Plymouth, MN Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

08 sets the CC District's dimensional table and, in Subdivision 1, its building design and materials standard. Architectural appearance, including character, massing, scale, and construction materials, must comply with the comprehensive plan's city center land use objectives, and every side of a building must carry the same quality of materials and design, not just the street-facing facade. Principal buildings need a street entry with an active main-floor use, and trash and recycling storage must sit inside the building rather than outside. The section bars box-like tops and corporate architecture, including corporate roof patterns, colors, or trademarked elements, and instead requires a variety of heights and articulated facades.

Any exterior wall visible from a public street, open space, or abutting property that runs longer than 50 feet needs visual relief, such as a material change, separate display-window bays, ornamental arcades or awnings, or two-foot horizontal offsets. The Section also lists approved materials, brick, stone, high-quality precast concrete, transparent glass, and canvas awnings, against banned materials including plywood, corrugated metal or fiberglass, simulated brick or stone, mirrored glass facing an active pedestrian street, EIFS, and metal siding covering more than half of any facade.

Adjoining Subdivisions 2 through 4 apply the same City Center Design Standards to landscaping, entry plazas, and pedestrian circulation, and the Community and Economic Development Department checks all of it during site and building plan review before approving construction in the district.