Amateurs talk tactics, experts talk logistics

[flyingember]

Logistics being the city council working at the scale of neighborhoods and moving people around, not looking at every project individually.
Walkable neighborhoods, transit, complete streets, bike facilities, schools near to people, jobs near to people, maximizing ease of access for emergency services, area CPTED, etc all are better organized at the big picture.

The council is never going to be able to directly change the tactics banks and developers use and NIMBY are always against the latest project near them so they need to think bigger.

There's been a lot of big picture failures of realistic projects where the project was perfect for the environment but a minority came out against it.

Examples-
BNIM renovation incentives
The downtown hotel with the lawsuit that failed
The tall plaza towers that failed to get approval next to other tall towers
Low density projects in Columbus Park
projects needing to be asked to put retail along the streetcar

So how does the city change the logistics of what it does so it doesn't need to worry about fighting projects individually and neighbors are happier?

Look at how many area plans just ask for something and there's no teeth to make it happen. Every area plan should be approved by the neighborhood association/a majority of residents nearby and the city and come with matching zoning changes that limits development to the plan. Minimum/maximum density, allowed uses, parking, mixed use, etc should all be covered. If the nearby community agreed that a parcel is a great place for a 5 story office building with retail on a commercial corridor developers know the community is in support and can start planning to do so.

This would still allow give and take but it can be done en mass. Like the city can work with the neighborhood for more density but it's not doing it over and over project by project, it's looking at the entire area and the logistics of moving people within the neighborhood when it does this.

What about exceptions to a plan? If a developer builds to the zoning plan that's it for approval. The city council already approved the standard and the project meets it. Make that part really easy and quick. Something different goes to a combined neighborhood-city meeting that results in literal zoning changes. They aren't exceptions for a project, they legally change what's allowed to be built. The neighborhood is looking at uses and making deals, the city is also looking at the logistics of supporting the project. It needs to codify the change because other concerns are based off it.

This will tie into so many other plans like street redesigns. This way the city doesn't take a neighborhood wanting a 25mph local commerce street with wide sidewalks and paints it for 40mph traffic the next time it repaves. Look at the new street lights 20th/Grand designed for the old street plan as an example. When the city comes in and does sewer/water work it knows to expect more density so it can repair the area and add capacity at the same time. It's not guessing how much sewer capacity will be needed, it's in the plan. If it's repaving sidewalks it can repave at a scale to add a bus stop if the street will be of a scale to gain service in the future.

[TheBigChuckbowski]

Look at how many area plans just ask for something and there's no teeth to make it happen. Every area plan should be approved by the neighborhood association/a majority of residents nearby and the city and come with matching zoning changes that limits development to the plan.

The reason the Plaza developments were rejected was because of the Midtown Plaza Area Plan and its restrictions on density.

[aknowledgeableperson]

And look at what just happened on the West Side.

[staubio]

Challenge here is assuming the residents know what is best for the neighborhood or have its future interests in mind. They usually don't all agree, and different generations have different feelings about change. There still needs to be some effort to plan using best practices to build a city for the future.

[smh]

Challenge here is assuming the residents know what is best for the neighborhood or have its future interests in mind. They usually don't all agree, and different generations have different feelings about change. There still needs to be some effort to plan using best practices to build a city for the future.

He is risen.