Agenda Packets - 2009/01/09 - Laserfiche WebLink

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2008 Mounds View Comprehensive Plan ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 4: Housing 4-18 • Detached and/or attached single-family residential neighborhoods • Housing that is more than 40 years old • Where the average assessed value is less than the average for the City • Areas characterized by a distinct housing type that may limit reinvestment. The City also should consider developing neighborhood preservation initiatives. To ensure that neighborhoods in the city remain strong and vital, government housing policies need to encourage reinvestment in the housing stock, promote affordable housing and life cycle choices. Development Opportunities Like many older cities, development opportunities in Mounds View are primarily limited to infill and redevelopment. Infill development will more likely occur as the owners of larger residential lots and the few remaining vacant parcels subdivide or redevelop their properties. In general, the remaining vacant parcels have development constraints such as poor soils, drainage problems, wetlands, limited street access, utilities or conflicts with adjacent land uses. Redevelopment may occur in the areas identified in Figure 8 on page 4-21, including the County Highway 10 corridor. The City anticipates that residential development will occur at higher densities in these redevelopment areas and could provide housing alternatives including apartments, townhomes and condominiums. The City must recognize that infill and redevelopment is challenging. Land assembly may be a fundamental challenge with some infill and redevelopment areas as the areas may include several land parcels, may have several different property owners, businesses or unwilling sellers. Site conditions also may present another challenge for developers. These conditions may include contamination, poor access, inadequate infrastructure and environmental constraints such as poor soils or wetlands. Infill and redevelopment also can be challenging if the owner needs to retrofit the site to meet the City’s current development standards and watershed district requirements. Another challenge is to create a development that “fits-in” with the character of the neighborhood and has minimal impact on the adjoining land uses. The last challenge for those doing redevelopment is financing. This type of development is generally more expensive than development of vacant land as site preparation costs are higher. It may be difficult to redevelop properties to construct new housing units without some public financial participation, particularly if projects include an affordable component. To summarize, the development or redevelopment of housing alternatives will face several challenges.