The City Council’s Business, Housing & Zoning Committee denied an appeal this week from a local attorney to deny a site plan variance for a 20-unit apartment building at 5005 Lyndale Ave. S.

The apartment building is planned to be built on three single-family lots, which is now legal through the City’s 2040 Plan. An earlier plan for the apartment building had a 4-foot setback which the applicant updated to 15 feet. Current zoning requires a 31-foot setback without an approved variance.

A proposed footprint of the planned 5005 Lyndale Ave. S. apartment building with measurements from the building to the curb was shown at Tuesday’s Business, Housing & Zoning Committee. “Because, really, that’s how you feel when you’re walking or biking or driving,” Todd Smith of Master Properties said at the meeting.

John Goetz filed the appeal with the City of Minneapolis.

“It’s too big in terms of the number of units, the number of people, and the number of vehicles it will allow,” Goetz said. “It simply doesn’t belong there, from a point of view of neighborhood cohesion. So on those grounds, I oppose it.”  

Goetz is an attorney for Smart Growth Minnesota, a group who sued the City of Minneapolis to stop the 2040 Plan from going into action. The group was successful in temporarily halting the 2040 Plan but an appeals court lifted an injunction on the plan in May.

Attorney Timothy Juhn also spoke in favor of the appeal but offered no substantive argument about the 15-foot variance allowed on property.

The lack of a compelling argument from the appellant was noted by Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison at Tuesday’s meeting.

“I expect a little bit more substance if you’re going to disparage the thought process of staff,” Ellison said. “I would hope that in the future, if you’re going to come and bring this kind of appeal, that you would come with reviewing the code.”

The building applicant, Todd Smith of Master Properties, showed the Business, Housing & Zoning Committee that the apartment building is planned to be set back further than any other building on the block. Smith reiterated that the City’s Planning Department staff had recommended the variance.

“The proposed variance will not be detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the general public or of those utilizing the property or nearby properties,” the 5005 Lyndale Ave. S staff report reads.  

People in the community concerned with the planned apartment building came to testify in support of the appeal. Nearby resident Lory Hilling said she was concerned about the building adding to an already tough intersection.

“There’s people, kids, lots of people on bikes with kids in carriers and they’re exposed,” Hilling said. “Visibility is already terrible at that intersection.”

At the meeting, Kingfield resident Brianne Rothstein testified that apartment buildings like Creekside Commons increased the amount of residents to the area without major issues.

“I just want to point these out, because at no point was there a massive change in traffic patterns, no children died, and parking was accommodated,” Rothstein said.