A Compromise on Zoning Restrictions

Of residential zoning restrictions in Whitewater (restricting residential occupancy to no more than two unrelated persons in an R-O overlay district), a few points may safely be made:

1. We’ve been arguing about this for years.
2. The last municipal administration – before this one – grandly declared housing the biggest issue in the city (yes, really).  I’ve contended it’s poverty.
3. The most vociferous requests for restrictions have come from the self-titled Starin Park Historic Neighborhood.
4. This neighborhood – of only a few blocks – sits near the university.
5. By their own account, the Historic Starin Park Neighborhood Association advances residential zoning restrictions to ‘change the economics’ of buying and selling real estate in the neighborhood;  I think it will change the economics, but only in ways they don’t foresee, and to their own, long-term detriment.
6. The current municipal administration supports extending these restrictions one block over, to Fremont Street.

Considering these circumstances, no matter how contentious they’ve been, I’ll offer a compromise: limit these sort of restrictions to this area, and to no other, for at least a decade.

I’ll support the municipal administration’s proposal here – even though I think it’s a mistake for the city and even the long-term selling prospects of the very residents of the neighborhood.

(It’s in the spirit of compromise, with warmth in my heart, that I offer today’s Monday-music post: Smash Mouth Covers Why Can’t We Be Friends?)

There are, to my mind, only two reasons one would support this proposal: (1) under a misguided understanding of what restricting long-term selling prospects will do to resale values a generation from now, or (2) to make a point.

Fair enough, and here’s my point: this is an inherited issue, that’s distracting the city from more important matters.  The sooner this municipal administration sets this matter side, and breaks with the policy of the last one, the better off the city will be (to spend time on other, more pressing matters).  There’s a chance to end this years-long issue, if only the administration commits to future restraint.

Let those who want this here, even if it should work to their long-term economic disadvantage, have their way – and then move on.