Growth 📈 Plans and regulations that support and encourage incremental density & development

[michaelskis]

We want it all and we want it now. We don't want anything to change and it has to stay the same forever.

Both of these opposing statements are at least thought of during most meetings as it relates to development hearings. But neither are rooted in the way successful communities have grown and changed overtime. I was looking back at some historic photos of our Town and noticing how it has evolved and changed over time. Thinking back to some of the places that I have worked at in the past or enjoy visiting, those too have evolved over time. At one point in time, it was recognized that things change. Someone would build a starter house and then add on to it as their needs changed. Communities built commerical store-fronts on residential structures as the ability and opportunity arose to made a few $$. Homes were cleared out to make way for commerical buildings or increased density residential. Many of us refer to this as the "Missing Middle" but I think it is more than that. It is the logical and sustainable progression of the built environment.

However, plans and regulations these days have a very binary approach. This is what is permitted to be built here, and that is what gets built. The expectation is that it is in its final state forever. In some cases, such as with Historic Preservation, that is the case. But I have also seen that go too far too. But absent the historic preservation protection, anything is up for discussion and when it does change, even slightly, people panic.

But how do we change that. Something that we have been discussing internally that I was successfully able to get implemented at my last community was the ability to have accessory dwelling units by right in all residential and mixed use districts, with particular limitations on size and location. While it is a start, I don't think it fully achieves what it should and that is the realization that everything is effectively temporary and that over time, changes can, and should occur not on big grand scales, but incrementally in a way that is sustainable for the traffic and utility infrastructure to absorb and adapt to. Something that allows for the reintroduction of the corner store and the neighborhood pub. Something that allows for a duplex, triplex, and quadplex to be mixed in among single family detached homes. Finally, something that allows the community to grow and adapt without having to sprawl or cause a panic.

Do you have, or do you know of, communities that have Plans or Regulatory standards that support and encourage an incremental density and development approach?

 

[Wannaplan?]

We want it all and we want it now.

But do we? If what you wrote is true, then we’re all panicking and the panic is now. I’m just not seeing that. People are not panicking around here. And the plans around here are not binary, in fact, I would say they have a healthy amount of grey area, which helps them be flexible. And I think flexibility helps alleviate panic. Nobody likes it around here when government types cause a panic. Nobody wants panic-inducing plans.

 

[michaelskis]

But do we? If what you wrote is true, then we’re all panicking and the panic is now. I’m just not seeing that. People are not panicking around here. And the plans around here are not binary, in fact, I would say they have a healthy amount of grey area, which helps them be flexible. And I think flexibility helps alleviate panic. Nobody likes it around here when government types cause a panic. Nobody wants panic-inducing plans.

It appears that I was not clear in my statement. Some citizens and many developers want the end result as quickly as possible and that is what most zoning ordinances require. For a very long time, you had these distinct separation of uses based on that zoning classification. If you lived in one of the many single family residential districts, you could only do that, a single family residential dwelling. Even in many of the communities here, the idea of a duplex, triplex, or quadplex on mixed into a neighborhood is not only a foreign concept, the ordinances prevent that from happening. Most zoning ordinances don't have a incremental intensification opportunity that allows for increased density and uses over time.

It is like this graphic from Strong Towns:

Many (not all) of the developers that I have worked with here, and in NC, are interested in going from farm field to end product and that end product is often one of the ends of this continuum. Medium density single family detached dwellings, large complex style garden apartments, or auto dependent commerical, office, or industrial.

I am looking for locations that have plans and regulations that promote the left side of this column with Incremental Intensification.

 

[Wannaplan?]

It appears that I was not clear in my statement. Some citizens and many developers want the end result as quickly as possible and that is what most zoning ordinances require.

Yeah, you mention plans in your starter post and placed it right here in the Make No Smalls Plan subforum.

Any who, so now that you clarified all this, I am noting that you say, “Most zoning ordinances don't have a incremental intensification opportunity that allows for increased density and uses over time” and I would say some states posses a corpus of case law that allows land use decision makers to make discretionary decisions on rezoning requests as well as special land use requests that have the effect of, “I am voting no on the request because this is not the right development for this particular site at this time.” While lacking adjacency to the specific zoning ordinance query in your starter post, it is pertinent insofar as such decision making, while admittedly a “muddling through” process, is a legitimate method to gatekeep the pace of development in a community.

 

[bureaucrat#3]

There are some FBCs that state in 20 years your zone is supposed to move up to the next. T-3 should move to T-4. Of course most FBC's already allow or require mixed product types and allow multi-units if the form is right.