City of Richardson Texas’ Post

Some initial thoughts on the proposed rezoning programs released yesterday by the Los Angeles Dept of City Planning: I've only gone through the State Density Bonus and Mixed Income incentive programs so far, and mostly just skimming -- I unfortunately won't have time to read these in depth. We'll be working on calculating Fair Housing Land Use Scores for the new programs to see how they perform at adding capacity in high-opportunity neighborhoods. Big picture, the state density bonus stuff is good. It's basically a better version of the TOC program, with more bonuses, reasonable IZ reqs, more by-right pathways. I strongly doubt it will score positively on AFFH though -- it just upsizes where you can already build dense housing. The Mixed Income program is disappointing. The good news is the Opportunity Corridor and OC Transition Area programs will affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH) by limiting themselves to high and highest opportunity TCAC areas. The bad news is that, even on the corridors, we're looking at a maximum of 7 stories, and the transition areas extend only 350 feet from the corridors (less than a typical block), allow only 4-10 units per parcel in 2-3 story buildings. Mostly importantly, it only applies in R2 and RD zones, which can't be that common in these corridor transition areas. Most will be R1-zoned, and therefore exempt under the current proposal. So yes, the program will almost certainly AFFH, but if it gets a high fair housing score but adds relatively little to the city's development capacity, then it doesn't count for much. Distribution matters, but so does quantity. Still haven't read up on the Affordable Housing Overlay, but we already know City Planning isn't planning to allow its use in R1 zones either. For those interested, I wrote up a more detailed (still very incomplete) analysis here. Note that I initially misread the Opportunity Corridor program as applying to the OC Transition Area (I wish!), but it's corrected later in the thread: https://lnkd.in/gx822CPa

This week on Talking Headways, Oakland City Council candidate Warren Logan discusses perceptions of government, the need for more flexible housing and streets policies, and his thoughts on planning. Logan, a transportation expert running in District 3, shares insights on improving city infrastructure. https://lnkd.in/g8wyGi8R #UrbanPlanning #HousingPolicy #CityInfrastructure #TalkingHeadways

The 2024 Greater Boston Housing Report Card is out today! Read it here: https://lnkd.in/dXyzd5xM It features a super interesting special topic section from Boston University Initiative on Cities about using public land to build affordable housing - and how local processes and housing opponents can often use the system to block new housing development. Boston Indicators & The Boston Foundation

We hope you're following along as we delve into the 27 Charter principles of the Charter of the #NewUrbanism! This Charter principle is at the scale of The Neighborhood, The District, and The Corridor. 17/27 https://lnkd.in/gia8_5e

Broken City is the best book I've yet read on how to create more affordable housing in complex, urban environs. patrick condon's book takes a systems approach. Well researched; evidence-based. Focus is on reducing land price. Onus is placed on municipalities to implement policies and zoning; eg overlay zoning.

Did you know that Austin has one of the most complex zoning maps due to multiple codes applied to districts/areas throughout the city? Most Austin commercial properties have 2-4 layers but I have seen up to 5-6 which creates a complicated funnel that can sometimes be quite restrictive. Neighborhood planning (NP) is the craziest wild card in my opinion because you never know the tone or sentiment of each neighborhood until you have dealt with them and know what they will or will not approve. Share a Neighborhood Planning meeting story below! https://lnkd.in/gYaGb5Xz

How do you measure urban sprawl? What a neat concept.

This would be funny if there weren't thousands of pages of this kind of language for all the #zoning codes UrbanForm now serves. Also, for many reasons, #LLMs aren't great about handling this kind of language. Also also, this is the kind of zoning information needed when real building decisions are made. Not just the name of the zone. This has been my experience after almost two decades working as an architect. #zoning UrbanForm #technologyforbetterbuildingsandcities

This map can help address Northern Virginia's high housing costs Contact me to discuss the latest scoop in real estate! #washingtondc #washingtonhomes #washingtondchomes #washingtonhousing #realestate #realtor #realestateagent #virginia #virginiarealtor #virginiarealestate

I look forward to next Thursday to share my reflection on the Economic Development chapter of my city's drafted Comprehensive Plan, in particular what I like, what worries me & why about what's drafted for economic development in the plan! https://lnkd.in/eFkX4ZcB