An office space on Sutton Boulevard that has been an office for a long time according Maplewood Assistant City Manager Anthony Traxler, is set to change hands soon, to continue as Thrivent Financial, moving from Brentwood.
Andrew Bolin, with Thrivent Financial, plans to buy 3008 Sutton Boulevard and move his financial planning business into the first floor of the building on Sutton. The second floor has tenants.
Bolin said his current office is 800 square feet and there’s no room for growth. Two employees will move into the new office and Bolin said he hopes to expand to eight.
Cowell Engineering now occupies the first floor; they have said they’ll move within Maplewood if the building is sold.
Traxler said there are no issues with this use. It passed unanimously. It will have its first and second readings at the next city council meeting.
The commission also considered an ordinance to institute a minimum square footage for new houses built in Maplewood. Traxler said City Manager Marty Corcoran thought it might be a good idea, and wanted planning and zoning to consider it.
Before the discussion, resident Adelina Mart told the commission there are advantages to small houses in the 300 to 500 square foot range, for instance. She said they can be a good place for seniors to age in place, and they can be environmentally friendly. She said new designs can feel bigger on the inside than they actually are.
She suggested using an average of the houses on each side of the new house, and restricting the new one to a proportion of the average. She suggested 30 percent. Traxler suggested 50 percent. Commission member Dan Noonan said there can even be demand for houses down to 200 square feet.
Traxler said city staff write a bill to be considered.
I love the idea of Tiny Houses in our community! As mentioned by others here, this trend opens up so many creative, green, fiscally responsible options. I would, however, hope the P and Z will limit them to permanent structures, rather than the “portable” homes being created by many enthusiasts. (meaning built on a foundation, vs built over wheels) I’m looking forward to seeing Maplewood embrace this innovative move!
Hi Jill, just wondering. What’s your thought behind requiring them to be built on foundations rather than allowing them to be portable?
I would LOVE to age in place in a tiny house!! They are energy efficient, demand very little upkeep, and can be charming. I like the idea of several in a row – maybe on those empty lots across the street from me on Zephyr. It is really time to use that space again 🙂
To me, seeing houses on those lots would represent some healing to the neighborhood. It pains me each time I drive by. We have a park named for the slain firefighter and now we have a memorial. Time to rebuild on those lots.
It seems that tiny houses would fit nicely into Maplewood’s progressive outlook, with sustainability, green spaces, walkability, etc in mind. It would take less energy to maintain it, would lend itself to more land (less house), and perhaps the person/persons living in it would prefer to get out more often and stroll through Maplewood. It would add to the wonderful variety already here in Maplewood, which gives us the great “flavor” of our city.
Small houses are the future. I think they’d attract a smart buyer.
Okay, i know tiny houses are all the rage, but I sure hope the commission uses some common sense on this one and keeps things reasonable. (cough cough 70% min of neighbors’ houses sounds good to me….cough) I would not want a 300 sq foot house on the lot next to me.
Then buy the lot next to you, that’s the only way you have any right to dictate the size of house built on it.
I don’t get it either… but why do you care so much!? This seems quite a bit different to me than someone wanting to build an oversized mcmansion casting its shadows over your house with cantlevered stucture 6 feet from your property line. You want more tax money for the community? You want less plants and trees? You want everyone to be just like you? If you’re not harming anyone else, you’re alright with me.
To me, the most important aspect would be how it looks and how the property will be configured. I would like to see several of them, in a row, on a street with the same general design. That might be alright.