Minneapolis risks missing out on the “back to the city” trend in real estate if residents fight redevelopment that can help the city add to its tax base, Steve Berg says in an editorial urging elected officials to lift a recently instituted one-year moratorium on teardowns in five neighborhoods in southwest Minneapolis.
City Councilwoman Linea Palmisano introduced an ordinance on March 7 halting teardowns in Linden Hills, Fulton, Armatage, Kenny and Lynnhurst, saying there were 67 permits filed last year to build new single-family homes in the 13th Ward alone.
Berg says that in theory, a goal set by Mayor Betsy Hodges to bring more than 100,000 residents to the city can be achieved by increasing density along commercial corridors with access to public transit, leaving established neighborhoods of single-family homes largely undisturbed.
In practice, many homes in the southwest neighborhoods are “postwar two-bedroom ramblers that are too small for modern tastes and built on lots that are more valuable than the houses,” he says. “Unless the city wants to discourage a renewal of its housing stock, it must, within reasonable limits, allow larger homes.” Source: MinnPost.com.
