Mixing It Up

One of the most interesting sessions I attended at the national conference of the American Planning Association last month was Mixed Use Suburban Redevelopment Projects, which was a tour of three redevelopment projects in the MSP metro that utilized current or former industrial sites. I was interested in the session because we are planning a mixed use development for the South Shore, which is a former industrial site. Our application will be heard by the planning commission at the end of the month.

Our mixed use tour started at Centennial Lakes, which is a mixed use redevelopment project in Edina that is built on a former gravel pit. It includes a linear city park surrounded by condo units, an office park, and commercial retail. We also toured a project at I-394 and Highway 100 in St. Louis Park and the Arbor Lakes development at the I-94/494 split in Maple Grove.

What is different about a mixed use project? Traditional zoning codes are all about separating "uses" and traditional zoning codes generally only allow one use per zone (e.g. residential, industrial, commercial). Mixed use means two or more different types of uses in a single building; for instance ground floor commercial and apartments on the upper floors (vertical). Horizontal mixed use has uses placed next to each other and connected together with pedestrian and vehicular access; for instance, a subdivision containing residential units that are adjacent to and connected to a neighborhood commercial development (like Centennial Lakes).

Downtowns are considered mixed use because there is ground floor commercial with residential above. Our Downtown was the only district in Bemidji where mixed use was allowed prior to adoption of the new joint planning ordinance in 2007. The new ordinance provides for mixed use developments through a conditional use permit and a general planned unit development (PUD)--but only in certain zones. Confusing?

It can be confusing, even for the planning commission and planning board who review developments nearly every month. The key to mixed use is providing a transit or pedestrian oriented development. Having a lot of images helps clarify the concept. The City's plan includes both vertical and horizontal mixed use, so we'll have a bunch of pictures to show the PC when they review the South Shore PUD at the end of May.