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Are you talking about cities/towns in the middle of nowhere? Meaning cities, and towns that business left years ago? I've found small towns overly red tag hepp

Are you talking about cities/towns in the middle of nowhere? Meaning cities, and towns that business left years ago? I've found small towns overly red tag heppy, and these small towns realized they could make a lot of income by enforcing building codes--to the Teee. In my small town, we have building inspectors who are literally looking for errors in the permitting process. Why--the extra fees it brings in. Oh, they will always claim it was Safety, and just following procedure, but these fees are outragious. The average person has no idea how the permitting process works, or just how difficult/expensive it has become to do any building. Let's talk about small town zoning. In my little town, it's tight. Fine--we have a way fight the rigid system. You fine a Variance! You pay $1000 fee. That's if you can fill out the paperwork. In my small town, since the invention of the internet, I don't believe they have ever passed a variance. They look at it, and deny it, but keep the fee. A fee for what? Five minutes of their time? People don't realize how little towns keep bringing in money. A lot of it is fees/fines--and is going up yearly? No inflation, but constantly going up? Don't get me started on our little town Revenue Squad--also know as public safety, or the people in blue. They are literally just collecting revenue now. Crime has never been a big problem here, and they will always claim they are the reason. The real reason is it's too expensive to live here, but you can't argue. Just pay the ticket! It's not about the ticket, it's the financial punishment you take. (I got off topic on that last paragraph--sorry, this is an important topic. I just see it getting worse. Every new law/regulation adds to the problem. I've lost hope actually.)

maxsilver 11y ago
I'm talking about small cities, like Toledo, Milwaukee, Rochester MN, South Bend, Lansing, Kalamazoo, etc. They are in the middle of nowhere, but they still have people and jobs. I live in Grand Rapids. There's lots of zoning and permitting rules. None of it is ever enforced. All a developer has to do is ask, and they get literally every non-safety rule waived. - Don't want to build kitchen or bathrooms in your studio apartments? Just say your "micro-unit focused" and the already-tiny minimum unit size no longer applies to you. People are so desperate for housing, they'll pay luxury price premiums, even to live in door rooms. Extra money, for free! - Annoyed about having to pay for your tenants parking? No worries! Just say you are a "transit-oriented design" and all parking requirements are waived -- you can dump infinite cars on the street for free! (Despite the fact that, like most mid-west cities, we only barely have transit at all) - Want to skip out on your make ready costs? Just claim your lot needs "brownfield redevelopment" and the city will reimburse the developer for all of the make-ready expenses in cash. I get that in California, the zoning and local governments are the major roadblock. But I have a hard time believing "zoning/permitting" is the root cause for this issue. Because there are places where developers have no rules and get literally anything they ask for, anytime they ask. And yet even these places still only get luxury apartments.

maxsilver 11y ago

I'm talking about small cities, like Toledo, Milwaukee, Rochester MN, South Bend, Lansing, Kalamazoo, etc. They are in the middle of nowhere, but they still have people and jobs. I live in Grand Rapids. There's lots of zoning and permitting rules. None of it is ever enforced. All a developer has to do is ask, and they get literally every non-safety rule waived. - Don't want to build kitchen or bathrooms in your studio apartments? Just say your "micro-unit focused" and the already-tiny minimum unit size no longer applies to you. People are so desperate for housing, they'll pay luxury price premiums, even to live in door rooms. Extra money, for free! - Annoyed about having to pay for your tenants parking? No worries! Just say you are a "transit-oriented design" and all parking requirements are waived -- you can dump infinite cars on the street for free! (Despite the fact that, like most mid-west cities, we only barely have transit at all) - Want to skip out on your make ready costs? Just claim your lot needs "brownfield redevelopment" and the city will reimburse the developer for all of the make-ready expenses in cash. I get that in California, the zoning and local governments are the major roadblock. But I have a hard time believing "zoning/permitting" is the root cause for this issue. Because there are places where developers have no rules and get literally anything they ask for, anytime they ask. And yet even these places still only get luxury apartments.