Built Form Rezoning Study
The city of Minneapolis is updating the zoning code to Reach Minneapolis 2040 Goals.
Minneapolis 2040 went into effect on January 1, 2020, following over two years of engagement with the people of Minneapolis. The plan guides growth and change with fourteen goals in mind, including eliminating racial disparities, slowing climate change, and increasing access to jobs and housing.
As required by state law, the City is beginning to change its zoning rules to match the development guidelines that the City Council already approved with Minneapolis 2040. This technical process will take several years and will include updating the zoning classification of every property in the city to match Minneapolis 2040.
The first set of zoning changes will focus on technical aspects of built form standards that will regulate the scale of new buildings and additions throughout Minneapolis. This web site provides information about the draft built form regulations, including an opportunity for public comment. The City Planning Commission and City Council are expected to vote on approval of these changes by the end of 2020.
Table of Contents
Timeline
What's happened so far?:
April 2016 - December 2018
Over two years of engagement on Minneapolis 2040
December 7, 2018
The City Council approved Minneapolis 2040
January 1, 2020
Minneapolis 2040 went into effect, along with initial zoning changes allowing up to three units on all residential properties and requiring a percentage of affordable housing units in new apartment buildings.
September 3, 2020
The public comment period begins, with opportunities to review and comment on the draft built form regulations via this web site as well as three virtual meetings hosted by City staff.
September 23, 2020
Online Open House 5pm - 6pm
View YouTube video of recorded September 23, 2020 online open house: draft built form regulations
View questions asked by participants in all three meetings, with answers provided by City staff.
September 29, 2020
Online Open House 5pm - 6pm
View YouTube video of recorded September 29, 2020 online open house: draft built form regulations
View questions asked by participants in all three meetings, with answers provided by City staff.
October 21, 2020
Online Open House 3pm - 4pm
View YouTube video of recorded October 21, 2020 online open house: draft built form regulations (downtown focus)
View questions asked by participants in all three meetings, with answers provided by City staff.
November 9, 2020
The public comment period closed with a public hearing before the City Planning Commission. The City Planning Commission voted to forward the built form regulations to the City Council, with amendments.
November 9, 2020 City Planning Commission Agenda
Built Form Rezoning Study Staff Report
December 8, 2020
The Business, Inspections, Housing & Zoning (BIHZ) Committee of the City Council voted to forward the draft built form regulations to the full City Council, with amendments.
Built Form Rezoning Study legislative file
What's happening next?:
December 18, 2020
The City Council will vote on approving the draft built form regulations.
January 1, 2021
The built form regulations are scheduled to go into effect, pending City Council approval.
Minneapolis 2040 Goals
The built form regulations are essential to achieving several goals of Minneapolis 2040, including accommodating more residents and jobs in the city, allowing a range of housing types and stabilizing housing costs, creating high quality physical environments, fostering complete neighborhoods and promoting climate change resilience.
While all the goals are important, Minneapolis 2040 is centered on eliminating racial disparities. To achieve this goal, the City of Minneapolis will work to undo the legacy that remains from racially discriminatory housing policies by increasing access to opportunity through a greater diversity of housing types, especially in areas that lack housing options as a result of discriminatory housing policy. Implementing the Built Form Map through zoning districts makes it legal to build the greater diversity of housing types called for in Minneapolis 2040, and will work in concert with the City’s larger housing strategy to increase housing choice and affordability.
Minneapolis 2040 Policies
The Land Use and Built Form section of Minneapolis 2040 describes where new housing, workplaces, and retail establishments may locate in the city in order to achieve the plan goals. This guidance is communicated through a combination of policies and maps. The first two policies of the plan, Access to Housing and Access to Employment, are the most relevant to the adopted Built Form Map that guides the location and characteristics of new buildings.
The Access to Housing policy outlines the role of the Built Form map in increasing housing choice throughout the city, acknowledging the contribution of zoning to racially-restrictive housing practices of the first half of the 20th century, and the lasting effect those actions had on people of color and indigenous people. The policy also reinforces the practice of developing multifamily housing on transit routes, providing people the opportunity to live without a car, or with fewer cars in each household, helping to work toward the City's greenhouse gas reduction goal. This policy ensures that we have places throughout the city to increase housing supply and choice.
The Access to Employment policy outlines the role of the Built Form map in supporting employment growth and ensuring that land is available for living-wage jobs in areas close to where people live, including access to living-wage jobs.
Access to Housing




Access to Jobs


Draft Built Form Regulations
The draft built form regulations will resolve some of the major conflicts between Minneapolis 2040 and the City’s current zoning regulations. They are also intended to provide more predictability for the scale of new buildings and additions, which will help achieve the Minneapolis 2040 goals.
Minneapolis 2040 includes 14 Built Form Districts that guide the development of these draft regulations, which govern issues such as building height, floor area ratio (FAR), lot sizes and setbacks from property lines, among other things. The draft zoning changes described here enact new overlay districts that contain built form regulations in accordance with the built form maps and policy guidance that was already adopted by the City Council in Minneapolis 2040.
Through a future rezoning study, the City will implement land use regulations to complement built form regulations. While built form regulations govern the scale of new buildings, land use regulations will govern allowed uses, such as mixed use, residential, commercial, production, parks and open spaces.
Important note: Not every property in the city will be redeveloped between now and 2040. These regulations will provide guidance if a property owner proposes changes to an existing building or proposes to construct a new building
Built Form Map
The draft built form regulations are summarized below.
Information in these sections of the website are updated as of November 5, 2020, with materials that reflect staff recommendations to the City Planning Commission for the November 9, 2020, public hearing. Draft recommendations and technical information is also available on the City's Zoning Code Text Amendments page.
Read the FAQ for Frequently Asked Questions.
BROWSE THE DRAFT BUILT FORM REGULATIONS BY MAP:
The Built Form Overlay District Map will become part of the City’s zoning ordinance. This map matches the Future Built Form Map already approved by the City Council in Minneapolis 2040. It also includes additional districts near the Mississippi River that were adopted as part of the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area Plan. Clicking on a district in the map will take you to a summary of the draft built form regulations for that district.
Built Form Map