Quote:
Originally Posted by Cirrus
For Washington DC, the #1 thing I'd adopt is either Vancouver or Houston's infill/zoning policy that allows densification within single-family neighborhoods. I don't know enough about the rules in those cities to know which one I think is better, but I know that DC's unwillingness to densify single-family neighborhoods is a gigantic problem.
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I don't know if Vancouver is really a model to uphold.
Here's Vancouver's zoning map. Basically anything in white is untouchable, single family home districts.
You're allowed to build up to two accessory dwellings - a basement suite and a separate laneway (alley) house above a garage. However, many homeowners consider this a sacrifice in privacy for little real gain in rental income, and a rather large expense in terms of construction. The majority of the value of any property in Vancouver is in the land, so, from an economic standpoint, it makes more sense for a homeowner to tear their property down and build as large a single family home as the zoning will allow, not make any provisions for additional suites, and sell it as a luxury product.
To their credit, the planners of Vancouver have been trying to chip away at the single family home neighbourhoods here and there. One strategy is to designate large, developable parcels of institutional land as "Comprehensive Development Districts" (the purple CD-1s). These are "zones" which are evaluated strictly based on the merits of the plan submitted to the planning department by the developers, and not by the statutory force of the zoning code. It's similar to the British planning system, and was actually conceived by Vancouver's chief planner in the 1970s who was a Brit. CD-1s are almost always high density developments. In the area between two relatively close CD-1s, city planners occasionally try to allow for upzoning when they review the secondary land use plans for the area every few years. A good example of this are lands adjacent to the
Cambie Corridor.
It's a piecemeal approach, and it takes years, but it's better than nothing. It's also a lot of work for planners.