Bloomington's plan to rewrite the zoning rules for gyms has reached the City Council. At an Oct. 26 study session, planning staff asked the council to merge the code's separate "health club" and "sports training facility" uses into one new use called a "fitness and sports facility." Study sessions are for talk, not decisions. No vote was taken and no ordinance has been adopted.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNPlanning staff walk the council through the proposed merger of the health club and sports training facility uses.10/26
Here's the proposal. The combined use would be allowed in every commercial district except B-1. In industrial districts, size decides. A facility under 10,000 square feet would be allowed in all of them, and bigger facilities would have to meet an extra location test. The exact wording of that test will be clear once ordinance language is published.
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The appeal is easy to see. Climbing gyms, batting cages, turf fields, dance studios and CrossFit boxes don't fit neatly into a strip mall. Many of them want the high ceilings, open floors and cheaper rent of an old warehouse.
This question has been around for a while. At a Planning Commission meeting in May 2023, a speaker reviewing the industrial district rules pointed to a "hole in the middle" of the code. In that district, sports training facilities were allowed only as a conditional use, and the speaker said there didn't seem to be "any rational basis" for treating them separately.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNBack in 2023, the code's separate treatment of sports training facilities in an industrial district is called out as lacking a rational basis.05/11
This year a business forced the issue. Just for Kix, through AEY Associates, LLC and Mini Kix, Inc., applied for a privately initiated code amendment, Case #PL2026-146, to make sports training facilities a permitted use in the FD-2 Freeway Development district, where they were prohibited. At the Planning Commission's Sept. 3 hearing, staff said FD-2 is meant for uses that need a lot of land and serve an urban clientele. Staff also noted that sports training facilities are already permitted in the city's other industrial districts. The city then scheduled a City Council public hearing on the request for Sept. 28.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNStaff explain what the FD-2 district is for and note that sports training facilities are already allowed in other industrial areas.09/03
On Oct. 1, staff brought the citywide version to the Planning Commission. It was the same single-category plan with the same 10,000-square-foot line for industrial districts.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNStaff present the merged 'fitness and sports facility' use and the size limit for industrial districts.10/01
Staff also gave the commission the arguments on both sides. In favor, these businesses could fill industrial buildings that would otherwise sit empty. Against, they compete for buildings that have traditionally gone to industrial users.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNStaff sum up the benefits and drawbacks of allowing sports facilities in industrial areas.10/01
The same trade-off came up at the council session, along with another concern: sports facilities may bring lower-wage jobs than the industrial jobs they would replace. That's the core tension. Bloomington's industrial land is limited, and every warehouse that becomes a turf field is one fewer place for a manufacturer.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNThe presentation raises the concern that sports facilities could bring lower-wage jobs than the industrial uses they would displace.10/26
The merger would also remove a distinction in the current code. Right now a sports training facility is a gym, multi-sport floor or practice space built for athletes in one particular sport, and the code treats it separately from health and fitness clubs open to the general public. Under the proposal, those would be one use.
No date has been set for the next step. The study session was meant to get the council's direction before staff write an ordinance. If the citywide change takes the same route as the Just for Kix amendment, it will need a Planning Commission public hearing and a City Council hearing before anything is adopted.
Those hearings are where residents get to speak, so gym owners, athletes' parents and owners of industrial property should watch for them on future agendas. We'll update this story as it moves.
From the meetings: City Council Meeting, October 26, 2026 and Planning Commission Meeting, October 1, 2026.
