Do Away with Single Family Zoning?
Lessons learned from Minneapolis, Vancouver and MANY other cities
Minneapolis leaders made a bold decision this week to abolish Single Family zoning in favor of denser developments. Their justification is that this type of zoning was born out of racist segregation policies and inhibits the City in achieving its affordable housing goals.
Minneapolis is not the only city in North America to make such an important policy change. Cities like Portland and Vancouver have done the same thing. In addition, these three cities have also done away with minimum parking requirements! Developers have a choice of putting 1 space (or more OR less) of parking for each unit. Unit owners or tenants have a choice of choosing a place to live, based on the lower price of housing without parking or the more expensive parking options.
Minneapolis is specifically allowing three-family homes in the city’s residential neighborhoods, abolishing parking minimums for all new construction, and allowing high-density buildings along transit corridors. “ Opening up Minneapolis’ wealthiest, most exclusive districts to triplexes, the theory goes, will create new opportunities for people to move for schools or a job, provide a way for aging residents to downsize without leaving their neighborhoods, help ease the affordability crunch citywide, and stem the displacement of lower-income residents in gentrifying areas.”
Austin is going to have a new Land Development Code by the end of 2019. I hope that doing away with SF Zoning and Parking Minimums will be part of this new Code.
