Category: Land use & Development
-
Key Fiscal Concept: the Private-to-Public Investment Ratio
Charles Marohn, founder of the Strong Towns movement, is frequently queried if there is an ideal density for communities of a particular population and size. In “The Density Question,” he uses the question as a springboard to address a topic that really matters, the long-term fiscal sustainability of counties, towns and cities. Marohn’s answer: Density is a…
-
What the Obama Giveth, the Trump Taketh Away
The federal budget sequestration may have kept a lid on escalating federal budget deficits, a good thing, but it was a disaster for Virginia’s economy. The cap on federal spending hammered a Northern Virginia economy built largely around the Pentagon. The ascension of Donald Trump to the presidency signaled a possible return to the region’s…
-
Twilight of an Era in Alexandria
Eric Terran, a 39-year-old architect, is doing something that almost no one in the City of Alexandria is doing anymore: building a detached, single-family residence. Last year he purchased a lot zoned for single-family residential for $230,000, and now he’s erecting a 3,300-square-foot house on it, reports Michael Neibauer with the Washington Business Journal. Construction…
-
Unplanned Obsolescence: Fairfax County’s Office Parks
There is some scary data hidden in Fairfax County’s budget numbers. Back in 1990, commercial/ industrial property comprised 26.7% of the county’s total real estate property tax base. Revenues from high office valuations gave the county leeway to keep the tax rate low — great for homeowners. But the commercial/ industrial share has declined since…
-
American Commutes Are Getting Longer
Commutes have gotten longer in the past five years, reversing a ten-year tend in which they got shorter. So says the Washington Post based on the latest American Community Survey and Gallup polling data. Even more discouraging for anyone hoping for less congestion, less gasoline consumption, fewer CO2 emissions and better public health, extreme commuting of…
-
Three Land Use Trends to Watch
Three articles today may help us divine the future of residential and commercial development in Virginia: Rebound of the exurbs? For many years, I was committed to the proposition that metropolitan development had reached a tipping point in which the forces favorable to urban re-development were stronger than the forces driving suburban sprawl. The exurbs —…
-
Owens & Minor Goes for Millennials, Walkable City
Good economic news for the Richmond region: Medical supply giant Owens & Minor Inc. announced plans Thursday to open a client engagement center in downtown Richmond that will employ 500 people. Jobs will average about $53,700 in annual pay. In making the announcement Governor Terry McAuliffe made much of the fact that Richmond competed against…
-
Suburbs Not So Simple
A difficulty in analyzing the economic dynamics of the “suburbs” is that land use and development is far from uniform. Recognizing that the term encompasses a wide range of human settlement patterns, the authors of “Housing in the Evolving American Suburb” broke down suburbs into five major types. Established high-end. These have high home values…
-
What Home Buyers Are Looking For
For all the talk of urban renaissance in cities across Virginia and the United States, first-time home buyers find that new or existing suburban homes offer the best match for their preferences and budget, reports the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in a new study, “Housing in the Evolving American Suburb.” While American’s urban cores are experiencing…
-
Great Moments in Virginia Governance: Norfolk Edition
From the Virginian-Pilot: An employee of Norfolk Treasurer Anthony Burfoot testified in U.S. District Court Monday that she waived penalties and fees for local developers at the direction of her boss. Prosecutors allege that Dwight Etheridge, Tommy Arney, Ronnie Boone Sr. and others paid Burfoot more than $400,000 in kickbacks and bribes between 2005 and…
-
Jones’s Bet on Mixed-Income Housing
Can Church Hill North break Richmond’s cycle of poverty? by James A. Bacon Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones most likely will be remembered for boondoggles like the Washington Redskins stadium and fiascoes like the proposed Shockoe Bottom baseball stadium. But he should be recognized, too, for a mixed-income redevelopment project in the city’s poverty-stricken east…
-
How Land Use Regulation Aggravates Income Inequality
The thesis advanced by economists Daniel Shoag and Peter Ganong in their paper, “Why Has Personal Income Convergence in the U.S. Declined,” is not new. Market-oriented urbanists have made the same connections for years: that land use restrictions drive up the cost of housing, and that high housing costs aggravate income inequality by throttling the flow…
-
Taking a Hard Look at Historic Tax Credits
by James A. Bacon A General Assembly subcommittee is giving well-deserved scrutiny to Virginia’s tax credits for rehabilitating historic properties. That program, which has provided more than $1 billion in tax credits since its inception in 1997, is widely credited with revitalizing older neighborhoods across Virginia, particularly in the City of Richmond with its wealth…
-
Yeah, It’s Probably a Good Idea to Update Your Zoning Code Every Half Century or So
News flash: Henrico County officials see the need to bring the county zoning code into the 21st century. Although the zoning code has been amended 240 times, it was adopted in 1960 and has never seen a systematic overhaul since. The code, Randy Silber, deputy county manager for community development, tells the Richmond Times-Dispatch, is “over 55…
-
DEQ Approves Utility-Scale Solar Permit in Buckingham
by James A. Bacon The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has issued a permit for construction of a 19.8-megawatt, utility-scale solar project in Buckingham County, Governor Terry McAuliffe announced yesterday. Construction of the 200-acre facility is expected to begin early in 2017 and be finished by the end of the year. The cost is estimated…