Minutes - Council - 04/02/2024 - Special

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5. COUNCIL BUSINESS 5.00: Consider City's Position on MN Housing Legislation City Administrator Hagen reviewed the Staff report in regard to the Minnesota Housing Legislation. He shared that Councilmembers Howell, Musgrove, and Specht called for this Special Meeting in response to the bills being discussed at the legislature. Councilmember Musgrove thanked Staff for getting this special meeting together. She noted that there are many things that the legislature is working on this year that will have major impacts to the cities, especially this one concerning housing. She explained that this legislation would change a lot of what the City would be able to do for housing. She shared that they need to do something to show the legislature that this would render the Council uninvolved in the zoning process in their own City. She added that it would not be acceptable for them to not say or do anything. She said they need to let the legislature and the governor know the City’s position on this matter. Councilmember Howell thanked resident Jim Bendtsen who came forward at the last Council Meeting and made the Council aware of this legislation. She shared that she spent time digging into this legislation and has some concerns. She noted that there are a number of other cities around the metro area that have already started lobbying against this. She said there are approximately 20 cities in the State that have started to take action on this. She said it would be great for the Council to send their own letter to the legislature as the legislators representing the City will also support the City’s stance. She added that if they wanted to form a larger coalition then there are some groups that have multiple cities who have signed on to letters in opposition of this, and they could gather all cities who are in opposition and form a coalition together with Ramsey as its lead. City Attorney Knaak shared that they already know what happens when Minneapolis tries to make decisions for the whole metro area. He shared that the legislature has not had the opportunity to impose their zoning controls on everyone yet. He noted that Minneapolis has gotten a lot of push back on their efforts to increase density in their 2040 plan. He explained that they are making an effort to change the law to get around this. He shared that they found an ally in this effort in contractors who want to lessen city power for obvious reasons. He said they have not seen a situation like this where there has been this kind of support from both sides of the aisle. He noted that this can be very dangerous. He explained that cities take many things into account, including city services and safety, when developments are looking to come into cities; however, this legislation would make these decisions exclusively based on profits and not planning. He said Ramsey should take pride in the fact that they are an example of how development should work, as the Council considers things such as traffic, safety, and City services before deciding if a development is right for the City. He noted that this is very different from the previous stance of the legislature years ago. He said there is nothing extreme about the way Minnesota regulates housing and zoning. He added that this issue resulted from a political problem in Minneapolis and is from a lot of people who are unfamiliar with what cities actually do. He discussed that this situation is similar to the recent THC legislation that did not give cities much control. He said they cannot word this letter strongly enough to show the legislature that they do not support this. He noted that it is very important that they voice their opinion on this. He said the thing that bothers him the most about this is the lack of reflection. He noted that the less friction the legislation gets City Council Special Session / April 2, 2024 Page 3 of 7