Agenda - Council - 04/02/2024 - Special

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Letter: Strong concerns over housing bills I Chanhassen Letters to the Ed... https://www.swnewsmedia.com/chanhassen_villager/news/opinion/lette... This legislation would broadly preempt city zoning and land use authority and ignore long range local comprehensive plans. It lacks consideration for how cities utilize zoning and land use to ensure the health, safety and welfare for residents and scale infrastructure to support new housing density. Other concerning elements of these bills include: • Allowing duplex conversion of any existing home or lot. • Allowing multi-family dwellings to be constructed by right, meaning there's no opportunity for public feedback, in any commercially zoned district or multifamily area. Imposing new height restrictions could result in buildings as tall as 150 ft throughout our communities. • Limiting minimum parking requirements while requiring higher density. This could result in developers underbuilding parking resulting in spillover onto city streets that were not designed to accommodate dense on-street parking. Our cities have spent decades carefully planning development. We each have comprehensive plans which reflect the unique needs of our communities. All of our locally- led efforts included countless hours invested by residents and community officials. If this legislation passes, these plans will be replaced with a one-size-fits-all state-mandated framework. Special interest groups and some legislators claim this legislation would help promote affordable housing and result in the construction of more affordable starter homes. Unfortunately, this is a misleading narrative due to the market realities of supply and demand and market forces outside city control. While we appreciate the efforts being made to address the housing crisis, we believe certain aspects of the proposed legislation must be modified to better align with the unique needs and challenges faced by our local communities. If these bills become state statute, they will forever change land use, planning and development across our communities and throughout the state. Not only will local control be lost; so too will your voice because "by right"will replace local zoning authority and the public hearing process. We have all connected with our State Representatives and State Senators, many of whom have experience serving as local elected officials, to let them know we have serious concerns with the proposed housing bills. If this proposed legislation concerns you too, we encou you to make your voices heard by asking questions and sharing your feedback. 2 of 3 4/2/2024, 1:06 PM