Zoning Code Amendment to Parking Requirements at 50th & France

Section 36-1312 of the Edina Zoning Ordinance allows commercial properties at 50th & France to rely on the public ramps to satisfy their parking requirement up to a floor area ratio (FAR) of 1.0. FAR means the gross floor area of a building divided by the lot area. Buildings that exceed an FAR of 1.0 must provide additional parking for the square footage exceeding an FAR of 1.0.

In the fall of 2025, a variance from this provision was requested to allow a business to expand without additional parking. The variance was strongly supported by the community and, as a result, the City Council provided feedback to staff to explore amending the parking requirement at 50th & France to allow other property owners in the district to do similar expansions. Staff have analyzed the parking data for the three ramps and the potential for redevelopment in the district will be proposing the amount of FAR allowed before additional parking is required be increased from 1.0 to 1.25.