This is for those following the Places for People presentations making the rounds to DABs and neighborhood associations. I have heard most of them… I am very concerned about all of the individuals who have invested in residential property in a city that used to hold “owner occupants” the tax paying base, in high regard. Places for People, which passed almost two years ago was incomplete. It undergoing updates and additions, adding many more chapters, and a lot more moving parts. Just last week another new presentation started making the rounds. Now the show is touting as “Incentives”. At the city council workshop recently, what about the low income people? What will ensure they can continue to afford to live where the live? The presenter said ” Uh…philanthropy?”
The reason this master plan was passed as an incomplete project is unknown to the common homeowner. Now a lot of people mis-trust our local authorities. The radical administrative streamlining that removes the most local of all local rule philosophies will be the end of the golden rule, in my opinion. What is more local than neighbors who live within 200ft of a new build or a new business that does not fit the neighborhood? If Places for People changes the application and opposition process, the public will no longer have a say in what is built as close as 50ft from their homes. And if you don’t agree with the blanket zoning changes, the only avenue to hold onto the character of the neighborhood where you live is to hire an attorney. And now, we get to “Incentives” for developers?
But that is not all, what if Places for People is already out of date, what if we should all wait for some research to be done regarding the changing attitudes toward density. Can the public stop Places for People with its’ years of momentum, insider support, and the planning departments dedication to the plan? Probably not, not without a lawsuit.
by Susie Cunningham
In the meantime, here is an article about Covid, and changing attitudes. https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/2020/04/have-we-embraced-urban-density-to-our-own-peril-michael-hooper-on-hygiene-public-perception-and-the-urban-penalty-in-a-global-pandemic/