{"id":42,"date":"2006-01-12T08:24:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-12T15:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=42"},"modified":"2006-01-12T08:24:00","modified_gmt":"2006-01-12T15:24:00","slug":"how-zoning-causes-sprawl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/42\/how-zoning-causes-sprawl\/","title":{"rendered":"How zoning causes sprawl"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is from a wonderful op-ed that was published in the Hartford Courant<\/a>. The argument, though particular to New England, in fact describes a pandemic: Our cities are dull because we have leigislated away all active human intelligence. Everything that would-be urban pioneers affect to love in older cities would be impossible to replicate under current zoning laws.<\/p>\n

Sprawl in Connecticut is advanced almost every time somebody pulls a zoning permit. Good intentions about sprawl become academic when someone goes in for a permit. It is far too late for lofty thoughts. All that matters is how well you’ve met the zoning code. <\/p>\n

Zoning is, in effect, the codification of a town’s desires for itself – its self-image. Developers, architects and engineers are smart enough to know they must conform, or they will suffer. Zoning appeals are no fun; they are expensive and unbelievably time-consuming. Most developers would like to avoid appeals. And even once you reach the Board of Zoning Appeals level, staff and board members do not welcome blue-sky discussions about alternative ways of doing things.<\/p>\n

Sprawl may not be what The Courant wants, and it’s not what a growing segment of the population wants, but it is what our zoning codes demand, so it is what we have and what we will continue to have until we change our codes. <\/p>\n

On the whole, our zoning codes are nonsensical. In my town of Essex, as in most Connecticut towns, it would be impossible to use the town’s zoning code to build anew the very hometown Essex citizens love. Few aspects of urban density that make Essex village special are allowed by the town’s zoning code. In a new Essex, buildings would be too far apart, and they would be placed too far from the sidewalk. There would be too much space around each building. Houses would be too far back from the water. The streets would be too wide, and houses wouldn’t be tall enough to have the elegant proportions of those built in the 18th, and especially the 19th centuries. <\/p>\n

The village would be too spread out and suburban in Read more<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is from a wonderful op-ed that was published in the Hartford Courant. The argument, though particular to New England, in fact describes a pandemic: Our cities are dull because we have leigislated away all active human intelligence. Everything that would-be urban pioneers affect to love in older cities would be impossible to replicate under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-general","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1895,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1895\/what-could-be-worse-than-our-current-capricious-zoning-laws-new-even-more-capricious-zoning-laws-imposed-by-zealots\/","url_meta":{"origin":42,"position":0},"title":"What could be worse than our current capricious zoning laws? New even-more-capricious zoning laws — imposed by zealots","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Tipped again by Poor and Stupid, novelist Orson Scott Card discovers everything that's wrong with one-size-fits-all municipal zoning laws:I'm not urging that the government mandate any more absurd mileage requirements for cars, or ration gasoline, or any other absurd proposals. Hybrids are great, for the things they're great for. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1939,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1939\/richard-epstein-on-zoning-kelo-and-the-takings-clause\/","url_meta":{"origin":42,"position":1},"title":"Richard Epstein on zoning, Kelo and the “takings” clause","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Richard Epstein is my favorite never-happen candidate for the Supreme Court. An expert on the \"takings\" clause of the Fifth Amendment (\"nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation\"), in the linked podcast, hemakes the case that many current zoning restrictions are essentially \"takings\" and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16351,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16351\/reason-magazine-how-established-homeowners-use-regulations-to-stop-new-low-cost-homes\/","url_meta":{"origin":42,"position":2},"title":"Reason Magazine: “How established homeowners use regulations to stop new low-cost homes.”","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's not mentioned in the Reason article, but the real curse of zoning is the prohibition of innovation. By forbidding all projects, land-use tyrants exclude not just the dreck but also the sheer genius. Some builder coud have come up with the modern equivalent of Wright's Five-Thousand Dollar Home, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10133,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/10133\/what-makes-progressive-utopias-like-portland-seem-so-cool-to-the-cognoscenti-could-it-be-a-zoning-enforced-racism\/","url_meta":{"origin":42,"position":3},"title":"What makes “progressive” utopias like Portland seem so cool to the cognoscenti? Could it be a zoning-enforced racism?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From newgeography.com:Among the media, academia and within planning circles, there\u2019s a generally standing answer to the question of what cities are the best, the most progressive and best role models for small and mid-sized cities. The standard list includes Portland, Seattle, Austin, Minneapolis, and Denver. In particular, Portland is held\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4348,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4348\/some-days-its-not-worth-chewing-through-the-restraints\/","url_meta":{"origin":42,"position":4},"title":"Some Days It’s Not Worth Chewing Through the Restraints","author":"Thomas Hall","date":"September 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In addition to our discussions here at Bloodhound, if you've been reading the blogs lately, the commission debate continues.\u00a0 Jonathan Dalton's post on Agent Genius has recently spawned a long series of comments regarding how agents are compensated. One comment (below) got me thinking, \"... I fully believe that my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9645,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/9645\/the-government-takeover-of-real-estate-is-well-underway\/","url_meta":{"origin":42,"position":5},"title":"The Government takeover of Real Estate is well underway","author":"Al Lorenz","date":"September 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier, there was a discussion of the possibility of a government takeover of real estate brokerages. We had a bit of a lively discussion about the possibility of a governmental takeover of real estate brokerages.\u00a0 But I'm here to tell you, it will never happen because in the end, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}