Legislative Update
The legislative session has finally started picking up these past few weeks. While the only bills that have been passed by both bodies this year generally relate to language corrections from last session, including the School Resource Officer “fix,” we have seen a flurry of spending and policy bills that are being heard in committees. It’s hard to keep track of everything as more than 5000 bills have been introduced over the two-year session. In my opinion, most of them are bad policy for our state.
While introducing a bill doesn’t mean it will get heard, much less that it will become law, there is a concerning bill which is getting fast-tracked that I’d like to bring to your attention.
HF 4009 is a housing bill which would affect every property owner in Minnesota. The stated purpose is to dramatically increase housing density across the state in an effort to create more “affordable” housing. This affects zoning on both vacant and existing properties and would result in turning our suburbs into an even denser version of Minneapolis.
This bill essentially removes local city and county zoning authority and fully eliminates single family zoning by allowing up to eight housing units per (formerly) zoned single family lot with ZERO public input. This means that a developer could purchase your neighbor’s house, tear it down and put up eight homes on the lot. Your rights stripped, your neighborhood forever changed, and you and your city council could do nothing about it because this new state law strips their authority and your property rights.
Local government officials are up in arms over this, as they should be. Not only does it eliminate local control, it also affects our roads and infrastructure not to mention changing the character of your existing neighborhood. It’s time for the residents of our community to join them in opposition to this bill. This is a very real threat as the majorities in the legislature believe that forcing significant density and new, large “affordable” housing projects on our existing neighborhoods is good policy.
Please take the time to read the bill at the above link. It’s been flying through committees and has a very real possibility of becoming law.
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