This is a tough one. I'm generally leery of things like eminent domain, because they can be very problematic. On the other hand, there's a good chance that con

This is a tough one. I'm generally leery of things like eminent domain, because they can be very problematic. On the other hand, there's a good chance that converting a lot of blocks also means we need to up utility capacity in the area, which can be very disruptive for residents, so it also makes sense to rebuild an area at a time. I like the idea of having the city nominate regions, and then any time 90% of a block agrees, the whole block is sold as a unit (or maybe auctioned with minimum bid) and rezoned at that time. (This kind of idea meshes well with the development plan of having several high density clusters smattered around the city as neighborhood focal points, which is what my city recently switched to.) It doesn't quite fix the utilities problem or some people being forced out, but I think it balances out a lot of competing forces reasonably, and keeps us from working with weird lots during development (as the city can repartition the block during rezone).