Staff photo by Fritz Busch Vehicles fill parking stalls on the 200 block of N. Minnesota St. Friday.

NEW ULM — The New Ulm Planning Commission unanimously approved an ordinance amending downtown residential parking requirements Thursday.

Action came on a motion by Commissioner Joe Schotzko, seconded by Bobbi Fuhr to reduce the off-street parking requirement for new construction or renovation of residential units from two stalls per unit to one stall per unit.

New Ulm City Planner John Knisley provided more detailed information on the subject than what was discussed at the previous planning commission meeting. Knisley said he worked with nine sources for Thursday’s meeting including the New Ulm fire chief regarding residential rental inspection records to determine how many rental units are downtown. He talked with a building official to determine about how many bedroom units are in the downtown area.

Knisley said he worked with the special services district to determine how many off-street parking stalls are on downtown private property plus city-owned parking spaces that are open to the public and leased.

He talked to city parking enforcement regarding downtown parking tickets for people that live or work downtown plus city development directors in St. Peter and Hutchinson about recent downtown development.

Knisley gathered information from downtown private residential developers and boards of the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce and New Ulm Business and Redevelopment Association.

“Generally, larger family projects provide their own off-street parking spaces for their renters,” Knisley said.

“Additional parking spaces for multi-family projects downtown can be limited and add further expense to projects,” he added.

Knisley said things to consider when reducing downtown parking for residential uses include are most residents driving one or two vehicles; is there current downtown parking to meet the needs of downtown customers, residents and employees and what is considered a reasonable distance to walk downtown for a customer to get to a business.

He said other considerations are should the city require a different number of parking spaces depending on how many apartments are in a residential unit and what if a three-bedroom unit has one resident.

Knisley said downtown New Ulm currently has 661 private, off-street parking stalls, 145 stalls for customers and 516 for business owners and employees. There are 256 city-owned public (non-leased) stalls, 131 stalls for lease, 103 that are leased. There are 1,048 total off-street downtown parking stalls.

On-street parking includes 194 Minnesota Street stalls from 4th North to 2nd South St., 88 stalls on German Street between Center and 4th North and 241 stalls on number streets from 3rd North to 1st South Street between Broadway and German Street. There are 1,571 total downtown parking spaces.

New Ulm has 217 downtown residential units, five of which are owned by business owners, 178 rented residential units including City Center Apartments and Broadway Haus. There are 34 rented residential units from 2nd South Street to 3rd South and 4th to 5th North Street between Broadway and Minnesota Street.

Downtown multi-family apartment buildings include City Center Apartments with 39 units and 47 off-street parking stalls, Broadway Haus with 40 units and 18 parking stalls, Minnesota Valley Funeral Home with six units that share an unknown number of sparking spaces with a funeral home, Alchemy 101 LLC, 100 S. Minnesota St. with seven units and eight parking stalls and J & J Rentals, eight units and no on-site sparking. Off-street parking on other locations was required to be leased from the City.

Knisley said two proposed multi-family downtown apartments are Marktplatz Mall with 137 existing stalls for 60 to 90 apartment units and the George’s Ballroom site with 116 proposed stalls for 84 proposed apartment units.

He said the City of St. Peter recently completed a 36-unit downtown apartment project on main street and required one parking stall per apartment.

“Downtown (New Ulm) is experiencing a renaissance of sorts right now, due in part to residential development happening and businesses opening downtown,” Knisley said.

“What we need to take a look at is can be make a balance between customers, employees and residents and available parking,” he added.

No comments were heard at the planning commission hearing on the downtown residential parking requirement amendment Thursday.

Planning commission findings of fact read that the amendment addresses the need to reduce the burden on property owners/developers to find additional parking spaces for residential units in the central business district. Downtown single bedroom apartments often only have one occupant and one vehicle.

In addition, the proposed amendment is consistent with achieving the goals and objectives outlined in the comprehensive plan.

Comprehensive plan land use goals include encouraging evolution of downtown to a vital and sustainable mixture of commercial, residential and civic uses.

Other goals include allowing additional downtown housing as a means of expanding the downtown business market and a new investment source; and keeping primary community civic functions downtown to attract people to the area.

The New Ulm City Council will hold a public hearing on the issue March 5.