City gets further evaluation on housing

    Two individuals stopped by to present further information to Montgomery’s Planning and Zoning Commission regular meeting, Nate Dorr and Breanne Kennedy. Dorr is the senior program manager of rural and tribal building capacity for the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund (GMHF), and Kennedy is the owner and founder of Thrive Consulting.
    Kennedy presented on removing barriers to housing development with a land use audit, which was carried out by the GMHF for free, valued at about $5,000. 
    “The idea was to provide a housing focused look at Montgomery’s land use and zoning to help inform the city’s comprehensive plan, look at potential sites for housing and give consideration to how city code is helping or hindering housing,” said Dorr. “In other communities where we’ve done this, the city council or planning commission went ahead and worked with their staff and attorneys to update codes (e.g. smaller lots, smaller side yards and set back, reduced parking requirements, increased density). Then some had hired another consultant to get into the weeds on the actual city code and resolution language.”
    Dorr says the motive behind land use policy updates is to find ways to ensure developers have clarity on potential sites that can be developed and also to reduce overall development costs so people can afford the housing better.
    One such thing Kennedy noted was that in some areas adjacent to business areas...

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