A Smaller Carbon Footprint

If you are in Saint Paul, Minnesota, you might see Cody Fischer riding his Cargo bike with his three kids in the front basket. He bikes with them even in winter once he’s swapped out the tires for ones that get better traction in the snow and ice. Cody is doing what he can to reduce his carbon footprint to help slow climate change. It is that commitment that inspired him to become the founder and director of Footprint Development, which develops, builds and owns “carbon-smart, climate-resilient, multi-family housing in walkable, bikeable and transit-rich” neighborhoods in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Footprint Development provides a platform for him to share data from his projects with much larger developers in the hope that they will become more climate compatible and resilient. As he points out, even if they become only 30 percent more energy efficient in how and what they build, the impact will be huge.

An Existential Threat

Living in cities like Washington D.C., Chicago and London got Cody thinking about the characteristics that drew him to specific neighborhoods time and again. They were vibrant with people, included green space and a variety of amenities to enjoy. This led him to the study of urbanism and to the work of people like Jane Jacobs, an urbanist and champion of a “community-based approach to building.” Like a lot of people, he also thought about climate change, but it wasn’t until his first child was born that something in him shifted. He became deeply alarmed and began to see it as an existential threat.

Prior to founding Footprint Development, Cody worked in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors and completed an MBA. When he saw the intersection between real estate development and climate change he knew the path he wanted to pursue. He explained that we can’t talk about addressing climate change without talking about how our built environment contributes to it. Forty percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from the building sector of which new construction accounts for 25 percent each year, and the remaining 75 percent is from how existing buildings operate and consume energy. The building sector needs to create a smaller carbon footprint if we are going to slow climate change and avoid experiencing the worst impacts of it.

Going to Have to Do It Himself

Once he knew he wanted to work in climate-friendly real estate development in the Twin Cities, Cody spent time networking and looking for people who were already doing it locally in the hopes that he could work with and learn from them. But he couldn’t find local developers building small scale, energy efficient, low carbon construction projects, so he realized he was going to have to do it himself.  His family moved back to Saint Paul right before the start of the pandemic. His wife started her dream job, and once the lockdown began, Cody split his time between caring for his kids as they did school online and launching Footprint Development.

After the City of Minneapolis changed its zoning laws to allow for more multi-unit housing throughout the city, Footprint Development had its first project. Cody and his wife owned a duplex, which was rented, with a three-car garage. They tore down the garage and replaced it with six energy efficient, low carbon footprint apartments. This is referred to as Infill Development when a new building is built on unused or underused land in existing urban areas.

Found His People

Cody says it was lucky how everything came together for the project.  Recognizing “he didn’t know what he didn’t know,” Cody assembled a set of mentors from more traditional real estate development and construction. He found an online community of like-minded, climate-conscious builders through Green Building Advisor , who were willing to share what they know with him. He also found his way to the AIA 2030 Commitment, which is working toward net-zero emissions in the built environment. It was a steep learning curve, and Cody had to convince a slew of people - architects, engineers, and sub-contractors - working on his project to do things differently from what they were used to, but it was worth it.

Footprint Development’s second project, Solstice Northeast, which will be completed in February 2024, has been another rich learning experience. It is in a very walkable, bikeable and transit-rich location in Northeast Minneapolis. But the Minneapolis Planning Commission (Planning Commission) originally denied it, which completely blindsided and devastated Cody. He knew his project was in accordance with the City’s zoning laws and comprehensive plan goals, so the denial had nothing to do with the law and everything to do with politics. The people living on the block of the proposed building wanted to keep the existing single-family home, so they were opposed to it. They mobilized and convinced their City Council member, who served on the Planning Commission and other Planning Commissioners, to deny it.

The soon-to-be-completed Solstice Northeast

The Planning Commission denial, and the ensuing appeal, became something of a litmus test for Minneapolis’ comprehensive plan, also known as Minneapolis 2040 (2040). The 2040 plan aimed to address Minneapolis’ housing shortage by allowing more environmentally-friendly, transit-oriented housing throughout the City. In its decision, the Planning Commission ignored the 2040 plan, which was built on more than 2 years of City-led community engagement with thousands of stakeholders and adopted after unanimous City Council and Metropolitan Council approval.

The Planning Commission decision sent a shockwave of alarm through the housing- and environmental-advocacy community. In his appeal, Cody was joined by a broad-base coalition of housing advocates and environmental organizations. They created a groundswell of support by mobilizing their grassroot networks to attend hearings and write in support of the project to City Council members and Planning Commissioners.  After months of organizing and $40,000 in legal fees, Cody’s appeal was granted. Despite the steep financial and emotional cost, Cody is grateful for going through the appeal, because it helped him find his people - housing, climate and transit advocates - many of whom he still works with on housing, environmental and transportation advocacy.

Not A Good Enough Reason

Footprint Development has a third project that is on hold while the 2040 plan is litigated. Cody is doing what he can to be ready to start building once the court case is settled. He also is looking forward to working on Footprint Development’s first building in Saint Paul now that  zoning codes have been overhauled making it easier to build multi-unit housing across the city.

Sign in the yard of a house across the street from Solstice Northeast

Cody realizes that not everyone is happy with the residential zoning changes in either city. He understands when people buy a house, they're not just buying a house, they’re investing in and choosing to be a part of the community it’s in. When something comes along that might change that, the uncertainty of what change may bring can be scary, intimidating and hard. But he doesn’t believe owning a home entitles a person to exclude other people and types of housing from their block, nor does he believe fear and discomfort with change are good enough reasons to prevent creating the climate-friendly, multi-family housing we need. It’s especially important to build more housing because as the climate crisis worsens, and people find it difficult to live in other parts of the country due to extreme weather and drought, Minnesota, with its increasingly warmer temperatures and abundance of water, will likely become a place where many climate refugees will choose to settle.

Whose Voices Are Missing

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, households in multi-family, transit-oriented housing use about 80 percent less energy than households in a single-family home in a car-dependent location. If we are going to avoid experiencing the worst impacts of climate change, we need to create more transit-oriented multi-family housing.

Home ownership is a way to build wealth, and owner-occupied, multi-family homes can create generational wealth. Cody wonders if people who resist Minneapolis and Saint Paul becoming more populated have ever experienced the vibrancy of having more neighbors. He has heard the argument that property values drop when apartments are built nearby, but there isn’t really any data to support that argument. He has many renters living in multi-family housing on his street in Saint Paul, and home values in the community remain high. More importantly, when they get together for activities on their block, no one cares who rents and who owns.

Historically, our built environment has been used to segregate society by class and race. As we work to make our core cities more climate resilient, we have the chance to tear down those barriers. That means we have to think about whose voices are missing when plans for our built environment, especially when it comes to housing and transit, are created.

It is clear Cody is doing exactly what he is meant to be doing. His hope is that people moving to Minneapolis and Saint Paul in the future will have many climate-friendly housing options to choose from in transit-rich neighborhoods, so it is easy for them to walk, take public transportation or bike, even in the winter.

Learn More

Cody Fischer, Founder and President, Footprint Development

Visit Foot Development to learn more about their vision, approach and projects.

Construction workers on Solstice Northeast

Cody was recently quoted in a Star Tribune column about the need for building code changes that allow for single-stairway buildings. This allows developers to build taller buildings that have the kind of multi-family housing that is needed.