Saint Cloud planning panel splits 2-2 after crowded hearing on future land use update

The City of Saint Cloud Planning Commission heard a lengthy public hearing on a multi-year update to the citys future land use map on the evening of the commission meeting in summer 2025; commissioners split 2-2 on a recommendation after hours of testimony from residents and detailed explanation from staff and a consultant.

Consultant Jared Jones, hired to help the city produce the future land use element, told the commission the update responds to rapid regional growth and projections showing demand for more than 17,000 housing units by 2045. Jones said staff revised several proposed commercial designations after public feedback and corrected a map-coloring error that had incorrectly shown medium-density where low-density was intended. "We changed it back not to LDR but to MDR, and that was a mistake," he said, adding, "I do apologize for that." (Jared Jones, consultant.)

Why it matters: The future land use map sets the long-range vision that guides later zoning, development-review and infrastructure planning. While a land-use designation does not automatically change a parcels zoning, it determines what types of zoning districts the city will consider when land is rezoned or annexed in the coming decades.

Much of the evenings debate centered on proposed changes around the lakefront and on the citys "state streets," where staff proposed allowing higher-density residential in places. Several speakers who live on or near Lakeshore Boulevard said they restored and invested in historic homes and objected to conversion of long-standing residential blocks into neighborhood commercial or higher-density designations. "I would have never taken on that project had I known that the city was planning on making my street a commercial block," said Kathleen Silva, who identified herself as the owner of the historic Doctor Woods House on Florida Avenue.

Residents also raised traffic and parking concerns, said developers and annexed lands will supply many of the rooftops planned, and asked how the city would protect existing homeowners rights. Staff repeatedly emphasized the difference between future land use (a planning-level designation) and zoning (which sets building standards and requires separate approvals). Melissa Dunklin, director of community development, said the plan is "a living document" that can be amended later and that property owners retain existing entitlements: "This is simply going forward prospectively for those property owners...that wish to take to do something maybe different," she told the commission.

At the close of public comment and deliberations, a commissioner moved to recommend approval of the ordinance (cited in the hearing as ordinance 2024-50 / CPA2400007) with a condition removing the commercial allowance on Florida Avenue and to seek adjustments to the high-density numbers on the state streets. The motion was seconded, and the commission recorded a split vote. The commission tally was 2 to 2, which the chair and counsel noted results in no formal recommendation being forwarded to City Council.

Next step: The matter will move to City Council for public hearing and final action; staff had previously noted the council hearing would be scheduled in September, and a city workshop on the item was announced for later in the week. The commissions split will be reported to council along with the public comments and recommended edits.