In My Backyard
Should a newspaper of national repute (reputedly) ensure guest editorial writers were qualified to speak on their subjects? Not Oxford degreed necessarily, but when Thomas Ricks writes about the wars the country fights, he comes with qualifications. You’d expect that, right?
If, for example, one were to complain about struggles ordinary folks have finding and paying for housing, a knowledge of the situation might be useful.
Like, just a thought, before donating a third of the editorial comments page, how about a resume including experience in urban planning—or even public administration? This way, the paper’s editors, equally unfamiliar with the subject, might avoid the embarrassment of the headline being contradicted by the story.
How NIMBYism chokes off affordable housing by Kendall Cotton, CEO of the Frontier Institute in Helena, MT
“The shorthand explanation for the housing crunch is not-in-my-backyard NIMBYism but the political instrument that makes such hostility effective has a more prosaic description: strict local zoning regulations.” from How NIMBYism chokes off affordable housing by Kendall Cotton in the Washington Post
Is there not a NOT in the above? I’m confused: is it NIMBYism the country is going to hell for, or zoning regs? Isn’t “in-my-backyard NIMBYism” a touch redundant? Help! I’m losing the bubba’s argument.
…
According to last Friday’s Washington Post commentary, zoning laws are the root of the current housing problem, from overpriced real estate to a lack of housing that working class folks can afford. The poster kids are found in places like Seattle. LA and San Francisco, but according to the article, even Missoula struggles. Who’da thunk. Less than 75,000 people living in that town—against how many coyotes?
To be clear, we easterners don’t like vermin either—sorry, coyotes. I need an AR-15 with ammo belts to go hunting.
I had known for a while that the WAPO editors were all bailing out before Bezos rocketed into town, but have none of them been replaced? Did anyone vet this article? Here we have someone with an agenda, and WAPO gives him seven inches three columns wide?
It must be true that he’s studied at the greatest urban planning institutes—I’m struggling to keep from googling the ‘Institute’ he works so hard in—Helena (pop. 32,000).
“The Biden administration’s housing plan calls the lack of available and affordable land through exclusionary zoning regulations—such as minimum lot area requirements, parking mandates and prohibitions on multifamily housing—one of the most significant issues constraining housing supply.” from How NIMBYism chokes off affordable housing by Kendall Cotton
Oh finally, a reference: “Biden’s Housing Supply Action Plan.” Googling that produced President Biden Announces New Actions to Ease the Burden of Housing Costs
“One of the most significant issues constraining housing supply and production is the lack of available and affordable land, which is in large part driven by state and local zoning and land use laws and regulations that limit housing density. Exclusionary land use and zoning policies constrain land use, artificially inflate prices, perpetuate historical patterns of segregation, keep workers in lower productivity regions, and limit economic growth.” from President Biden Announces New Actions to Ease the Burden of Housing Costs
So summing up, Mr. Cotton is basing his opinion (with no facts present) on a ‘plan’ that is likewise an opinion—with no footnotes nor references to support it either. Consistent bugger.
Zoning Is Killing—something
Zoning is intended to keep crazy people from going dastardly against their less crazy neighbors. Like building over their lot lines, and constructing highrise mansions like they do in Mumbai.
Antilia Tower in Mumbai—photo by A.Savin (WikiCommons)
Wikipedia page on Antilia Tower Holy bat shit, Robin. We’s living here!
I’m here to take the opposite position: zoning works sometimes. Dogs and bad developers need to be kept on leashes—cats too, but we won’t go there.
Has Mr. Cotton ever studied planning? You know, gotten educated on the subject?
Houston has no zoning laws. How’s that working? Are they burgeoning with all that affordable housing—before or after Hurricane Harvey when the po folk got flooded out? Not the fault of zoning, the fault of poor flood control—bringing back fond memories of the Ninth Ward.
It’s the old Florida sucker bet, buying land when the tide heads out.
Cotton goes on about ‘exclusionary’ evils and forgets to define his adverb. Exclusionary to the wolves? They still hunt wolves in Montana. It’s the American way.
I can’t stand the suspense! I need to google this guy:
“Kendall Cotton developed his passion for serving his community while growing up in Florence, Montana… and later earned a degree in Political Science from Montana State University. Kendall is a government relations professional with 10+ years of experience helping to shape Montana public policy, most recently serving as the Policy Advisor for Montana’s Insurance Commissioner.” from Frontier Institute website
What does political science have to do with urban planning? Not to be snide, but my dog could get a degree in political science. Admittedly, Layla’s smarter than your average poly-sci major. And I shouldn’t slander Montana, that great state where the men are men and the sheep run scared.
What does Cotton know about zoning? Know anything about why zoning might be necessary for urban populations greater than Missoula—unless you’re after keeping the wildlife from getting out of control… I’ll apologize if he will. Has Helena become an LA suburb and I didn’t hear about it?
Three columns, seven inches of 6 point font.
Evidently in Montana it’s considered anti-American to require citizens to adhere to rules about living next to each other?
“Biden’s Housing Supply Plan will leverage federal grant funding to entice skeptical local governments into reforming EXCLUSIONARY zoning codes. Cities that give landowners freedom to build denser, more affordable homes to meet the needs of low- and middle income residents will be rewarded with higher scores in existing federal grant processes.” How NIMBYism chokes off affordable housing by Kendall Cotton [emphasis added]
How many apartment buildings can you fit on the head of a pin? on an eighth-acre site?
Is zoning exclusionary? Absolutely. You want to live next to an oil refinery? Maybe Cotton should talk to blacks living in the shadows of the oil industry in Houston because that’s what’s affordable in Houston. In Missoula it’s more likely to be a shale oil drilling site.
“Exclusionary zoning practices reserve vast portions of cities for single-family homes and prohibit building denser multifamily houses, such as duplexes and triplexes, that are more affordable by design.” How NIMBYism chokes off affordable housing by Kendall Cotton
Duplexes in Manhattan? I believe that would be called ‘down-zoning.’
The irony is if you do away with zoning heights and setbacks, you’d only quadruple the land values, and who does that NOT benefit?
Density
Density, how many people on how many acres, is an issue in urban America—when you consider the cost of roads and schools, infrastructure and transportation. Mass transit isn’t efficient in most of the country because the density can’t support it the way the denser cities in Europe can.
That’s not what Cotton is talking about. Doing away with zoning laws with no prescription for how to replace them will not help. The irony is that the unwashed masses Cotton is advocating for, when they climb high enough on the ladder, what is it they desire most? Yep, that eighth-acre single-family house they can park their cars in front of.
Let’s play pretend: We banish single-family zones—all of them. Housing is housing, right? So how many apartment buildings can you fit on an eighth-acre lot? Or a quarter-acre lot?
Route 29 South
An excellent example of what happens when planning regs stop at the city border can be found by driving Route 29 into Charlottesville, Virginia. Charlottesville is a relatively progressive city of 47,000 people surrounded by Albemarle County.
Charlottesville has a planning commission, whereas Albemarle County has cheaper land and fewer restrictions on how it’s developed. Fairfax County wasn’t so different from Albemarle County until thinking like a rural county got away from them, and now we have Annandale, et al.
Exclusionary Zoning—Is it real?
To be sure, people with agendas will tinker with whatever they can put their hands on. Ta-Nehisi Coates has written better on the subject, focused on Chicago. But this latest wave seems being carried away.
I was googling and came upon the following:
Understanding Exclusionary Zoning and Its Impact on Concentrated Poverty by Elliott Anne Rigsby for the Century Foundation
“The United States has a self-inflicted, widespread problem: concentrated poverty. Neighborhoods with concentrated poverty—defined as census tracts where the federal poverty rate is 40 percent or more—lack resources to provide quality schools, job opportunities, safe streets, and access to quality healthcare.” from Understanding Exclusionary Zoning and Its Impact on Concentrated Poverty by Elliott Anne Rigsby
“What Does Exclusionary Zoning Look Like? Traditionally, exclusionary zoning policies have kept poor, central city residents out of suburbs with minimum lot size requirements, single residence per lot requirements, minimum square footage requirements, and costly building codes. Together, these requirements make it difficult to build multi-family rental units that would allow lower-income residents to live in wealthy suburban developments with access to quality schools and employment. In addition, large lot size requirements reduce the supply of available land, drive up housing costs, and further keep out low-income families. from Understanding Exclusionary Zoning and Its Impact on Concentrated Poverty by Elliott Anne Rigsby
Again, no facts, just opinion. It’s interesting how little history is included. Pruitt-Igoe was built in St. Lous in the early 50s and all 33 buildings were demolished by 1976. Pruitt-Igoe was studied in architectural history as an object lesson in failed urban renewal.
Pruitt-Igoe coming down—photo by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development—Public Domain
Saying zoning laws by default are the obstacle to more housing is a lacking syllogism. With all those failing shopping centers, the acres of surface parking, rundown strip malls? Land we have—provided we use it properly.
In the working class single-family neighborhoods in metro Washington, the most striking change I’ve seen is the increased number of parked vehicles. Every person of driving age in these neighborhoods drives—to work second and third shifts. Less than a mile from where I walk.
A Car-centric Lifestyle
It is estimated that for every car in the U.S. there are at least seven parking spaces. How could that be? You expect to find a parking space for your personal vehicle wherever you tootle about.
One car and seven parking spaces: 9’x18’ = 162 SF x 7 = 1,134 SF set aside for your personal convenience. The size of a studio apartment. 1,1334 SF x 276 million automobiles = 313 BILLION square feet for parking alone. In this country we’ve all bought into the idea of cars for the primary transportation system. In urban cities, something like half the land area is for roads and parking.
Let’s say we decided to reduce that parking component by 25%. That would free up 78 billion square feet for housing. Without touching the present zoning regs.
Higher densities only make sense if more efficient transportation systems are available, beginning with planning development along existing transportation arteries. If you’ve ever been through ‘downtown’ Annandale in Fairfax County, driving Little River Parkway gives a perfect example. Strip mall after strip mall, with parking lots. And just behind these are apartment buildings—the kind our low income advocates say are needed.
Take a single strip mall, move the retail to the street, and build apartment buildings, eight stories, ten. And yes, parking garages because we Americans demand cars. Reduce the parking by taxing it for public transportation. Build street car systems—not buses. Go visit Zurich if you need to see how that’s done.
Once Little River Parkway has been redeveloped, study the secondary roads, Annandale, Ravensworth, Backlick to rezone them for increased housing densities. Even a few with ground level retail.
This isn’t anything new. Urban planners have been arguing for this kind of development for years: Parking reform could reenergize downtowns in The Conversation by Daniel Baldwin Hess and Jeffrey Rehler, University at Buffalo
Car-centric development vs. Pedestrian Safety
We live just a mile or so from Culmore, centered on Leesburg Pike (Rt. 7). The following was posted on our community list-serve last Monday:
“A survey taken in the Culmore neighborhood of Falls Church found that the majority of the community–which has a high immigrant population–does not feel safe walking or biking along Leesburg Pike. ‘Every Day Is A Worry’: Immigrant Community Of Falls Church Call For Pedestrian Safety On Leesburg Pike
“As a result of CSG report issued on the survey, community members and advocacy groups are urging Fairfax County and the Virginia Department of Transportation to improve pedestrian safety along portions of the busy corridor.
“In 2021 there were 8 pedestrian related crashes on Leesburg Pike, including one in December where a driver struck and killed a 68 year-old woman. At the time, police reported that she was walking near the shoulder of the road due to the lack of sidewalks.” Excerpted from email posted on LakeLInk
I’m reminded of the Arlington County Board vote a few years ago to drop their plans for a street car running Columbia Pike—terminating at this same intersection. Instead, they’re now flooding Columbia Pike with buses, not helping traffic move any more smoothly. And the workers just a half mile west of where it might have ended are still risking their lives to cross the road. Not Arlington’s problem, not Fairfax’s either.
People who rely on walking as a mode of daily life have been long overlooked in much of Fairfax County, no different than Charlottesville, perhaps ever Missoula. If we need more affordable housing, we also need to improve the conditions around what housing we do have.