The Star Tribune compiled zoning data for 102 communities in the Twin Cities’ metro area in 2019 in order to evaluate the share of residential land in the region that is zoned solely for single-family detached homes. Minneapolis had attracted national attention in 2018 when the city council voted to allow duplexes or triplexes in residential zoning districts that had previously only allowed single-family homes. Zoning is done by local governments, usually at the city level, and we found that we would have to gather this data from every city and compile it ourselves. We completed that work of collecting the data by the end of 2019, but had to put our story on hold until later in 2020 due to other major news events.
We’re using this repository to share not only our data for further research, but also guidance for others interested in doing similar work in your city or metro area.
If you have questions contact MaryJo Webster, maryjo.webster@startribune.com, or Michael Corey, michael.corey@startribune.com