1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to metropolitan government; providing for 
  1.3             comprehensive choice housing; establishing housing as 
  1.4             a metropolitan system; amending Minnesota Statutes 
  1.5             1994, sections 473.145; 473.175, by adding a 
  1.6             subdivision; and 473.852, subdivision 8; proposing 
  1.7             coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 473. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.145, is 
  1.10  amended to read: 
  1.11     473.145 [DEVELOPMENT GUIDE.] 
  1.12     The metropolitan council shall prepare and adopt, after 
  1.13  appropriate study and such public hearings as may be necessary, 
  1.14  a comprehensive development guide for the metropolitan area.  It 
  1.15  shall consist of a compilation of policy statements, goals, 
  1.16  standards, programs, and maps prescribing guides for the orderly 
  1.17  and economical development, public and private, of the 
  1.18  metropolitan area.  The comprehensive development guide shall 
  1.19  recognize and encompass physical, social, or economic needs of 
  1.20  the metropolitan area and those future developments which will 
  1.21  have an impact on the entire area including but not limited to 
  1.22  such matters as land use, parks and open space land needs, the 
  1.23  necessity for and location of airports, highways, transit 
  1.24  facilities, public hospitals, libraries, schools, and other 
  1.25  public buildings, and the necessity for and location of 
  1.26  comprehensive choice housing, as defined in section 473.148. 
  2.1      Sec. 2.  [473.148] [HOUSING POLICY PLAN.] 
  2.2      Subdivision 1.  [POLICY; GOALS.] In order to protect and 
  2.3   enhance the social and economic health of the metropolitan area 
  2.4   and each community in the region, it is the legislature's policy 
  2.5   to encourage development of a full range of housing options in 
  2.6   every community in the metropolitan area. 
  2.7      Subd. 2.  [DEFINITIONS.] The definitions in this 
  2.8   subdivision apply to this section. 
  2.9      (a) "Affordable housing" means housing that requires 
  2.10  households to expend no more than 30 percent of their household 
  2.11  income on housing and housing-related expenses. 
  2.12     (b) "Comprehensive choice housing" means single-family and 
  2.13  multifamily housing that is affordable for households with 
  2.14  incomes less than or equal to 30 percent, 50 percent, and 80 
  2.15  percent of area median income. 
  2.16     (c) "Median income" means median household income, adjusted 
  2.17  for family size, for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan 
  2.18  statistical area as determined by the federal Department of 
  2.19  Housing and Urban Development. 
  2.20     (d) "City" means a statutory or home rule charter city. 
  2.21     Subd. 3.  [PLAN ADOPTION.] The metropolitan council shall 
  2.22  prepare and adopt as part of its metropolitan development guide 
  2.23  a long-range policy plan for housing in the metropolitan area.  
  2.24  The council shall follow the procedures for policy plan adoption 
  2.25  and amendment in section 473.146 to the extent practicable. 
  2.26     Subd. 4.  [PLAN CONTENT GENERALLY.] The housing policy plan 
  2.27  must include standards governing opportunities for comprehensive 
  2.28  choice housing, as required by subdivision 5, and the criteria 
  2.29  by which the council will evaluate housing plan amendments to 
  2.30  local comprehensive plans, as required by section 473.8551. 
  2.31     Subd. 5.  [COMPREHENSIVE CHOICE HOUSING ALLOTMENT; 
  2.32  STANDARDS.] Before September 1, 1996, the metropolitan council 
  2.33  shall adopt standards for establishing comprehensive choice 
  2.34  housing in the metropolitan urban service area and freestanding 
  2.35  growth centers.  The council shall give notice at least 30 days 
  2.36  before the hearing by publishing a notice in the State Register 
  3.1   and mailing a notice to persons and groups who have requested 
  3.2   notification.  At the hearing, the public shall have an 
  3.3   opportunity to give testimony and question council members and 
  3.4   council staff.  Standards adopted under this subdivision must: 
  3.5      (1) analyze the metropolitan urban service area's and 
  3.6   freestanding growth centers' present and prospective need for 
  3.7   comprehensive choice housing.  Local and state agencies shall 
  3.8   work cooperatively with the council to identify, collect, and 
  3.9   augment relevant data and studies without duplicating other 
  3.10  analytical efforts; 
  3.11     (2) allocate the metropolitan urban service area's and 
  3.12  freestanding growth centers' comprehensive choice housing needs, 
  3.13  on a fair-share basis, to cities and towns in the metropolitan 
  3.14  urban service area and freestanding growth centers' area.  
  3.15     Using the most current and reliable information available, 
  3.16  the council shall develop a formula for allocating the 
  3.17  metropolitan area's comprehensive choice housing needs to cities 
  3.18  and towns within the metropolitan urban service area and to 
  3.19  freestanding growth centers.  The formula developed by the 
  3.20  council shall include the following factors: 
  3.21     (i) distribution of housing units by value or rent and the 
  3.22  proportion of those units affordable to households with incomes 
  3.23  at or below 30 percent, 50 percent, and 80 percent of median 
  3.24  income considering housing tenure, type, and availability; 
  3.25     (ii) income distribution of households considering the 
  3.26  number of households with incomes that are 30 percent, 50 
  3.27  percent, and 80 percent of median income, and the proportion of 
  3.28  those households paying more than 30 percent of their household 
  3.29  income on housing and housing-related expenses; 
  3.30     (iii) job base, considering those jobs that provide 
  3.31  employment opportunities for lower-income households and the 
  3.32  ratio of jobs to households; 
  3.33     (iv) future development potential considering vacant land, 
  3.34  the council's forecasts of households and employment, and the 
  3.35  annual deviation from the council's forecasts resulting from 
  3.36  variation in overall housing construction in the metropolitan 
  4.1   area; 
  4.2      (v) future redevelopment potential in cities and towns with 
  4.3   inadequate supplies of vacant land to meet their allocation 
  4.4   needs, considering age and value of housing, and redevelopment 
  4.5   plans of cities and towns; and 
  4.6      (vi) cities' and towns' current and past efforts to provide 
  4.7   and sanction housing or housing assistance for low-income 
  4.8   households; 
  4.9      (3) determine the extent to which each city or town has, in 
  4.10  the past, accomplished its comprehensive choice housing 
  4.11  allotment.  For the purpose of determining compliance with 
  4.12  comprehensive choice housing allotment, full credit shall be 
  4.13  given for current and past efforts to provide affordable 
  4.14  housing; 
  4.15     (4) study and identify on a city by city basis, the 
  4.16  existing barriers to comprehensive choice housing including, but 
  4.17  not limited to, zoning requirements, development agreements, and 
  4.18  local development practices that impose barriers to the 
  4.19  development of comprehensive choice housing; and 
  4.20     (5) describe actions that a city or town may take to: 
  4.21     (i) eliminate barriers to comprehensive choice housing; 
  4.22     (ii) make use of available opportunities and resources to 
  4.23  meet the objective of providing comprehensive choice housing 
  4.24  development; and 
  4.25     (iii) maintain housing affordability. 
  4.26     Subd. 6.  [PERIODIC REVIEW OF COMPREHENSIVE CHOICE HOUSING 
  4.27  ALLOTMENT STANDARDS.] The council shall review and assess the 
  4.28  comprehensive choice housing allotment standards at least every 
  4.29  five years following their effective date.  No major changes to 
  4.30  standards for allocating comprehensive choice housing or 
  4.31  evaluating compliance shall be made until 90 days after a report 
  4.32  to the legislature on proposed changes to the comprehensive 
  4.33  choice housing allotment standards.  The report must be 
  4.34  submitted to the legislature in January. 
  4.35     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.175, is 
  4.36  amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  5.1      Subd. 4.  [REVIEW OF HOUSING PLANS.] (a) The definitions in 
  5.2   section 473.148, subdivision 2, apply to this subdivision. 
  5.3      (b) The council shall review the housing plan amendments to 
  5.4   local comprehensive plans of cities and towns in the 
  5.5   metropolitan urban service area and freestanding growth centers 
  5.6   required by section 473.8551 for conformance with the housing 
  5.7   system statement for the city or town and consistency with the 
  5.8   council's housing policy plan.  The council may require a city 
  5.9   or town to modify its housing plan which in the council's view 
  5.10  may not provide adequate and realistic opportunities for 
  5.11  development of that city's or town's fair share of comprehensive 
  5.12  choice housing. 
  5.13     (c) Within 90 days following receipt of a city's or town's 
  5.14  housing plan, the council shall return to the city or town a 
  5.15  statement containing the council's comments and by resolution 
  5.16  its decision, if any, to require modifications.  No action shall 
  5.17  be taken by any city or town to place a housing plan into effect 
  5.18  until the council has returned the statement to the city or town 
  5.19  and until the city or town has incorporated any modifications in 
  5.20  the plan required by a final decision, order, or judgment made 
  5.21  under section 473.866. 
  5.22     (d) If a city or town fails to adopt a housing plan in 
  5.23  accordance with section 473.8551 or if the council after a 
  5.24  public hearing by resolution finds that a plan substantially 
  5.25  departs from the council's housing policy plan or the housing 
  5.26  system statement prepared for the city or town and that the city 
  5.27  or town has not adopted a plan with modifications required 
  5.28  within nine months following a final decision, order, or 
  5.29  judgment made pursuant to section 473.866, the council may 
  5.30  commence civil proceedings to enforce this act by appropriate 
  5.31  legal action in the district court for the district in which the 
  5.32  city or town is located.  If the council commences a civil 
  5.33  action under this paragraph and the court grants the council 
  5.34  relief, the court shall also award the council a civil penalty 
  5.35  of $1,000, payable from the city or town to the council, and the 
  5.36  council's reasonable attorney's fees. 
  6.1      (e) Until the council has approved a city's or town's 
  6.2   housing plan, the council may not approve or grant any 
  6.3   extensions to the city's or town's urban service area 
  6.4   boundaries, except to address environmental contamination 
  6.5   problems or in demonstrated cases of undue economic hardship for 
  6.6   the property owner affected and in cases of undue economic 
  6.7   hardship, for no more than ten acres. 
  6.8      Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.852, 
  6.9   subdivision 8, is amended to read: 
  6.10     Subd. 8.  [METROPOLITAN SYSTEM PLANS.] "Metropolitan system 
  6.11  plans" means the housing, airports, and transportation portions 
  6.12  of the metropolitan development guide, the housing policy plan, 
  6.13  and the policy plans, and capital budgets for metropolitan 
  6.14  wastewater service, transportation, and regional recreation open 
  6.15  space. 
  6.16     Sec. 5.  [473.8551] [HOUSING SYSTEM STATEMENTS; HOUSING 
  6.17  PLAN AMENDMENTS TO LOCAL COMPREHENSIVE PLANS.] 
  6.18     Subdivision 1.  [SYSTEM STATEMENTS.] (a) The definitions in 
  6.19  section 473.148, subdivision 2, apply to this section. 
  6.20     (b) Before January 1, 1997, the council shall transmit a 
  6.21  housing system statement to each city and town within the 
  6.22  metropolitan urban service area and to each freestanding growth 
  6.23  center required to have a comprehensive plan under this 
  6.24  chapter.  The housing system statement must be based on and 
  6.25  consistent with the council's long-range housing policy plan.  
  6.26  In preparing the housing system statement, the council shall 
  6.27  consult with appropriate commissions and officials of the city 
  6.28  or town.  The statement must at a minimum contain the city's or 
  6.29  town's allocation of comprehensive choice housing, as defined in 
  6.30  section 473.148, and other information that the council 
  6.31  determines necessary for the city or town to consider in 
  6.32  preparing its housing plan amendment to its comprehensive plan. 
  6.33     Subd. 2.  [PLAN AMENDMENTS.] The housing plan amendment to 
  6.34  the local comprehensive plan must provide for adequate and 
  6.35  realistic opportunities for developing the city's or town's fair 
  6.36  share of comprehensive choice housing.  The housing plan shall 
  7.1   include, among other things, the official controls necessary or 
  7.2   useful to achieve the city's or town's fair share of 
  7.3   comprehensive choice housing.  To the extent the city's or 
  7.4   town's housing element of the city's or town's land use plan, 
  7.5   including the housing element's implementation program, is 
  7.6   inconsistent with the housing plan required by this act, the 
  7.7   city or town must amend the housing element of the land use plan 
  7.8   to complement and conform with the housing plan. 
  7.9      Subd. 3.  [SUBMISSION OF PLAN AMENDMENTS.] Within nine 
  7.10  months of receiving the housing system statement, the city or 
  7.11  town must have prepared the housing plan amendment to the local 
  7.12  comprehensive plan in accordance with sections 462.355, 
  7.13  subdivision 4; 473.175; and 473.851 to 473.871, and must have 
  7.14  submitted the plan to the metropolitan council for review 
  7.15  pursuant to section 473.175.  The plan must be submitted to the 
  7.16  council following approval by the city's or town's planning 
  7.17  commission and after consideration but before final approval by 
  7.18  the city's or town's governing body. 
  7.19     Each city or town shall adopt its housing plan amendment to 
  7.20  its comprehensive plan with required modifications within three 
  7.21  months following a final decision, order, or judgment made 
  7.22  pursuant to section 473.866.  Amendments to the approved and 
  7.23  adopted housing plan of a local comprehensive plan may be made 
  7.24  in the same manner as other amendments to local comprehensive 
  7.25  plans. 
  7.26     Sec. 6.  [APPLICATION.] 
  7.27     This act applies in the counties of Anoka, Carver, Dakota, 
  7.28  Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington.