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Yes, but the law should enforce your agreement with your neighbors, not obligate you to form an agreement as it does today. I think the biggest issue in zoning
by obblekk 6y ago
Yes, but the law should enforce your agreement with your neighbors, not obligate you to form an agreement as it does today.
I think the biggest issue in zoning is the lack of a path to unzone something. If I convince all my immediate neighbors to let me build up (perhaps by giving them some equity in the new building) I should be allowed by the law to build. Today, even if my whole block wants to build up, we cannot.
- geebee 6y agoYes, good point. I would support a more local regulation on much of this (same for Airbnb, I see no reason why people in the sunset should determine whether people in bernal can short term rent their properties). Personally, I don't think you should have to get universal agreement either. Maybe a simple majority? Life does chance, cities grow to new borders, single family zoning that made sense a generation ago can be absurd later. As for zoning vs private contract... well, for historical reasons, that's just how it works in older urban neighborhoods. That's the mechanism by which these property rights are decided. It's not ideal. But at my core, I do think the right to live in areas with certain building restrictions is a kind of personal property right just as real as the right to build whatever you want.