Lynnhurst Restaurant Victim Of 50-Year Zoning Oversight

Every layer of the Minneapolis zoning code and its attendant appendages, like small area plans, are possessed of impressive levels of detail. These legal objects categorize nearly every square millimeter of our fair city, prescribing and proscribing all manner of uses.

Imagine, then, a 40-year old restaurant operating in a 100-year old, purpose-built commercial building, on a plot of land zoned for housing for at least 50 years.

That’s the situation The Malt Shop’s Dick Henke found himself in when he decided to upgrade his establishment.

“I had been aware of the zoning for quite a while, but this issue became a real problem when I wanted to convert my basement space into a banquet room so I decided to try to get it changed,” he told Patch in an email.

According to a report prepared by city staff and presented to the City Planning Commission at its Monday meeting, the property was designated “single family housing” in the 1963 Zoning Code, despite being built in 1916 as a commercial structure.

The Planning Commission approved Henke’s request to change the zoning to the C1, or neighborhood commercial, classification.

“At any rate I am looking forward to getting it corrected,” Henke told Patch.

The Malt Shop’s events space is slated to open some time next year.

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