View Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City of Duluth Communications Office
411 West First Street • Duluth, Minnesota 55802 • www.duluthmn.gov
For more information, please call 218-730-5309
DATE: 5/7/2026
SUBJECT: City of Duluth announces proposed zoning changes
BY: Kelli Latuska, Public Information Officer

City of Duluth announces proposed zoning changes

 

 

 

[DULUTH, MN] In 2025, the Duluth City Council passed a resolution in support of zoning code changes to increase housing supply. Since that time, the City has conducted an evaluation of zoning regulations, which was presented to City Council in September 2025, and held a public meeting about potential changes to the Unified Development Chapter (UDC).

 

The City is proposing to move forward with the following recommendations at this time:

 

  • Eliminating the creation of new Residential-Planned (R-P) and Mixed Use-Planned (MU-P) zone districts.
  • Removing the Higher Ed Overlay district, instead adding the “build-to zone” requirement to standards in the Mixed Use-Neighborhood (MU-N) district.
  • Simplifying the building design standards in Form Districts while keeping key form requirements, consolidating the districts from nine to four, and renaming them from Form Districts to Main Street Districts.
  • Increasing residential height maximums and simplifying height regulations.
  • Reducing lot widths and setbacks in a majority of zone districts to allow more buildable areas on lots.
  • Allowing more housing types as permitted uses in R-1 and R-2; allowing townhouses in MU-C, MU-I, and all Main Street districts; and eliminating design standards for townhouses.
  • Remove the clustering standards required for platting in certain developments.
  • Changes to connectivity requirements, including removing the connectivity index and instead specifying places where pedestrian and bicycle connections are needed.
  • Updated sustainability standards to include newer best practices.

 

These recommendations were included in the report given to City Council in September 2025 and at the public meeting in November 2025.

 

A memorandum describing the proposed changes as well as a full copy of the proposed new zoning code is available on the Planning Commission’s tab on the City of Duluth website.

 

A public hearing will be held at the Duluth Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, May 12, 2026 at 5:00 pm in City Council Chambers on the third floor of Duluth City Hall.

 

###