Mankato council approves zoning changes to speed housing, reduces parking minimums, updates cannabis registration fees and authorizes CAPER submission

The Mankato City Council on Sept. 8 approved a package of zoning and business-code changes aimed at accelerating housing development and aligning local cannabis registration with recent state policy changes.

Council voted to amend city code to allow apartments in the B-3 Highway Business District as a conditional use and to adopt performance standards for those projects, including requirements for recreational amenities, transitional yards and screening of mechanical equipment. Staff told the council the change seeks to compress a multi-step land-use timeline (land-use-amendment, rezoning, then conditional-use) that can total several months to a targeted 45'60 days for qualifying projects. "That process takes about 45 to 60 days," said a staff presenter explaining the timeline benefit.

The council also approved an ordinance reducing off-street parking minimums for higher-density multifamily dwellings from two spaces per unit to 1.5 spaces per unit. City staff argued the change lowers development costs, reduces impervious surface and stormwater impacts and provides more flexible site design; staff described the approach as gradual and subject to…