Small Lot Legislation: An Architect’s Perspective.

As an architect who specializes in housing, I occasionally get involved in discussions with DPD and the city council about land use issues.  In general, I look at proposed legislation from this perspective:  What kind of outcomes will the new legislation encourage?  Are these good outcomes?  If I’m trying to design housing using these new rules, is the code helping or hindering? […]

DPD Tried to Regulate Small Lots;You Wouldn’t Believe What Happened Next!

Over the last part of the week I kept hearing noises on social media about problems with the Department of Planning and Development’s (DPD) efforts to constrain small-lot development. Here’s the comment that set off the biggest discussions and concerns. According to one homeowner the legislation means that about 8,755 existing homes . . . […]

Small-Lots: Don’t Stop an Innovative Housing Solution

Here are the comments I delivered to the Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability (PLUS) Committee this afternoon. The outcome we are looking for from the Council is legislation that supports more small-lot development that is predictable and scaled to housing already in neighborhoods. The 80 Percent Rule does that. Comments to PLUS Committee on April […]