Apartment Plan for County Road 74 Clears St. Cloud Planning Commission

(KNSI) – A plan to build 244 apartments along County Road 74 in St. Cloud cleared its first major hurdle Tuesday night, winning a recommendation for approval from the city’s Planning Commission.

The commission voted 4 to 1 to recommend rezoning part of the property at 3125 and 3143 County Road 74 from a business district to residential, clearing the way for The Flats on 74th.

The land is owned by Jubilee Worship Center, which would sell a portion to Keepers Development. The builder plans to put five three-story buildings, 499 parking spaces, a playground, a sport court and a dog run on 17 acres.

Bill Malinen cast the lone vote against, arguing the land is prime commercial property that deserves more time to draw retail or offices. City staff disagreed, citing the city’s 2024 housing assessment and a cooling appetite for commercial space since the pandemic. They noted roughly 50 acres in the area remain open for commercial development.

Traffic was the main concern at the public hearing, where two residents spoke. One noted County Road 74 already carries about 5,000 trips a day. Community Development Director Matt Glaesman confirmed that figure and said the project would add roughly 1,300 more, well below what he said the road can handle, about 10,000 a day.

Commissioner Charlie Hobbs was among the first to speak in support and talked with KNSI after the meeting. “We have a severe housing shortage. We know we need 17,000 new units of housing by 2040. This is something we repeat often. We need to act, and we need to act swiftly.”

Hobbs offered a final thought before the recommendation moves on. “I feel confident in saying that we did the right thing in making this policy recommendation to city council, and I certainly hope that they move forward with it.”

The recommendation now heads to the City Council, which will take up the rezoning and hold its own public hearing Monday, June 15th at 6:00 p.m. at city hall.

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