A new proposal on minimum square footage standards for newly built houses in Des Moines prompted numerous questions Monday from City Council members including wondering what the criteria were for allowing smaller houses to be built in the city.  

“We need to know what the criteria is,” Councilman Joe Gatto said during a work session on the city’s proposed new zoning code. “That is the most controversial thing and the thing that is going to be the most argumentative right now until we define a set process.

“Or are we just going to say, ‘Well, let’s just see how it goes’? It’ll be like the wild, wild West. I don’t think we should do that. 

“There should be criteria they should meet.”

For the past five years, city staff, elected officials and community members have worked on rewriting the current zoning code, put in place in the 1960s and updated more than 300 times. After a draft of the rewritten code was released about two years ago, the city received hundreds of complaints and suggestions for changes. 

A reworked zoning code that included numerous changes and additions was released in May. Among the additions were minimum size requirements for new houses built in the city. 

A consultant recommended that the standards be included after a review showed housing values were not appreciating at the same rate as those in neighboring communities and that houses were not available in Des Moines for people looking to move out of starter homes, Mike Ludwig, Des Moines’ planning administrator, has said.

The proposed building standards for newly built houses sparked an outcry among homebuilders and affordable housing advocates who said the requirements would drive up the cost of constructing new houses by $10,000 to $70,000, depending on the type of house, and be unaffordable for moderate-income families.

On Aug. 1, the Plan and Zoning Commission approved the new citywide zoning code without recommending minimum sizes for newly built houses.

On Monday, city staff released a range of proposals including that single-story houses with full basements built in new developments be at least 1,300 square feet and two-story houses without basements be at least 1,700 square feet. The minimum sizes of houses built on in-fill lots in the city would range from 1,100 square feet to 1,400 square feet, depending on the style and whether it included a basement.

Under the proposal, city staff would have the ability to allow houses to be as much as 18% smaller. Reductions of more than 18% would have to be approved by the city’s Plan and Zoning Commission and ultimately the City Council.

Not included in the proposal was the criteria that city staff would use to determine whether to allow newly built houses in new developments to be up to 18% smaller than proposed city standards. Any houses built smaller than 1,000 square feet would need Plan and Zoning Commission approval. The council asked that criteria be developed by Sept. 9 when the first public hearing on the zoning code is scheduled to be held.

City Councilwoman Linda Westergaard, also a real estate agent, asked whether the square footage requirements could be lower. 

“I haven’t seen a 1,700-square-foot two-story for some time. Can we lower that another 100?” she asked.

Gatto said he wasn’t willing to allow newly constructed houses to be any smaller than what the staff recommended.

“If we go any smaller, I’m a no vote. We’ve compromised enough on the square footage.”

This story was updated Aug. 29, 2019 to clarify the minimum square footage requirements recommended by city staff.