Rochester council set to review proposed 300-home subdivision for senior neighborhood

Jan. 4—ROCHESTER — A subdivision plan to create 300 residential lots on recently annexed property in southwest Rochester will receive a final review Monday.

At its first meeting of 2026, the Rochester City Council will consider the request to subdivide approximately 141 acres to make way for a senior housing complex that includes homes for sale.

“We look forward to bringing this to the Rochester area,” said Dean Lotter, director of Pulte Group’s land use planning and land rights division in Minnesota, during a presentation of the project as it began moving through the city approval process. “We believe this would also meet the community’s housing goals.”

Among the goals of an updated Olmsted County Housing Assessment in 2025 is the creation of 1,100 new age-restricted for-sale homes by 2023.5 That’s part of an overall senior housing goal to create 5,880 new units during the same period.

Pulte Group plans a “Del Webb” community on the site located southwest of the intersection of Country Club Road and 45th Avenue Southwest. The development is expected to create a market-rate neighborhood designed with amenities for retired residents.

Before making a decision on the proposed subdivision, the City Council will hold a public hearing at its 6 p.m. meeting Monday to consider community and developer feedback on the project.

The proposal was met with some pushback from neighbors, who expressed concerns about possible traffic changes and flooding at the site, which is divided by Cascade Creek.

“That’s a lot of houses in this area,” neighbor Larry Dolphin said at an annexation hearing in August. “I’m not opposed to building houses … but I would be concerned about the floodwaters coming out of that valley.”

He reiterated his concerns over the following months, including comments to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission before it approved a shoreline protection permit that will allow 32 homes to be built within 300 feet of the north bank of Cascade Creek.

Lotter said he understands neighbors’ concerns about past flooding following heavy rains, but he pointed out that the flooding occurred on agricultural land that offered no stormwater control measures. He said engineers worked to design the site to retain potential floodwaters and gradually release them into the creek to control flooding downstream.

Additionally, the city plans to work with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to address flooding issues along the creek.

During annexation discussions, some city council members expressed concerns about the potential for flooding and traffic impacts, but noted the site would be subject to future study and discussion.

“I understand there are real concerns and I want to make sure we do the right thing,” said Nick Miller, a council member whose district includes the site.

While acknowledging neighbors’ concerns, he also noted that other Rochester residents have cited a desire to see more age-restricted housing for sale expand in the city.

In addition to reviewing the subdivision application, council will be asked, prior to the public hearing, to accept and approve an environmental assessment of the site, which underwent a 30-day review period that ended Dec. 18. City staff recommends that council adopt the assessment concluding that the proposed project will not have significant adverse environmental impacts.

If approved, the Pulte group has indicated its desire to start development of the site in spring 2026, with the possibility of having the first homes available for sale in early 2027. They could be occupied by April of the same year.

Lotter said construction of additional housing would likely continue until summer 2030.