Brainerd code change meant to streamline development

BRAINERD — Brainerd city officials are looking to ease the burden for future developers in the city by amending design standards.

Council members reviewed and approved the first reading of an ordinance on Monday, Jan. 6, updating some lot and building design standards in the city.

Since Brainerd’s new zoning code was adopted in 2022, city staff have encountered instances where the new code has worked well and other instances that potentially hindered development. The new regulations are aimed at easing the burden of development while creating stronger language to ensure new construction conforms with existing neighborhoods.

Highlights of the ordinance include:

• Adjusting lot size and frontage requirements in the contemporary neighborhood and traditional neighborhood zoning districts.
• Requiring garages that are not front-loaded to be inline or setback from the principal structure in the TN-1 and TN-2 districts. Those in the CN-1 and CN-2 districts must extend no further than 2 feet beyond the facade of the principal structure into the front or side yard.
• Allowing larger accessory structures in the general industrial zone.
• Allowing 85% metal siding on facades in the general industrial zone.
• Permitting duplex dwellings in the rural living-2 zone.
• Permitting accessory dwelling units on rental properties.
• Requiring a conditional use permit to convert a single-family home into a multi-family home.
• Allowing mixed use development in the commercial corridor district, similar to the Mainstreet district, which prohibits ground floor residential units.

The last change — allowing for mixed use development in the commercial corridor district — is one of the biggest amendments, Community Development Director James Kramvik said. That district extends along Washington Street from the Mississippi River bridge to Fifth Avenue Northeast, near Cub Foods. Right now, residential use is not allowed in that area, Kramvik said, though there are a few non-conformities there.

Allowing mixed used development would give developers more options and could help incentivize revitalization efforts in that district, as Kramvik said housing has a better return on investment.

On the other hand, Kramvik noted allowing residential units there could affect the collection of future sewer and water availability charges because the central business district incentive policy forgives those fees along Washington Street.

“It could amount to considerably more forgiveness from a commercial property moving to, say, a two- to three-story residential mixed use apartment building,” Kramvik said. “So something to consider there.”

Council member Jeff Czeczok expressed concerns about waiving even more sewer and water availability charges, also known as SAC and WAC fees. Without those fees, Public Utilities Director Christopher Evans noted sewer expansion projects needing to be done down the road would be funded through bonds or cash the city might have on hand. Finance Director Connie Hillman added that cost could be paid for by the ratepayers as well.

Czeczok was the sole vote against the central business district incentive policy in July, bringing up the same concerns about waived SAC and WAC fees. The policy is essentially an expansion of the 2019 River to Rails initiative, waiving the sewer and water charges and some building permit and inspection fees for new projects in certain zoning districts in the city. He questioned whether waiving those fees will really be the ticket to keep a business running.

“Everything comes down to who’s winding up paying for it in the end,” Czeczok said. “... And then in the end, over the course of a few years, we’ve given all this away, then who’s making it up? It’s our fees, our ratepayers and everything like that.”

He questioned whether the move is simply a way to give city officials an opportunity to pat themselves on the back for helping businesses succeed.

“I don’t look at it that way,” he said. “Somebody’s got to pay the bills.”

Council member Gabe Johnson said he believes there’s a fundamental misunderstanding about what SAC and WAC fees are used for. The money can only be used on expanding the city’s sewer and water systems, not on replacing or repairing pipes.

“When the city engineering department has assured us that the infrastructure in place will not need to be upgraded for the foreseeable future, when we collect those fees, all we’re doing is charging businesses downtown to later expand the pipes further past the edge of town,” Johnson said, noting any future expansion projects would, indeed, be funded through ratepayers or another means if there is not enough money in the SAC and WAC fund.

Czeczok said expansion is exactly what he was talking about, noting there could be a large unforeseen project that comes to town and needs that expansion.

“We can save the money from SAC and WAC. We’ve done it for years where we put it in the coffers, and then it sits there until it’s needed,” Czeczok said. “And so we just keep waiving it here, waiving it there, and then when we really need it, we don’t have it. That’s what I’m talking about.”

Council President Mike O’Day said he sees this initiative as something temporary that incentivizes development.

“I don't see this as something staying in place as our way of doing business forever. But I do see this as being something valuable right now in the time that we do want to speed up development on 210,” O’Day said, noting he understands Czeczok’s concerns as well.

Both River to Rails and the central business district incentive policy are set to end in 2029.

The first reading of the ordinance passed unanimously, as the motion also included a vote to dispense with the actual reading of the ordinance, which must be unanimous. If it is not, the entire ordinance must be read aloud.

A subsequent motion directing staff to bring the proposed ordinance back to the Jan. 21 council meeting for a second reading passed 5-1, with Czeczok opposed.

THERESA BOURKE may be reached at [email protected] or 218-855-5860. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchTheresa .