4 ms·

What are the state zoning laws? As far as I know, the state constitution leaves zoning as an issue for the cities/counties to handle. Is that your beef or are t

What are the state zoning laws? As far as I know, the state constitution leaves zoning as an issue for the cities/counties to handle. Is that your beef or are there laws on the books I'm ignorant of?

jimrandomh 8y ago
Yes, the problematic zoning laws exist mainly at the city level. The problem is that the decisions about key areas are being made by people who are incentivized to make housing prices go up (because they own property), which they do by severely restricting construction of dense housing.
- ajmurmann 8y ago
  Even that seems super short sighed though isn't it? If an area turns into the next Manhattan all land owners win big time. I'd love it if it became economically desirable to build a 100 story skyscraper next to my house and someone went ahead and did it!
  - baybal2 8y ago
    This idea is entirely alien to majority of American high class suburbians. My sorries to people insulted by this statement.
JohnnyConatus 8y ago
See this AMA: https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/6lvwh4/im_an_architect_in_la_specializing_in_multifamily/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/6lvwh4/im_an_ar...
- patja 8y ago
  Where in that AMA is there a reference to zoning being defined at the state level? I did not see it in the long starting post.
  - ucaetano 8y ago
    ohazi never talked about zoning laws being defined at the State level. Just that zoning laws in CA are asinine.
bobthepanda 8y ago
The issue is that regional concerns (there is not enough housing in the region) do not mesh well with local control. Every locality thinks that everyone else should relieve the burden of housing because they are already "crowded" and new residents mean more money needed for services, which is a hard ask in a place like CA where raising local taxes is fiendishly difficult. If all the localities in a region, or even most of them, act this way, the end result is a housing shortage even when the economy is barely chugging along.
- njoro 8y ago
  Personally I wouldn't mind the Bay Area looking like Shenzhen, but I don't understand why people think that anything is going to change. Housing and education are prime assets in the new information based society and economy. People aren't going to share that anymore than natural resources, stocks, bitcoins or domains. Regardless of the larger consequences.
  - seanmcdirmid 8y ago
    Also, Shenzhen isn’t much cheaper either (at least to buy, rents are much more reasonable of course).
  - adrianratnapala 8y ago
    > People aren't going to share ... It's more complicated than just sharing. It's not about whether you have to let people come and live on your own property. It's about whether your neighbour may subdivide her own property for a profit. Collectively, owners have an incentive to stop her; but individual incentives are mixed. We can see how the politics of that tension is working out right now. But how can anyone tell how it will play out in the future?
- vkou 8y ago
  > Every locality thinks that everyone else should relieve the burden of housing because they are already "crowded" and new residents mean more money needed for services, which is a hard ask in a place like CA where raising local taxes is fiendishly difficult. The localities have a point. Why should existing residents pay for new infrastructure, to accommodate housing for 10,000 new residents (All because large tech firms keep building offices in the valley?) In a proper world, either the tech giant, or those new employees should pay for those infrastructure improvements. Traditionally, this has been done through high re-zoning and subdivision fees.

What are the state zoning laws? As far as I know, the state constitution leaves zoning as an issue for the cities/counties to handle. Is that your beef or are there laws on the books I'm ignorant of?

jimrandomh 8y ago

Yes, the problematic zoning laws exist mainly at the city level. The problem is that the decisions about key areas are being made by people who are incentivized to make housing prices go up (because they own property), which they do by severely restricting construction of dense housing.

ajmurmann 8y ago
Even that seems super short sighed though isn't it? If an area turns into the next Manhattan all land owners win big time. I'd love it if it became economically desirable to build a 100 story skyscraper next to my house and someone went ahead and did it!
- baybal2 8y ago
  This idea is entirely alien to majority of American high class suburbians. My sorries to people insulted by this statement.

JohnnyConatus 8y ago

See this AMA: https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/6lvwh4/im_an_architect_in_la_specializing_in_multifamily/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/6lvwh4/im_an_ar...

patja 8y ago
Where in that AMA is there a reference to zoning being defined at the state level? I did not see it in the long starting post.
- ucaetano 8y ago
  ohazi never talked about zoning laws being defined at the State level. Just that zoning laws in CA are asinine.

bobthepanda 8y ago

The issue is that regional concerns (there is not enough housing in the region) do not mesh well with local control. Every locality thinks that everyone else should relieve the burden of housing because they are already "crowded" and new residents mean more money needed for services, which is a hard ask in a place like CA where raising local taxes is fiendishly difficult. If all the localities in a region, or even most of them, act this way, the end result is a housing shortage even when the economy is barely chugging along.

njoro 8y ago
Personally I wouldn't mind the Bay Area looking like Shenzhen, but I don't understand why people think that anything is going to change. Housing and education are prime assets in the new information based society and economy. People aren't going to share that anymore than natural resources, stocks, bitcoins or domains. Regardless of the larger consequences.
- seanmcdirmid 8y ago
  Also, Shenzhen isn’t much cheaper either (at least to buy, rents are much more reasonable of course).
- adrianratnapala 8y ago
  > People aren't going to share ... It's more complicated than just sharing. It's not about whether you have to let people come and live on your own property. It's about whether your neighbour may subdivide her own property for a profit. Collectively, owners have an incentive to stop her; but individual incentives are mixed. We can see how the politics of that tension is working out right now. But how can anyone tell how it will play out in the future?
vkou 8y ago
> Every locality thinks that everyone else should relieve the burden of housing because they are already "crowded" and new residents mean more money needed for services, which is a hard ask in a place like CA where raising local taxes is fiendishly difficult. The localities have a point. Why should existing residents pay for new infrastructure, to accommodate housing for 10,000 new residents (All because large tech firms keep building offices in the valley?) In a proper world, either the tech giant, or those new employees should pay for those infrastructure improvements. Traditionally, this has been done through high re-zoning and subdivision fees.