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Staff outlines overhaul of overlay districts; proposes shoreland alignment with DNR, new bluffland protections and floodplain updates
Summary
City staff presented proposed Article 4 overlay-district changes to align shoreland rules with the DNR model ordinance, remove a 200 sq ft impervious exemption, simplify steep-slope language, add a bluffland overlay and update floodplain map references to FEMA. Commissioners raised questions about moorings and impacts on undeveloped lots.
City planning staff presented proposed updates to Article 4 of the zoning code on overlay districts — including shoreland alignment with the state DNR model ordinance, a new bluffland overlay, steep-slope clarifications and administrative floodplain changes — and sought commission feedback before further refinement and later city council review.
"This is our next step in the process of doing a full code review," Associate City Planner Travis Briarley told commissioners, saying staff identified more than 500 shortfalls in the current code. He said the shoreland revisions would clarify definitions for accessory structures (pools, saunas, detached garages), and change the impervious-surface definition by removing a 200-square-foot exemption that staff said can be used to circumvent a 25% maximum impervious-cover limit.
Briarley said staff also wants to simplify the steep-slope definition to a 12% threshold to reduce confusion, and to add a bluffland overlay for slopes of 18% or greater measured over 25 feet. "We want to protect the bluffs. We want to protect structures from long-term risk," he said, adding that the bluffland overlay would include vegetation-management requirements and a typical 30-foot setback for new structures.
On floodplain language, staff recommended relying on FEMA's interactive maps rather than hard-coded map citations in the municipal code; commissioners expressed a preference for keeping a locally accessible copy while staff said digital copies pulled from FEMA would provide the most up-to-date authoritative maps. When a commissioner asked whether the city has water-dependent uses, staff noted docks are regulated by the Lake Minnetonka authority and the DNR provides guidance on environmental protections.
Commissioners raised two substantive concerns: whether limiting moorings or setting a mooring ratio should be considered to prevent overbuilding of docks, and how the bluffland overlay would affect undeveloped lots whose owners may have purchased property with different expectations. Briarley said exact parcel counts and effects would require engineering analysis and that properties rendered nonconforming by new rules would typically retain existing uses as legal nonconforming properties.
Staff said the overlay revisions will be refined with public input and returned for further commission and council review; no formal vote was required at tonight’s meeting.
