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Planning: general 🌇 Random Planning Thoughts (and Photos) Deserving No Thread Of Their Own

Barndominiums were big in Kansas. I approved them all the time. My 1st thought was always, my wife would kill me if I proposed living in a metal shed no matter how nice I made the inside.
 
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or
meme_tevya-signregstradition.jpg
 

Town Council rep: “But the plans were on display…”​

Arthur: “On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”​

Town Council rep: “That’s the display department.”​

Arthur: “With a flashlight.”​

Town Council rep: “Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”​

Arthur: “So had the stairs.”​

Town Council rep: “But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”​

Arthur: “Yes, yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”​

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
 
To paraprhase:

The best time to build more housing was 10 years ago, the second best time is now.
 
Hink said:
It's always DENSE multi-family. Just so you are aware.
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?

Are you having a stroke? Should we call 911? Blink your left eye once if you're being held against your will.































:p
 
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Sometimes that trainwreck community is the best place to get your first director/management job as long as you know what you're getting into.
 
mendelman said:
Sometimes that trainwreck community is the best place to get your first director/management job as long as you know what you're getting into.
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Always a chance to make some progress, helps if planners in your community have some sympathy. We have one in the county known for burning through PDs- nobody's going to fault anybody for a short stay there.
 
mendelman said:
Sometimes that trainwreck community is the best place to get your first director/management job as long as you know what you're getting into.
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Not my first, but that was the environment I entered into a few years ago. I knew what I was getting into and I had a lot of confidence in the City Manager. We have been able to implement a lot of changes that would have otherwise had substantial pushback of things were not such a train wreck. People agreed that change needed to happen... and that was part of the reason that the position opened up.
 
^^^
Either how Jaded you have become or depth of your Sarcasm or total burn out- just hanging on till retirement.
 
I'm pretty sure regulatory takings only works in one direction.

It's not regulatory givings.
 
So the State of Michigan may be outlawing bans on Air BnB style short term rentals, thereby superseding all local zoning control.

www.bridgemi.com

Michigan House votes to bar Airbnb bans | Bridge Michigan

The Republican-led House passes legislation that sponsors say protects property rights and one critic says will ‘pour lighter fluid on an already red-hot housing market.'
www.bridgemi.com www.bridgemi.com
 
We did that here. The state is looking at peeling back some of the ban so cities can enforce the no party rental in the big house in the fancy neighborhood with lots of connections to state representatives.
 
Maister said:
So the State of Michigan may be outlawing bans on Air BnB style short term rentals, thereby superseding all local zoning control.

www.bridgemi.com

Michigan House votes to bar Airbnb bans | Bridge Michigan

The Republican-led House passes legislation that sponsors say protects property rights and one critic says will ‘pour lighter fluid on an already red-hot housing market.'
www.bridgemi.com www.bridgemi.com
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I can understand this from a certain perspective, since waterfront/accessible vacation rentals are a not insignificant part of the State's yearly economy.
 
If you're going to do a major comprehensive zoning code change/modernization, then you better be prepared to do a line by line test fit analysis for the entire draft code.

Guess why I know this.

:(
 
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“If you want your subordinates to do or not do certain things, build a city.”
-Niccolo Machiavelli​
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​
 
I love official planning documents with a sense of humor, or even just an Easter egg or two. There's a bunch of subtle visual jokes in the FBC I wrote. I just found an Easter egg in a guide explaining sign regulations for Gdansk, Poland, even though I can't read Polish. (Poland adopted a law for billboard control on a national scale, which also enables communities to adopt sign regulations, in 2015.) Growing up where I did, though, I know a few words. Including the one on the sign.

piwo piwo piwo.png
 
The suburbs perpetuate matriarchy? From the Montreal Gazette, Setember 20 1955:

Montral Gazette 1955-09-20.jpg
 
re: suburbia [T]he growth of the metropolis throws vast numbers of people into distant dormitories where ... life is carried on without the discipline of rural occupations and without the cultural resources that the Central District of the city still retains. [Lewis Mumford, 1922]
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I mean...is an ED strat plan really that hard?
  • Moar revenue
  • Repair and/or occupy empty/underused properties
  • Moar events and PR to draw the eyeballs
  • Moar people and housing means more spending
  • ....
  • ....
  • ....
  • Profit!
 
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"Stop texting me saying there is a city planning emergency. There's no such thing as a city planning emergency."

city_planning_emergency.jpg


But could Mark Brendanawicz be wrong? I'm not talking about something administrative like sudden changes in a planning board agenda, or something related to enforcement.
 
I have been thinking a lot about changing trends and anticipated advances and their applications associated with our field. There are three that are of specific interest to me right now:

Online Ordering and Home Delivery. Before COVID, there was a lot of economists that were commenting about the decline of big box retailers as more and more people buy stuff from Amazon and other online vendors. COVID supercharged that change. Where big box buildings once required a sea of parking and particular frontage requirements that is changing. We are now seeing more distribution facilities being constructed and the remaining big box and grocery stores are having drive-up pick-up spaces for online orders.

Autonomous Vehicles and Electric Vehicles. This one is two parts. First I think that electric vehicles will take over as the primary mode of transportation. This will result in less gas stations but will require more locations to quickly charge them. The questions come up on how structure these. In Downtowns, it is difficult to put these in on-street parallel parking because many vehicles have the charging port on the drivers side, which will result in the cord being wrapped around the front or under the vehicle. Places like restaurants or work make a lot of sense because a person is at that location for longer durations than they would be at a gas station or even a grocery store.

Longevity and Population. Despite COVID, there is a lot of research that shows that we are about to substantially extend life span. However many first world countries are seeing a decrease in new births, so we will have a longer life but will have a decrease in younger populations. How will this change schools, playgrounds, or similar activities.
 
Our permitted use chart is so bad, old, unorganized and just plain sucks. Trying to update it is a massive chore. Residential & institutional will be fairly easy. Industrial & commercial will be a huge PITA
 
Grant of Sidewalk Easement Developer grants to the City a perpetual easement for public use of the sidewalk(s) to be installed in the Condominium development, designated as the Sidewalk Easement Area in Exhibit A. The Sidewalk Easement Area shall only be used by the public for pedestrian and bicycle passage through the Condominium development to go to and from condominium units. The City shall not have any responsibility to maintain the sidewalks.
 
Maister said:
Grant of Sidewalk Easement Developer grants to the City a perpetual easement for public use of the sidewalk(s) to be installed in the Condominium development, designated as the Sidewalk Easement Area in Exhibit A. The Sidewalk Easement Area shall only be used by the public for pedestrian and bicycle passage through the Condominium development to go to and from condominium units. The City shall not have any responsibility to maintain the sidewalks.
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For realz? Why even have the easement then? Just keep it private property.
 
I've been on a Civilization 6 binge lately. Anyone else play any iterations of Sid Meier's Civilization series?

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Maister said:
I've been on a Civilization 6 binge lately. Anyone else play any iterations of Sid Meier's Civilization series?

View attachment 56432
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I used to love the Civilization games but haven't played in a very long time. I no longer have a computer of my own (except our 12 year old MacBook) but recently saw that Civilization VI is available on the Nintendo Switch and that it's supposed to be just as good on the Switch as it is on a computer. I was thinking about getting it. I'm sure I would enjoy it but I also think my oldest would get a kick out of it too.
 
mendelman said:
Land use prohibition by development regulations.
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Like someone trying to chase a specific use out by singling it out for onerous regulation, or someone trying to prohibit a specific parcel of land from being used for anything, or someone who just says "this place is full" and regulates development within its limits into the ground as a result?
 
UrbanUnPlanner said:
Like someone trying to chase a specific use out by singling it out for onerous regulation, or someone trying to prohibit a specific parcel of land from being used for anything, or someone who just says "this place is full" and regulates development within its limits into the ground as a result?
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Yep. Though one does have to be careful not to fall into the ‘regulatory takings’ trap.
 
UrbanUnPlanner said:
Like someone trying to chase a specific use out by singling it out for onerous regulation, or someone trying to prohibit a specific parcel of land from being used for anything, or someone who just says "this place is full" and regulates development within its limits into the ground as a result?
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Have a couple people here trying to outlaw thrift shops in a certain area because they bring they wrong people.
Vintage clothing shops are good though because they are 'chic'.



I responded something in line of - so you don't want Chevy store, but a BMW sales lot is okay.
 
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