Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Hood River gives up on mixed-use zone
Oregon's smart-growth planners say that mixing retail and residential uses is crucial to creating livable communities. Too bad nobody wants to build or live in them unless they are heavily subsidized.
The fast-growing city of Hood River, some fifty miles east of Portland, has given up on a mixed-use zone after more than ten years of trying to attract developers to build there. Meanwhile, several companies left the city, and no new ones have been attracted, because they say they can't find sites that they can develop to their standards -- which apparently don't include latte drinkers and high-density housing.
Hood River is in a scenic area and has attracted many trust-fund boomers who like to hike and windsurf in the Columbia River Gorge. But windsurfing doesn't provide enough jobs to support the entire community, and when a door-and-window factory abandoned the city for another location, Hood River decided to rethink its vacant, mixed-use zone.
The fast-growing city of Hood River, some fifty miles east of Portland, has given up on a mixed-use zone after more than ten years of trying to attract developers to build there. Meanwhile, several companies left the city, and no new ones have been attracted, because they say they can't find sites that they can develop to their standards -- which apparently don't include latte drinkers and high-density housing.
Hood River is in a scenic area and has attracted many trust-fund boomers who like to hike and windsurf in the Columbia River Gorge. But windsurfing doesn't provide enough jobs to support the entire community, and when a door-and-window factory abandoned the city for another location, Hood River decided to rethink its vacant, mixed-use zone.
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