Church, Habitat for Humanity fighting city of Minnetonka for new development

Renderings of twin homes from the proposed development at Mills Church in Minnetonka.

Ever since David Landt took over as lead pastor of Mills Church in Minnetonka nearly 20 years ago, congregation and community members have reached out to him as a last resort when they couldn’t pay their rent or mortgage. He’s also seen the next generation of his congregation be priced out of the community they grew up in. 

“They can’t afford anything here,” he said. 

Landt took in these pleas from his congregation, and considered that his church owned a “big dinosaur of a building,” a giant parking lot that never filled up, and a total five and a half acres of mostly unused land that could be used to house community members in need. 

The church, with the help of Habitat for Humanity, hopes to build up to 10 homes — five sets of “twin homes,” similar to town homes — to sell to low-income families through Habitat for Humanity’s home financing and subsidy programs. 

But Landt and and other advocates for affordable housing in Minnetonka have repeatedly faced pushback from city staff, elected officials and neighbors who oppose the construction of multifamily housing at the church site. 

The proposal does not conform to the city’s comprehensive plan because it’s too dense. In order to move forward, the City Council must change the comprehensive plan to allow more density — and the Council takes cues from the city planners working on the project. 

A recent “no” recommendation from city staff blindsided Landt and Chris Coleman, the former mayor of St. Paul who is now the president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Twin Cities, the developer of the project. They say meetings with city staff, in which the developers reduced the number of units and adjusted the aesthetics of the project, left the impression that city staff would support the revised plans. 

City staff have consistently told Landt and Habitat for Humanity that the project does not conform to the comprehensive plan, said Julie Wischnack, community development director for the city of Minnetonka.

“We went into this thinking that we had the support, we had the direction of the comp plan… we’re asking for pretty moderate development,” Coleman said. “This is not a 3000-unit subdivision.”

On Thursday night, the Minnetonka Planning Commission voted to uphold the staff recommendation. The City Council will ultimately decide on May 6 whether to change the comprehensive plan and zoning guidelines to allow the proposal to proceed, or whether to send it back to the drawing board.

Coleman and Landt say the fight to build less than a dozen homes is an example of how local governments use comprehensive plans and zoning rules to thwart new developments in Minnesota as the state faces a massive shortage of housing of all types.

The local conflict has reached the halls of the Capitol, where Landt, Coleman and Minnetonka City Council member Kimberly Wilburn have lobbied in favor of legislation that would restrict cities’ ability to block new housing developments.

That bill, which would have limited municipalities’ options for controlling new housing developments’ size and aesthetics, was sidelined earlier this year as it failed to get enough support. 

In an editorial published in the Star Tribune, Minnetonka Mayor Brad Wiersum joined other suburban mayors in advocating against the zoning bills. 

“As we contemplate solutions to Minnesota’s housing challenges, we must prioritize strategies that balance promoting development and preserving the unique character of our communities,” the mayors wrote. “This requires a nuanced approach that empowers local governments to make informed decisions tailored to their specific circumstances rather than imposing one-size-fits-all mandates from the state level.”

Mills Church is located half a mile east of Highway 494, bordering four-lane Minnetonka Blvd. to the north and surrounded by single-family homes on the other three sides of the plot.

The area is currently zoned to allow up to 4 housing units per acre. The current proposal of 10 twin homes — whittled down from the initial plans for 12 townhomes — would put the development at 4.6 units per acre.

The developers could solve the density issue by reducing the number of units or by incorporating more available land into the project, Wischnack said.

Mills Church is offering* 2.2 acres of its land at a deep discount to Habitat for Humanity for the project, and isn’t interested in adding more land to the deal simply because the city won’t adjust the zoning from low to medium density, Landt said. 

“Every time, it’s like, do less, give more, do less, give more, do less, give more, and we just think that’s ridiculous,” Landt said. ”You’ve got a good project, and adding more land doesn’t change the project at all. It’s still five twin homes.”

*This article has been updated to reflect that the church land has not yet been sold.

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