02-09-2026-WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — FEBRUARY 9, 2026 14 Community Development Director Reilly said we can evaluate it. We can have a housing needs and housing supply study done again. The last one was done for Rice Creek Commons and it's a little old. Now is a good time to do a study in preparation for the Comprehensive Plan. There are dollars from other agencies available to pay for those kinds of things. That would help us understand where our desirable development sites are and what kinds of products would be of interest. The Ramsey County Community and Economic Development Team have contracted with Urban3, a consulting group that does visualizations of tax capacity and identifying the best options for high - value development in a community. They are offering each municipality in the County the opportunity to have a place -based resource. Councilmember Rousseau likes the idea of the very low income, low income and workforce housing percentages. She suspects that if we go lower than 80% AMI there will have to be some incentives from the city. She wants to understand how many spaces would there be if we support 5% of units are very low income. What does that look like? Councilmember Holden asked how this would work with a PUD. A developer isn't going to propose including sidewalks, landscaping or playground equipment if this is in place. We're more limited on what we can request through the PUD because they won't have the money to do it. Community Development Director Reilly doesn't think that's an assumption that bears out in the marketplace. Councilmember Holden asked if there will be enough area for playgrounds if we increase the maximum coverage by 10%. She wonders where the 10% came from or how it was vetted out. Community Development Director Reilly said those are all things that are options. The density bonus compensates for required affordable units. With lot coverage increases the developer would be able to decide which option works best for them. If they're strictly marketing to families, they won't create a site that doesn't allow them to have a successful lease -up rate for families. Councilmember Holden said then we won't get as much density. Community Development Director Reilly confirmed or we would get more 1- and 2-bedroom units and fewer family units if they use a bigger piece of the land. Councilmember Holden said according to Ramsey County the biggest need isn't 3 bedrooms. If we do affordable housing, how does that work in an apartment? She has heard before that they cluster the affordable units in one area of the building? Community Development Director Reilly said that can't happen, based on the proposed language. They have to be distributed throughout and cannot be concentrated in any single building, floor or section. They must be proportionately distributed across all unit types and indistinguishable from market rate units. Councilmember Holden asked if that is our rule. Community Development Director Reilly confirmed it's our proposed rule. Generally, what happens is developers who are volunteering to include affordable units offer a certain number of each unit type available at the affordable rate and they lease them up, as applications come in.