Council passes mixed-use ordinance updates raising commercial minimum to 40% and tightening design/amenity rules

The Hyde Park City Council passed an ordinance (2025‑02) on Feb. 12 amending the city’s mixed-use zoning requirements. The council moved to adopt the changes as discussed and asked staff to refine language on unit cluster limits before final codification.

Major changes approved by the council include:

- Increasing the commercial minimum in mixed-use developments from 25% to 40% and removing a previously available reduction option. Staff and the planning commission said the change aims to retain more retail/commercial land as the city fills with residential projects.

- Excluding live-work units from the commercial percentage calculation; planning commissioners said many local live-work units function as service or non-sales-tax activities and therefore do not substitute for commercial sales-generating uses.

- Increasing required usable common open space (amenities) from 50% to 60% and specifying that certain narrow perimeter strips and “bare earth/xeriscape” do not count toward the usable open-space minimum. The ordinance requires minimum usable space around buildings and certain private yards for townhome-only developments.

- Adding clear snow-storage requirements and a calculation method: developers must provide dedicated snow-storage area sized to accommodate one foot of snow on paved surfaces, with a practical maximum storage height (10 feet) and dispersal requirements so snow storage does not block required parking, sidewalks or amenities.

- Requiring parking be distributed across developments rather than concentrated in a single location; required commercial parking must be located adjacent to commercial uses while surplus parking can be dispersed.

- Placing new unit-mix limits: no more than 50% of units in any mixed-use project may be townhome/rowhouse/duplex/triplex-style units and individual townhome clusters are limited in size (the council asked staff to produce clearer code wording to limit large linear rows and recommended a maximum cluster size around six attached units).

- Removing a proposed mandatory garage-size requirement after council discussion; councilmembers said mandatory large garage dimensions could increase costs and reduce housing affordability.

The council also discussed the attorney’s suggestion that certain mixed-use approvals be memorialized in recorded development agreements to ensure that negotiated design standards or infrastructure commitments carry forward with the land. Staff will prepare clearer code language on the townhome/cluster limitation and the planning commission will present building-material standards in a separate public hearing.

Motion and vote: Councilmember Dave moved to approve Ordinance 2025‑02 as amended with clarification on the unit-restriction language; Councilmember Tiffany seconded. The ordinance passed on a council vote (ayes recorded; motion carried). Councilmembers said they expect the planning commission to return with recommended building-material standards and staff to formalize the development-agreement process where appropriate.

What it means: Mixed-use rezones and future project approvals will be subject to the new commercial percentage and amenity, parking and snow-storage rules. Developers can still request development agreements to alter standards in negotiated cases, but the updated baseline code raises the bar for retail/commercial commitment and project amenity standards across mixed-use projects.