The Duluth City Council has approved rezoning land in the Woodland neighborhood that allows a 60-unit luxury condo development to move forward.
Duluth-based Titanium Partners proposes a two-building project that requires a zoning change to residential-planned from residential-traditional. Neighbors of the Hartley Park-area development wrote letters to the city both in opposition and support. Some worried it doesn’t fit the character of the forested neighborhood, and others encouraged it because they believe it would ease the city’s chronic housing shortage. A petition opposing the project has been signed by more than 1,400.
Neighbors spoke at the meeting questioning whether it was appropriate land use, and criticized the project for its lack of affordability.
“We are empty nesters, but we won’t be selling our home to move into those condos,” said Ann Edwards. “They are unaffordable to us.”
Only Councilor Wendy Durrwachter opposed the rezoning. The project is in her district.
Durrwachter said the project is “very obviously different than single family homes,” and will affect property taxes of surrounding houses, many of which are valued at less than the proposed condos, priced between $450,000 and $700,000.
Councilor Lynn Nephew, who is a real estate agent, recited the low number of homes on the market in Duluth — 75 — and the average number of days before a sale, which she said was five. That shows the housing is needed, she said.
The council also approved symbolic support of Duluth’s Environmental Protection Agency lab, which researches water health, among other things. The lab is potentially threatened by federal cuts. Several other local factions of federal agencies were added to the resolution of support, including postal and Forest Service workers.
