Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolven
My hot take is that I disagree with your assertion. Buying in a former RC1 neighbourhood was an intentional decision to avoid living crammed with other people or having trouble finding a parking spot around my home. Now there is a developer trying to convert a bungalow into an 8 or 9 plex around the corner without enough parking or yard space. I expect that design will get shot down by the development process but they will probably come back with a 4 plex that will get approved, which (IMO) does not fit at all with the rest of the neighbourhood.
A part of my issue is that the city was already struggling to try and execute the Main Streets initiative. They put together their mock ups and drawings of these amazing walkable streets with retail and condos above and "15 minute city" concepts but once it was approved to go ahead they immediately let the developers cut corners and cheap out on the delivery. Now instead of a unified vision for "main streets" we are getting a hodgepodge of poorly executed density, but at least they built some sidewalks...
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I agree wholeheartedly. I said
this in the Calgary SSP thread, but allow me to express it slightly differently to better fit the discussion:
People in this city -- and especially those who have or want kids -- repeatedly reject the type of housing that this inner city rezoning is going to produce. (Sure, there's DINKs like us who love inner city condo life, but we're not a
majority.) Adding more condos or townhomes expands supply, but it mostly increases the stock of housing types people raising families aren’t shopping for in the first place; it doesn't eliminate the underlying demand for low‑density living. Hell, you found exactly what you wanted in an area zoned for what you wanted where you wanted it. I'd be annoyed too if I bought into a neighbourhood I loved, only to have it transformed into something I specifically tried to
avoid when I was house shopping.
A huge contingent of the population wants detached single family homes with reasonably-sized yards, space to park their boat or trailer, and they've shown they're willing to live on the outskirts of town -- if not go to Airdrie, Okotoks, Chestermere, Cochrane, etc. -- to get it. And since we aren't living in an urban area with a lack of room for outward expansion, they
will get it.
I have to stop short of saying the zoning is an example of Gondek's "champions stupid ideas that won't solve the problems for which they are proposed as solutions" because -- as bizaro86 pointed out -- it really can't be credited for or against her, since the Federal government basically forced it on major cities lest they lose federal funding for housing development.
We're gonna have an awesome selection of $1m+ executive townhomes in the inner city once everything is said and done, though, let me tell you.