St. Cloud Planning Commission Delays Vote, Plans Study Session on Allowing Apartments in Commercial Districts

(KNSI) – St. Cloud’s Planning Commission isn’t ready to vote on a plan to make it easier to build apartments downtown and along the city’s busiest commercial roads.

Instead, commissioners decided Tuesday to hold a study session first.

The zoning change would allow stand-alone apartment buildings in three commercial districts. Right now, apartments are only allowed on the second floor and above in those areas.

Commissioner Sheila DeVine was the first to ask for a study session, but said the commercial corridors make sense for apartments. “The whole thing with apartments going up in residential areas is always the residences don’t want three stories or five stories looking over their backyard, but going into a commercial district you already have all the use and the activity and you don’t have the residences that are going to be concerned about that.”

Commissioner Bill Malinen agreed the plan needs more discussion and wants the public to have another chance to weigh in. “It’s a big issue and I think more people might be interested in commenting on it if they were more aware of it.”

No one spoke during the public hearing. Community Development Director Matt Glaesman says the meeting was always meant to introduce the idea and start a community conversation.

Glaesman went on to say the proposal responds to a 2024 housing study showing St. Cloud needs about 150 new apartment-style units a year. A more recent look at downtown found the newest apartments there are 98% full, with demand for more than 600 additional units.

The change would cover the downtown core, the edges of downtown along East and West St. Germain Street, and highway corridors including Division Street, Highway 10, Roosevelt Road and 2nd Street South. New projects would have to meet design standards borrowed from the 5th Avenue corridor near St. Cloud State University, including minimum building heights and a ban on parking in front of buildings.

A date for the study session hasn’t been set. Once a revised draft is ready, the commission will hold a new public hearing. The St. Cloud City Council would then need to hold its own hearing and vote before the changes take effect.

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