I can talk the talk, but this is really going to test that ……
I live in a fairly walkable town outside one of the most walking and transit oriented cities in the US. I’ve always been a transit and walkable communities advocate.
My town is centered on a train station/bus/taxi/scooter/bicycle hub and we have a traditional walkable “Main Street” with shops and restaurants that we pedestrianize for the summer. We have a new rail trail that will eventually connect to a statewide network, a riverwalk and even kayak rentals in the middle of downtown
Higher density housing is centered on the downtown, dominated by 4-6 story apartment/condos, including residential over commercial. Works great. Surrounding that is a belt of 2-3 story multifamily houses, townhouses, and small apartments. I’m the first street zoned for single family, but I can still walk to the town center, and take the train into the nearby major city.
I even spoke up in favor of new statewide zoning, requiring “as of right” zoning for large apartment buildings near transit …… maybe you see where this is going ……
When I was out walking my dog this morning, I saw construction …. apparently there are a couple huge 6 story apartment buildings going in just a couple blocks away. It all seemed like a great idea until it was my neighborhood. It was a great idea when things were grouped by size. But now it’s a behemoth towering over three deckers and the like, and even looming near single family housing.
I’ve “talked the talk” but really don’t know if I can “walk the walk”. This really seems excessive for the neighborhood.
What do you think? Could you still support higher density housing when it means something twice the height going into your neighborhood, hundreds of tenants where now it’s 3-10 per building? What would you do when you get what you were asking for but it’s in your neighborhood and way out of scale?
We don’t have zoning here like you do in NA. We get more and more new mixed neighbourhoods with family houses (ground floor + first floor usually) sprinkled between mid-size apartments buildings (ground floor + 5 levels on top). There are shops, schools, kg, restaurants and bars in the ground floor of the apt buildings, people living there has a parking spot underneath and are 10 minutes walk from the commuting train. They are all built with an oasis mindset : limited street level parking, trees and walkable paths between the buildings, field type areas between them with lots of trees and grass where people can go enjoy summer and kids can play.
We are a culture of owners so most of the apts and houses are lived in by the people who own them. A few might be real estate investment but if they are rented, it’s for families that stay long term.
Overall, it’s quite nice and I’m quite sad we didn’t build those neighbourhoods in the 70/80s instead of theee gigantic apt complexes with concrete everywhere and next to it rows of houses.