Smart growth is a brilliant idea
The Coastal Housing Partnership's
Voice for Housing gives reason a voice
Seeking to intensify a debate that more than
a few South Coast residents would prefer just go away - literally
- The Coastal Housing Partnership has issued a Voice for Housing
declaration. The idea is to engage the public and local officials
in meaningful problem-solving that actually will alleviate our housing
shortage, not prolong it.
OK, we'll bite.
The CHP (www.coastalhousing.org) believes that existing policies designed
to restrict growth actually have created unhealthy communities instead.
By just about any measure - economic, environmental, educational, cultural,
quality of life - the results have been short-term gain but long-term
pain. We're certainly feeling the effects now with an accelerating
brain drain and an absolutely exasperating traffic situation. Oh, and
did we mention fewer and fewer employees can buy houses here?
We'll leave it to Bud Laurent and the CHP to outline
their specific vision, but ours begins with flexible zoning and smart
growth. Unlike what South Coast municipalities practice with reckless
abandon, flexible zoning respects free-market principles. The idea
is not to micro-manage land use, density, parking, floor-area ratio
and, well, you get the picture, but to allow our communities to evolve,
fostering innovation instead of stifling it. It's positively libertarian.
Our vision also encompasses
in-fill development and increased mixed-use housing; where possible
the clustering of new housing near jobs; and stream-lined, even all-in-one,
permitting.
We can choose to do nothing, and some will. It has gotten us nowhere.
The
Beacon, however, chooses too start planning for our future instead
of living in the past.
How about you?
Bill Macfadyen can be contacted at
wmacfadyen@scbeacon.com.
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