Small Home Gazette, Summer 2019
Letter From the Editor: a member comments about the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan
Editor’s note: The guest commentary below is by Twin Cities Bungalow Club member Laura Grangaard Johnson. She is responding to our Winter 2019 editorial, in which the Bungalow Club board objected to the zoning aspects of the Minneapolis 2040 Plan. Thank you, Laura, for your thoughtful response!
I have a confession to make. I read the Winter 2019 Small Home Gazette editorial and didn’t quite agree with the piece. Although I certainly don’t think it’s perfect, I am largely in favor of the 2040 Plan.
But what was so heartening to me is that the Bungalow Club board wanted to hear from those who didn’t agree, and I had the chance to talk with Deb McKinley and Tim Counts about this very topic. I came away from our conversation feeling like we agreed on more than we disagreed on, but that we have different lenses and places of focus. What a nice opportunity to have a civil, engaging conversation about what you respectively believe—even when it’s not necessarily the same.
Tim asked if I’d respond to the Small Home Gazette piece and offer some thoughts on the topic.
My husband and I are privileged to own our bungalow. Before we purchased our home, we were renters. My husband lived in a fourplex that perfectly fit the character of his neighborhood street, filled with single family bungalows and peppered with other fourplexes. It was great to be part of a smaller neighborhood. Not everyone wants to own a house, nor has that opportunity. I’d also argue that not everyone who rents would choose a five-plus-story apartment in the heart of Uptown, and I can think of many who would love to find a duplex (of which there are few) to rent or buy in my neighborhood. Not opening the possibility of more, denser-but- not-too-dense housing to people who can’t afford to or choose not to purchase a home seems a shame. I don’t know if duplexes and triplexes will help fix the affordable housing problem. I sure hope they at least help people who don’t (or can’t) buy a house but would love to contribute to a great little neighborhood and make that dream a reality. I think living in different areas of Minneapolis should be something for everyone to enjoy—not just homeowners.
And I hear the concern—that the possibility of teardowns and rebuilding dis-proportionately huge homes in their place eats away at neighborhood character. But this is happening now. It’s been happening for years. I’m not sure the 2040 Plan is to blame. Frankly, I’d rather one of those out-of-place homes house three families, instead of the single family that is most common now. Wouldn’t it be more productive to embrace the fact that we need more housing (and accept the fact that some teardowns will happen) and invest our energy into (for example) arguing for design standards that help ensure they better fit the neighborhood character? No one is being forced to sell their house for a teardown. And based on my (admittedly unscientific) observations of where teardowns are happening, it seems limited to the houses that are beyond saving.
Another confession: I struggle with all of this, too. I have a love/hate relationship with my 1922 bungalow (and the various “updates” that previous owners have made over the years), but I’m so privileged to own a great little house in a great neighborhood that I love as it is now. And I worry that if change isn’t done carefully, it could be detrimental. I also am not the biggest fan of the huge plasticky houses that often go in over teardowns and sure don’t seem to fit the existing neighborhood character. I wouldn’t hope for one to be built next to my house, if I had a choice.
I definitely worry about change. But I still think the cost of doing nothing is too high. The status quo isn’t going to work anymore. Certainly the 2040 Plan isn’t perfect, and maybe there’s something better out there, but I have yet to hear many alternatives to meet the very real needs that it’s trying so hard to meet. I love my neighborhood, its character, my house, almost everything about where I have the privilege to live. But if I say “not here, I don’t want my neighborhood to change, do this somewhere else” and so does everyone else, then there are no neighborhoods left for change and growth.
Neighborhoods are as much about making room for new and diverse people as they are about character and charm, and they don’t have to be mutually exclusive. I hope the Bungalow Club will be part of the conversations that help keep both at the table.
