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And compact development produces on average about 10 times more tax revenue per acre. So the author of this article is trying to sell this approach based on th

And compact development produces on average about 10 times more tax revenue per acre. So the author of this article is trying to sell this approach based on the "benefit" of tax revenue per acre? Is that (should that be) the primary goal of a city's design... to squeeze out as many tax dollars as possible from every square inch of space? The main problem with compact development (my observation) is the HOA fees that tend to be baked into owning in one of these "compact" developments. These fees are very often ostentatious and do not map out to actual costs of building or maintaining shared infrastructure "compactly". And let's not even get into the pitfalls of CCRs that disallow pet ownership, fine members for paint colors, etc.

sxates 10y ago
Plenty of low-density suburban neighborhoods have similar HOAs and restrictions, though at a lower $/sq.ft. than a downtown high-rise.
davidw 10y ago
A city should be financially solvent, and a lot of them are not, long term. http://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme/ http://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme/
emodendroket 10y ago
HOAs enjoy all kinds of wild quasi-governmental powers without the same level of accountability as a real government; I think they're a tremendous downside to ownership in both condos and new developments.
ocschwar 10y ago
A city shouldn't strive to maximize tax revenue, but they should definitely strive to make sure the revenue is at least a few cents higher than the cost of maintaining the roads, water and sewer hookups, police & fire, et cetera. For many cities it's simply a matter of selling a few parking lots to developers and letting them put up condo complexes. Old timers will scream and yell about the loss of parking, but those condos will mean the water mains get maintained on time.
trome 10y ago
Why would you live in a HOA controlled area? At least in the Pacific Northwest they are viewed as scum of the earth, and are not a common burden most people will encounter.

sxates 10y ago

Plenty of low-density suburban neighborhoods have similar HOAs and restrictions, though at a lower $/sq.ft. than a downtown high-rise.

davidw 10y ago

A city should be financially solvent, and a lot of them are not, long term. http://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme/ http://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme/

emodendroket 10y ago

HOAs enjoy all kinds of wild quasi-governmental powers without the same level of accountability as a real government; I think they're a tremendous downside to ownership in both condos and new developments.

ocschwar 10y ago

A city shouldn't strive to maximize tax revenue, but they should definitely strive to make sure the revenue is at least a few cents higher than the cost of maintaining the roads, water and sewer hookups, police & fire, et cetera. For many cities it's simply a matter of selling a few parking lots to developers and letting them put up condo complexes. Old timers will scream and yell about the loss of parking, but those condos will mean the water mains get maintained on time.

trome 10y ago

Why would you live in a HOA controlled area? At least in the Pacific Northwest they are viewed as scum of the earth, and are not a common burden most people will encounter.