10-13-25 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — OCTOBER 13, 2025 9 Ms. Trapp said the biggest element when looking at the aerials was the separation between the use, the parking and the adjacent property. She is hearing that Council thinks the concept is good. They just need to figure out the standards and where it may be appropriate. She isn't hearing that anyone is opposed to it, completely. Councilmember Holden said she is. She thinks you lose the whole neighborhood with that. It creates isolation. You could get six small townhouses in there. Ms. Trapp said the difference is that with townhouses there is no standard that requires them to be small. This specifically requiring a cottage or small home feel. This provides an alternative to a large single-family home. Having a maximum size requirement for townhouses would be an unusual approach. Councilmember Monson said she agrees that we can find a place for it. It could be on a corner. Mayor Grant said in thinking of the R-2 neighborhoods, would you want someone to be allowed to purchase two lots to do this in the neighborhood. Ms. Trapp said this discussion is to determine if the use is okay, then then continue the conversation later to apply where the type is appropriate. She wouldn't want to explore where it may be appropriate, knowing there was no interest in keeping it. Councilmember Weber said cottage courtyard is new. What matters most is what the standards will be. He supports having this option for housing in the City. He thinks it's appropriate in R-2 and R-3. Ms. Trapp said there are some standards. She won't go into those details but she pointed out these are the general thought processes of what people are interested in. Councilmember Rousseau asked if there is a concern that someone may make them too small. Ms. Trapp said she hasn't seen that be a concern. They can look at it. The building code has a minimum requirement. That may be smaller than most people think makes sense. We can include a minimum and a maximum, similar to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). Ms. Trapp said 2-unit and twinhomes are separate right now. In the past they have been combined. The idea of a 2-unit is more of a duplex. That's two units on one lot either side by side or upstairs and downstairs. It can be hard to identify them as not a single family. A twinhome is attached with a firewall in between. You can definitely tell they are two units. Councilmember Holden asked if twinhomes is a development, or is it just one twinhome in the middle of a residential area. Ms. Trapp said it is usually a whole development. There are examples where there is just one. Ms. Trapp said previous discussion was allowing these in R-1 with some standards. There aren't typically a lot of standards for twinhomes or two -units. She's seen them when cities have architectural standards where they try to make sure they aren't architecturally the same house on every lot. She's happy to write standards, she just needs to understand what impact Council is