Capstone Pulls St. Cloud Housing Request Ahead of Planning Commission Meeting

(KNSI) – A plan to swap more than 200 attached townhomes for single-family houses in St. Cloud is off the table.

Capstone Homes has withdrawn its request to amend the Waters Edge at Donovan Lake Planned Unit Development, and the item will not be on the St. Cloud Planning Commission’s agenda for its meeting Tuesday, August 11th.

St. Cloud Community Development Director Matt Glaesman told KNSI News in an email that Capstone is “not moving forward.” He did not elaborate on the reason. Messages left with Capstone Homes by KNSI News have not been returned.

The builder had asked the city to cut 218 approved attached units, a mix of row homes and urban townhomes, down to 160 detached single-family houses on roughly 35 acres west of the current end of 7th Street Northeast and Cherry Park.

Commissioners postponed action on the request at their July meeting rather than rejecting it, sending the plan back for more work after a homeowners association dispute took over much of the hearing. Five neighbors spoke, and most of their concerns centered not on the houses themselves but on how a Home Owners Assocaiton would control the new neighborhood. Developer testimony suggested the new homes could fall under a master HOA that already governs part of Waters Edge at Donovan Lake, though city staff said that relationship was not entirely clear.

Commissioners also wanted more clarity on public infrastructure. Capstone had asked for 28-foot-wide streets and sidewalks only along the 7th Street Northeast extension, a departure from the 32-foot-wide streets and sidewalks on one side of every local road except cul-de-sacs that city staff originally recommended. The developer and city engineers had not reached agreement on those standards.

The proposal called for homes on 40-foot lots using Capstone’s Liberty Series designs, with six models ranging from a 1,373-square-foot one-story house to a five-bedroom plan topping 2,800 square feet. Every home would have included a two-stall attached garage. Developers said similar homes they have in the area have sold for $360,000.

City staff had supported the concept. Glaesman said in July the detached product is more attractive to buyers than attached housing, that the attached market has not caught on in the St. Cloud metropolitan area the way it has in other urban areas, and that smaller lots keep detached homes affordable while filling in an area that already has urban infrastructure in place.

Waters Edge at Donovan Lake was first approved in 2003 for 1,285 total dwelling units across 10 housing categories and has been amended several times since. The existing PUD approval for the 218 attached units remains in place.

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