Hacking land use laws for economic segregation
January 8, 2022
Most of our land use laws in Oregon have good intentions behind them. But in the hands of people with money, acting in bad faith, they can be used to further economic segregation of our cities. Here's an example of that in action. We've been following a proposed development on Awbrey Butte: https://bendyimby.com/2021/09/14/how-housing-in-bend-gets-more-expensive-and-is-slow-to-build/ and the…
Most of our land use laws in Oregon have good intentions behind them. But in the hands of people with money, acting in bad faith, they can be used to further economic segregation of our cities. Here’s an example of that in action.
We’ve been following a proposed development on Awbrey Butte: https://bendyimby.com/2021/09/14/how-housing-in-bend-gets-more-expensive-and-is-slow-to-build/ and the neighbors are fighting tooth and nail.
They keep writing comments like:
- Why is the developer going to “build multiplexes rather than classy
single-family homes”. - “this type of development that does not fit in with the neighborhood”
- “Awbrey Butte was not built for high density. Why? For high end large homes on large lots”
- “We want the developers to plan single-family residences on 12,500 sq. ft. lots”
- “The current Awbrey Butte neighborhood is a highly sought after place to live, and would cease to be so in the future with the addition of the large number of tenants the proposed development would bring, thus lowering the property values significantly. We bought this home as an investment and expected it to continue to retain it’s excellent property value far into the future.”
At the public meeting, there were a lot of worries about “renters” being in the neighborhood.
There are also the usual laments about automobiles. Parking, traffic and so on. How the roads are steep and dangerous in the snow. They are, but that doesn’t stop the current residents from living there. Perhaps they should think of the potential new residents as allies in trying to get the city to plow/cinder their streets faster?
In any event though, the basic desire to keep out slightly less expensive, and not “classy” duplexes is pretty clear, but thanks to Oregon’s HB2001, that is no longer a valid objection. So the residents did some digging, and found a rule – “Street Connectivity and Formation of Blocks standards (BDC 3.1.200.D)” – that is in place to provide better connectivity in neighborhoods.
It’s a good rule! Look at this article from several years ago where we found two adjacent lots that require a mile+ walk to get from one to the other! The city should be actively discouraging that kind of thing, and this rule does just that.
That said, the development under consideration is on a fairly steep portion of Awbrey Butte, which is not conducive to a grid. And the piece of land in question isn’t even really conducive to a simple loop, because the terrain is steep.
Do the neighbors really care about street connectivity? Let’s look at a map:
