Thursday, January 19, 2006
Is "Poorly Designed Infill Housing" a Redundancy?
Portland planners rezoned a neighborhood in southeast Portland to much higher densities. Now, what do you know, they are getting "poorly designed infill housing."
Planners had hoped for town centers, main streets, high levels of transit usage, and all sorts of other New Urban fantasies. They aren't getting any of that. But developers are tearing down 1950s-era homes and clearcutting hundreds of mature trees so they can build apartments.
I remember when the plan for this neighborhood was written. Portland planners targeted the neighborhood for 10,000 more residents. The neighborhood association fought the city to a compromise: 1,000 new residents. The ordinance was passed and then the planners went to the neighborhood apologetically and admitted they had "accidentally" submitted the original ordinance, not the compromise, to the city council. Fix it, the neighborhood said. "We can't," said the planners. "If we did, we would be effectively downzoning land and we would have to compensate all the property owners." This was well before measure 37 and planners downzoned all the time without worrying about compensation. It was just a ruse to meet the density targets set by Metro, the region's regional planning dictator.
Planners had hoped for town centers, main streets, high levels of transit usage, and all sorts of other New Urban fantasies. They aren't getting any of that. But developers are tearing down 1950s-era homes and clearcutting hundreds of mature trees so they can build apartments.
I remember when the plan for this neighborhood was written. Portland planners targeted the neighborhood for 10,000 more residents. The neighborhood association fought the city to a compromise: 1,000 new residents. The ordinance was passed and then the planners went to the neighborhood apologetically and admitted they had "accidentally" submitted the original ordinance, not the compromise, to the city council. Fix it, the neighborhood said. "We can't," said the planners. "If we did, we would be effectively downzoning land and we would have to compensate all the property owners." This was well before measure 37 and planners downzoned all the time without worrying about compensation. It was just a ruse to meet the density targets set by Metro, the region's regional planning dictator.
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