City Council Study Session 9/28/2026

The City of Rochester, Minnesota, held a council study session on September 28, 2026, covering housing access, transportation mode shift, and stormwater quality treatment credit transfers. In the housing discussion, council members considered—but did not adopt—possible changes to short-term and single-family rental rules and the owner-occupancy requirement for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in R1 districts. Members discussed licensing and enforcement, fees for larger rental portfolios, neighborhood impacts, and requiring hosting platforms to display rental-license information. The city’s ADU pilot offers reimbursement of up to $20,000 per unit, but no units have received reimbursement; about 10 permitted ADUs were identified. Staff also reported a housing pipeline of roughly 6,000 units, including 3,400 approved rental units, and cited a prior $20 million collective investment by housing coalition partners. No housing policy or spending action was approved.

Staff presented an updated draft stormwater quality treatment credit-transfer policy and implementation manual. The voluntary program would allow eligible development projects to use off-site water-quality treatment credits, with city-generated credit prices calculated to recover eligible treatment-related costs; unrelated costs such as flood control and recreational improvements would not be charged to developers. Staff said the program aligns with state and federal requirements and proposed returning on October 19 with the policy and ordinance for council consideration, aiming to have the system ready for implementation by year-end. Council members expressed support and asked about geographic safeguards and pricing, but no vote or award occurred. The mode-shift presentation focused on data collection and future planning, including a MnDOT active transportation program work plan; recommendations are expected to return to council in the new year. No procurement award or specific purchase was identified.