Meyer: Welcome, everyone, to the regular meeting for the Minneapolis Planning Commission for April 6, 2026. My name is Chris Meyer, and I'm chair of the commission. At this time, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll. Clerk: Commissioner Baxley is absent. Chowdhury. Chowdhury: Present. Clerk: Conley is absent. Garcia. Garcia: Present. Clerk: Gordon. Gordon: Present. Clerk: Jones. Jones: Here. Clerk: Skjefte is absent. Sheppard. Sheppard: Present. Clerk: And Vice President
Wagner. Wagner: Here. Clerk: And President Meyer. Meyer: Here. Clerk: There are 7 members present. Meyer: We have a quorum. Before we proceed, I'm gonna ask staff to give an update on what the captioning situation is. Dahler: President Meyer, thank you. Ken Dahler from the Clerk's Office. Just want to note for those in the room that we are un--due to some technical issues, we're unable to broadcast the meeting tonight, so the only folks able to see us live right now are those of us who are in the room. We will do everything we can to get this meeting recorded and uploaded to our usual YouTube channels at a
later date, but we can proceed with the meeting as normal and continue with the Commission's business. Meyer: Thank you for that. All right. So first, we're gonna move to the minutes for March 16, 2026. Is there a motion to adopt those minutes? >> So moved. >> Second. Meyer: Is there any discussion? All in favor say, "Aye." >> Aye. Meyer: Opposed, abstentions. The minutes are adopted. Next, we're going to organize the agenda. I'm going to read through each item. If you are here to speak against the staff
recommendation for one of the items, raise your hand when I call on that one. If you are here to speak in support of something or just to make neutral comments, you can do that during the consent agenda. So if you were here for the street renaming in particular, you'll have an opportunity to speak in support of the project later on, but for now, we're just looking for people who are against the staff recommendation. So staff is recommending that item 4 be on consent. We're gonna discuss item 5, the text amendment. Item
6 is gonna be continued to the next cycle, and then staff are recommending 7 and 8 for consent, as well. So was anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for item number 4, Blaisdell Avenue between Franklin Avenue West and 22nd Street West? All right. So we'll keep that on consent. Number 5 we're going to discuss. Number 6 we're going to continue. Is anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for item number 7, 734 and 800 Tyler Street Northeast? All right. We'll keep that on
consent, and lastly, item number 8, 1200 and 1204 East Lake Street. Was anyone here to speak against the staff recommendation for item number 8? All right. We will keep that on consent. All right. And then I believe we'll do the continuance first, right? Yep. So is there a motion to continue item number 6 to the next cycle? Sorry. We have to open the hearing. Sorry. So if
you wanted to speak to this, you'll have a chance to in the next cycle when we're actually gonna consider it, but if you came here now, you can also speak now, so I'll open the public hearing for item number 6. Would anyone like to speak to it? All right. So we'll keep that open--gonna keep that hearing open to the next meeting. Is there a motion to continue that item? >> So moved. Meyer: Is there a second? >> Second. Meyer: All right. All in favor say, "Aye." >> Aye. Opposed, abstentions? Item 6 is continued. Now I'll open the consent agenda. So if you came here to speak in support of
something or to make a neutral comment, you can do that now for any of our consent items. Would anyone like to speak to any of our items? If you're here for the street renaming, you might want to do that. Yeah. Come on up and introduce yourself... and you can have two minutes to speak. >> Thank you. Can you hear me? Meyer: Yes. >> OK. Thank you. Good evening, committee chair and members. My name is Aileen Johnson. I live in Ward 3 in North Loop. I am founder and president of the
Minneapolis Police Honor Guard and Color Guard Foundation. Our mission is to honor the departed and comfort the bereaved. I'm here to speak in favor of the proposal by the mayor and chief to rename the small stretch of Blaisdell Avenue between West 22nd Street and West Franklin Avenue to Officer Jamal Mitchell Way. When Jamal was killed in an ambush shooting while attempting to render aid, he left behind his life partner Tori and 4 children. All across Minneapolis, we grieve for their deep and continued suffering. I
visit with Tori and the children frequently, and they are so hopeful that this honor to the memory of their beloved Jamal will be given. I encourage you to honor the sacrifice made by Jamal, Tori, and their children to acknowledge their ongoing sorrow and to provide them comfort by approving the renaming proposal. Thank you for your time and consideration. Meyer: Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak to the consent agenda? All right. Not seeing any, so
I'll close the consent hearing. Commissioners, are there any questions, discussion? None? OK. Is there a motion to adopt staff recommendation for consent agenda? >> So moved. Meyer: All right. All in favor, say, "Aye." >> Aye. Meyer: Against, abstain? That is adopted. So if you came here for items 4, 7, or 8, those are passed. Good luck with your projects, and now we'll go to item number 5, the zoning code text amendment for safe outdoor parking, and staff is Madel
Mouta. Mouta: Oh, OK. Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is Madel Mouta, and I'm here today with Aspen Pflanz to present to you the Safe Outdoor Parking Amendment. We initially brought this to you on October 9 of 2025 last year to a Committee of the Whole. To begin, I'll walk you through some of the background that led to this amendment. On December 15, 2023, the Minneapolis City Council declared homelessness as a public health emergency. The declaration included
a commitment to explore a range of tools, policies, and partnerships to respond in a meaningful and urgent way. Building on that effort, Council Member Chavez introduced an ordinance in November 2024 to create regulated, safe outdoor spaces. The version before you today focuses specifically on safe outdoor parking. This amendment adds a new use to the zoning code that allows people to legally stay in their cars overnight in designated managed parking lots. These sites would
require both an interim use permit and a business license to ensure safe and responsible operation. This change also requires coordination across several parts of the Minneapolis code, including health, housing, and licensing. All of these updates are intended to be adopted together. This proposal is designed for people already living in their vehicles, offering a legal managed place to stay and a more consistent way to connect to services. It recognizes that traditional shelters do not work for everyone, whether due
to capacity, safety concerns, or personal preference, and position safe parking as an early intervention that can help prevent people from falling deeper into homelessness. This amendment is strongly supported by the city's Comprehensive Plan, Minneapolis 2040. 3 key policies guide this work. First, Goal One, to eliminate, focuses on eliminating disparities and ensuring that all communities in Minneapolis can thrive. Addressing homelessness is a big
part of achieving this vision. Second, Policy 40 calls for eliminating homelessness through safe, stable, and affordable housing strategies. Safe outdoor parking functions as a short-term option that can connect people to longer-term housing. And third, Policy 85 emphasizes expanding equitable access to health, social, and emergency services. Again, designated parking sites can help make those services more consistent and more accessible. Together, these policies show how this amendment fits in with the broader city's
housing and health strategies. Safe outdoor parking is one tool among many. The city already has several zoning tools that support people experiencing homelessness, including emergency shelters, supportive housing, and single-room occupancy, or otherwise called SROs. We also have intentional community cluster developments, including models like sacred communities, under state statute. These tools serve different populations at different levels of need, from structured housing to more flexible, lower-barrier options. Safe outdoor parking
fills a specific gap for people living in their vehicles who are not accessing existing shelter options. It adds another option within the system for people who are currently not being reached. This amendment is informed by real-world examples and collaboration across departments. We looked at models in Duluth and in Denver. In Duluth, the city adopted interim living sites in 2022. A nonprofit called Safe Bay operates a seasonal safe parking program from May to
October with support from the city. This is a strong example of coordination between public and nonprofit partners. Denver's approach began as a nonprofit-led effort during the COVID-19 pandemic and was initially allowed as on a temporary basis. In 2023, the city updated its zoning code to formally recognize these sites as temporary managed communities, which included safe parking, tiny home villages, and other temporary shelter types. At its peak, Denver's program
operated 13 sites and served about 110 cars every night. While successful, it also highlighted the importance of sustainable funding and operational capacity. These examples show the importance of clear zoning pathways, strong operational standards, and coordination with service providers. This amendment reflects these lessons by establishing a zoning and license framework for safe, temporary, and managed outdoor parking. In addition to studying
peer cities, we also had a lot of cross collaboration with regulatory services, the Health Department, the City Attorney's Office, and with Planning and Traffic, and with that, I will pass it to Aspen, who will tell you more about the amendment specifically. Pflanz: Thank you. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Aspen Pflanz. I am going to speak to the specific zoning code language that we are proposing. Safe outdoor spaces, again, morphed into safe
outdoor parking at this time, and we created its own definition and use because it didn't fit into any other definition we currently have in the zoning code because it's not just parking, but it's not entirely housing, so with that, this use would be a new use in our Institutional and Civic use category that would be allowed in any zoning district, which is similar to our intentional community cluster developments, but it would be allowed as an interim use only. Typically, our interim uses have to be allowed as a conditional use in a
permitted district. However, with the temporary nature of this use, we decided to make it interim use only, which has a maximum duration of 5 years, but in the zoning code, we had to create new findings for this use because typically interim use permits also have to meet all 6 conditional use permit findings. So in the actual ordinance language, you'll see 5 findings proposed for interim only uses, which is a combination of the 5-year maximum duration, as well as the specific--some
specific use standards from the conditional use--from conditional uses that we have. The definition is that safe outdoor parking would be "an establishment operated by a nonprofit organization, government agency, or religious organization where off street parking spaces are provided for the purpose of legally sheltering overnight in personal passenger vehicles within an existing parking area." The population intended to be served by this use are people already sheltering overnight in their personal passenger vehicles, so
RVs would not be permitted, and neither would tents or other structures. The approvals required would be an interim use permit only and a business license, which would go concurrently before the Business, Housing, and Zoning Committee and which would be approved by council and have a public hearing, and the specific use requirements for the zoning code that we landed on were that a 10,000-square-foot minimum lot size, an existing off-street parking lot would be where the use was located, and
that a management plan depicting all parking areas, facilities provided, and security measures, which staff would be able to review, as well as tailored to the business license, which would really take care of the operations and management of the site. Given that this use would require other changes in other parts of the code, we anticipate those being changes to Title 13 business licenses and regulations. Again, whether it's a new business license type or it is looped into their
commercial parking lot license is still being considered. We have been working with them the last several months to discuss what type of operational standards might be required with this but being very careful not to include those in the zoning language because we're not necessarily equipped to handle enforcement like licensing staff is, but things that would be included would be on-site staffing for the lots, daily clearance of the site so that it's really only
operational through overnight hours that would be set by the particular operator. Sanitation facilities that would be provided, whether that's in accessory structures or included as part of a primary building existing on the site. Security measures, as well as restrictions on prohibited activities. Title 11 relating to health and sanitation. Again, if sanitation facilities were provided, such as portable bathrooms, handwashing stations, we would want to make sure that
the current language in Title 11 allows for that. Title 12 relating to housing maintenance code is that typically sheltering in your vehicle overnight is not allowed in the city, so an exception would have to be made for this use to be operating, and then lastly, we'd like to touch on our idling ordinance in the city. You're not allowed to idle in a vehicle for more than a few minutes per hour unless there are very specific cases where if it's a health or safety emergency or temperatures are very low or very high, there are exceptions
to that. We are not proposing that this use not abide by the idling ordinance. We are just encouraging staff to take extra consideration that if changes were needed for that ordinance that those would come forward when the whole package goes to council for safe outdoor parking. At this time, it is written in our proposed language that operators and occupants using these sites would abide by our idling ordinances. However, not limiting this use to a season, we want to ensure that
if folks are in their vehicles during hot or cold temperatures or need to power devices that other power source or heating and cooling alternatives be explored through their management plan. And we also just want to be very clear that we are here proposing zoning code changes, but the business license operations management questions are still being considered, which would, again, ensure that the shelter type being allowed at these sites are passenger vehicles only, the hours of operation are limited to overnight only, occupants and
all of their belongings would need to clear the site daily, security and safety would be included that's specific to their site and that particular operator, and sanitation would also be required such as active garbage service, water, bathrooms, and that these ordinance changes, when ready, would also require public hearing so folks will have more of an opportunity to provide input.
With that, we are recommending approval of our proposed changes, but we would happily answer any questions that you may have. Meyer: Thank you. Before we proceed to the public hearing, would anyone like to ask any questions? Commissioner Sheppard. Sheppard: Thank you for that. Thank you for the update. I just have one small administrative question. Some zoning ordinances cover this, and some don't, and this might be more of a business license issue, but in the licensure, is there consideration for an escrow
that might mitigate the city's risk should, unfortunately, as in Denver's case, it had to shut down for lack of funds? This is pretty much the only legal situation in which we can suggest an escrow. Clerk: Commissioner Sheppard, the zoning code right now does not have any applications or development types that require an escrow. Sheppard: Thank you. Meyer: Any other questions? Commissioner Jones. Jones: I'm curious as to why you don't include RVs. Meyer: Can you turn your mic on, please? Jones: Sorry. I'm curious as to
why you chose not to include RVs, which seems like another reasonable place to hang out at night. Pflanz: Yeah. I would say that staff determined passenger vehicles being allowed only because in other parts of our code we prohibit recreational vehicles in residential areas. I think it's in our UN1 and UN2 districts, and so if--we would
have to change other parts of the code to allow for recreational vehicles, which if we're specifically prohibiting in residential areas anyway and we're proposing this use be allowed anywhere. That was one consideration. Also lessons learned from places like Duluth and Denver. Obviously, they're big recreational destinations, and they have found success limiting it to non-recreational vehicles, given that they wanted the use to specifically serve folks experiencing homelessness rather than someone going on a camping trip.
Meyer: Anyone else? All right. Not seeing anyone else, so I will open the public hearing. Would anyone like to speak to this item? Is anyone in the audience here for this? >> I'll speak. Meyer: Yep. You can come on up, introduce yourself, and you have two minutes. >> So my name is Janet Lenius. I live in the Saint Anthony West neighborhood. I'm very tall, so I'll raise this up. I actually have a homeless couple living a door down from me in
their vehicle, so this is interesting to me because then rather than staying in a neighborhood, they could have a place to take their vehicle for overnight, so I would be interested in contact info so I would have a place to refer them to once this opens. OK. Thank you.
Meyer: Thank you for your testimony, and you can stop by the clerk over here to write down your information. We can have someone connect with you. Um, that actually--oh, sorry, did anyone else want to speak to the--for the public hearing? Anyone else? OK. I will close the public hearing, and that prompts a question from me. So it's not guaranteed that any of these sites will actually happen, right? We're just allowing them, but there would have to be a nonprofit
that steps up to do this. Is that correct? Pflanz: Correct. Meyer: OK. So just for Janet, I don't know if you heard that, but it's not guaranteed that we'll have any of these. This just allows them if a church or another nonprofit were to choose to establish them, so there's no guarantee that you would have a place to, but if someone steps up, this would authorize it. Chowdhury: Put myself in the queue. Meyer: Commissioner Chowdhury. Chowdhury: Thank you so much,
Chair Meyer. I just prepared some remarks for this zoning text amendment, so for those who don't know me, my name is Aurin Chowdhury. I serve on the Minneapolis City Council, and I am the appointed member to the Planning Commission. Me, Council Member Chavez, Council Member Chughtai have been talking about a safe outdoor space model for over 4 years now. We started this discussion when Council Member Chavez
actually was first elected, and I was a policy aide in his office, and we're bringing forward several ordinances related to safe parking to make this a reality, so today is actually such a exciting day to see all the work that our staff put in to bring forward this zoning text amendment and recommend it for approval. I really wanted to take some time to highlight a lot of the successes that we have been hearing about, particularly in Duluth, Minnesota. It is an
evidence-based case that we can replicate here in Minneapolis that is managed--that shows that managed parking produces measurable safety, housing, and public health benefits for people experiencing homelessness at a relatively low cost. We actually had a budget amendment that we discussed in prior years following suit to what Duluth was doing, and that looked at for a season it was about $150,000 to $200,000 for
what they were looking to do. In Duluth, Safe Bay has demonstrated a lot of quantifiable outcomes. During the single recent operating season, the program served over 164 individuals and helped 17 people transition into permanent housing, which represents a really meaningful short-term rate for housing placement and a low-barrier intervention. We recently had a report to the Minneapolis City Council on
encampments and encampment closures. We have an encampment closure reporting ordinance that gives us this information, and one thing that the Regulatory Services Department started highlighting that was really interesting for us is that they found--they had 59 different incidents in one quarter in the city of Minneapolis of community members experiencing homelessness and staying in their car, so I think this is really just something that is coming at an
important moment in time in our city, especially when we see so many of our community members struggling. Hennepin County is the place where Health and Human Services happens. That's where shelters happen, and we hear all the time from Hennepin County that they're almost nearly full or at full capacity, and they're a shelter all county for families, and we advocate every single year here in Minneapolis to the federal government for any type of funding, and of course, we know
the current state of the federal government, and so that funding is really tough to get, and so having unique initiatives like this is just a great way to meet people where they're at, and I also wanted to kind of highlight some of the public safety benefits that we've seen in Duluth and heard from our counterparts there. So public safety data shows that over the roughly 6 months of operation that they had, they had only 8 police calls which were recorded at the site, and those included
two medical incidents, indicating low incident rates compared to unsanctioned encampments or people that are just trying to find a place to sleep, whether it's, like, at a storefront or under a bridge. This also supports broader research that shows that sanctioned safe parking sites reduce exposure to crime, harassment, and displacement while improving neighborhood management compared to our current state of homelessness, and so I'm asking all of you
to support this zoning code text amendment today so we can really kick off making safe outdoor spaces and safe parking a reality. And to Janet, who asked about "How do I refer this to community members that are in need?" when this becomes a reality--and that's what we're gonna work towards--I really recommend getting in contact with your city council member because they'll be able to get you connected to the staff that will ultimately be the point person for this. And so I'm
really excited to see this move forward, and I'm excited to keep on talking to all of you about all the next steps on making safe parking a reality. Meyer: Thank you. I'm also very excited about this and want to thank you, Council Member Chavez, and Council Member Chughtai for all the work you did bringing it forward. Chowdhury: Chowdhury, not Chugtai. Meyer: She's listed as an author, too. Chowdhury: Oh, I thought you were talking about me. Sorry. Meyer: I said--no. Chowdhury: Ha! Sorry. Meyer: All 3 of you. [Laughter] Yeah. So I think this is a
really great improvement over the status quo. Obviously, we all want to see people housed in proper housing, and we on the Planning Commission have been working to, you know, allow more housing to get built, but when we have shortages and when there aren't enough shelter spaces, I think this is a good solution, and I'm glad that it's being put forward in a really thoughtful and managed way. I'm also glad that you're not proposing any change to the idling ordinances.
I do think that would be a significant negative if there were parking lots filled of idling vehicles for extended period periods of time. That could be a real health issue, so I'm glad we put this forward, and I'm happy to support it. Any other commissioners like to speak to it? Commissioner Gordon? Gordon: Yeah. Thank you for all of your work on this. I just think in thinking about housing, it's really interesting and thinking about expanding the definition of housing, and I think that's what
you're doing is a vehicle being an extension of housing itself. so I think any way that we can do to expand housing from 4 walls and a roof into other elements itself is important just for our conversations. So thank you. I'll be supporting this. Meyer: Thank you. Commissioner Garcia. Garcia: Yeah. I would like to also thank you for all your hard work on this. It's really impressive to look through this and to see the creativity that went into it, as well as the research. I've heard such
positive things about the safe parking in Duluth from friends and colleagues who live there, and as a Park Board commissioner, you know, we have a long history of seeing what happens when people don't have a space to go but are forced to move anyway and the difficulties that that causes, the challenges that it raises for our unhoused neighbors. and I also will be excited to support this because I think that this is a great
stop gap opportunity for us to give people an opportunity to have someplace safe that they're comfortable staying while looking to either find more permanent housing or to just gather resources to move on their journey, so thank you for your work. Meyer: Thank you, Commissioner Garcia. Would anyone else like to speak? Commissioner Chowdhury, would you like to move your motion? Chowdhury: Yes. So moved. Meyer: So moving the staff
recommendation. Is there a second? Garcia: Second. Meyer: Any last discussion? Commissioner Sheppard, you had your mic on. OK. Sheppard: Oh! Just-- Meyer: You can go ahead if you want. Sheppard: Just to vote. Meyer: OK. All right. All in favor, say, "Aye." >> Aye. Meyer: Opposed, abstentions. That is adopted, and that concludes our business for the day. Our next Planning Commission meeting will be Monday, April 20, and we have no Committee of the Whole this week. Are there any updates from staff or commissioners? Clerk: Yes, just an update that we are about to enter our CLIC
season. So a couple of reminders. Thursday--this Thursday, Committee of the Whole will be canceled, but Thursday April 23, the Planning Commission Committee of the Whole will preview capital budget requests that are coming forward. Then Thursday, May 7 is the joint CPC and CLIC public hearing, and a reminder, again, that that requires a full quorum of the Planning Commission, not the Planning Commission Committee of the Whole. We have--I think Commissioner Jones is absent that day, so let me know of any
other absences, but we will need a full quorum at that, and then Thursday, May 21, CPC-COW will consider capital budget requests and project location and design review, and then June 8 is the last stop where that will be on the full Planning Commission agenda. So a couple of Committee of the Whole meetings that will definitely be on your calendars coming up. Meyer: Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Not seeing any, so we are adjourned. [Bangs gavel]