Reply to Overriding local zoning to allow multi-family units in suburban neighborhoods in VA

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]First, this isn’t going to pass.  In the end, Republicans in more rural areas (where lack of housing isn’t much of an issue) aren’t going to feel compelled to vote for it, and instead will beat the drum of [b]big government Democrats[/b] to shore up support in their own jurisdictions.  And Democrats in higher-population areas will be reluctant to give more control to Richmond after years of having Richmond Republicans frustrate every effort to address local issues (Arlington couldn’t even pass an ordinance to reduce predatory towing with Republicans from other parts of the state getting involved to block it).

Second, even if it did pass, it would potentially create more problems than it would solve by reinforcing and exacerbating housing segregation. Looking at Arlington (since Mother Jones called it out in particular), if this were to pass, you’re not going to see a rash of duplexes built in 22207 because the economics simply don’t make sense, except maybe on the SFH lots right on Lee Highway where no one wants to buy a SFH.  No one will gamble on buying an $800k lot to build two $900k duplexes in a non-walkable part of North Arlington instead of a $1.6 million SFH (margins will be thinner on duplexes than SFHs) when prospective buyers can spend less to get a SFH in South Arlington or slightly more to get a nice townhouse in very walkable Clarendon/Courthouse.  Instead, developers will concentrate them in South Arlington where the land is cheaper.[/quote]

Allowing property owners to build duplexes, if they choose to do so - that's "big government"? Huh. I would have thought it's property rights.[/quote]

You assume they’re principled, which they’re not.  They will frame it as big-government Democrats trying to dictate from Richmond what localities should be allowed to do with their own local zoning laws.[/quote]

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