Duluth lifts parking mandates, looks to sell pair of ramps

DULUTH — Parking considerations took center stage Monday evening as city councilors voted to lift mandatory minimum parking requirements and approved a plan to sell two downtown parking ramps to a prospective housing developer.

At large Councilor Noah Hobbs praised the 1½ years of work that went into crafting a policy that will give developers more freedom to judge for themselves what their parking needs will be.

“This is not eliminating parking. It just gets the city out of the way from mandating mandatory minimums,” he said.

Councilor Mike Mayou, representing Duluth’s 2nd District, also spoke enthusiastically about removing parking requirements.

He predicted that by allowing developers to be more flexible, the city can encourage more affordable housing to be built. Mayou noted that providing off-street parking can be an expensive endeavor that drives rents higher.

“I think this also does beg the further discussion of alternative modes of transportation in the city of Duluth. It really encourages us to further invest in the DTA (Duluth Transit Authority) and bike and pedestrian lanes and other ways for folks to get around that are not reliant on cars and vehicles,” Mayou said, suggesting the policy change could help the city reduce its carbon footprint.

On another parking-related front, the Council unanimously voted in support of a plan to sell the Tech Village and Medical District ramps to a developer who is looking to bring at least 200 units of housing to downtown Duluth.

Beautiful City Development LLC may soon be positioned to buy the two parking structures at 14 E. First St. and 302 E. First St. for $7 million.

“I think this is a great move for our city, for our downtown, for our whole community,” said 1st District Councilor Gary Anderson.

Anderson said the ramps will provide the development team, led by Rob Finnigan, an opportunity to meet tenants’ parking needs while still maintaining public parking. He noted that the agreement ensures at least a seven-year commitment to honor existing parking contracts and to provide access to 100 public parking stalls in each ramp.

At large Councilor Arik Forsman thanked Finnigan for his efforts to redevelop the East First Street corridor.

“This is reusing public infrastructure. It is not demolishing the ramps. The ramps will still continue to be there,” he said.

“This is the first phase of what I hope will be an extensive development that can help meet our housing needs downtown,” Forsman said, adding that the use of the ramps to support the project showed city staff’s creative efforts to foster local investment.