and affordable housing.
The St. Paul City Council adopted a final ordinance approving a multi-party application to rezone property at 694 Minnehaha Avenue East, a site the council described as vacant and blighted for decades, to permit residential and mixed-density uses.
The ordinance (item 19) implements a rezoning requested by the Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority, the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority and St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church. It changes zoning for parcels at 694 Minnehaha Ave. E. et al. from I2 (general industrial) to H2 (residential), T3 (traditional neighborhood) and RM2 (medium-density multiple-family residential), and amends chapter 60 of the legislative code as necessary to reflect the changes.
Council Member Tara Johnson moved approval and said the rezoning would “create the needed affordable housing in our city,” convert HRA-owned land to taxable private property, remedy a blighted site that has been vacant for roughly 30 years, and support a walkable, transit-oriented neighborhood. The council voted to adopt the ordinance on its third reading.
The ordinance was adopted unanimously by the council members present. The final adoption concludes the three-reading process the council uses for ordinances; the item had previously received staff reports and a public hearing. Staff and applicants indicated the rezoning is part of a larger redevelopment plan for the former brewery/Ham site (referred to in the record as the Ham site).
