High-Density Dismay

The Pleasant View city council effectively killed a plan for a high density housing project near the border between its commercial district and residential neighborhoods. The council sited "concern" over the size of the development. Local homeowners expressed dismay over loosing their views.

This same problem has been had in Syracuse as well. A proposed plan to build townhomes recently sent homeowners into a tirade. The folks in Syracuse didn't want "those people" to move into the town and lower their property values.

Since I live in the Urban core of Weber County, I find all these comments by suburban homeowners amusing. The city councils of the communities reflect the attitudes of their constituents as well. What they have not been taught is that high-density housing is good for a community. So long as it is planned and managed in proportion to the rest of the city, it will actually benefit the community to have it.

Everyone needs a place to live. The bank president, the teller, and the janitor that mops up the sticky floors in the bank all need a roof over their head. For a city to say, "We only want Bank Presidents to live here, and putting up a home for a janitor....well...we just don't want that element here" seems to make little sense to me. If the bank is in Pleasant View, it makes sense for everyone to have the opportunity to live close to where they work. Otherwise, the bank will start to have problems getting janitors to service it. They will have to travel too far. At their low wage, it starts to become cost prohibitive. The town's economy will ultimately suffer. Park City is facing these exact problems right now.

The point is that PROPERLY PLANNED high density housing can be a blessing to a community and not a scourge as most suburban minds think.

As a counterpoint IMPROPERLY PLANNED high density housing can be a scourge. For example lets look at the 22nd block of Madison Ave. in Ogden. This street was full of cute Victorian era homes. Sometime during the 60's, in the early years of Ogden's slide into urban decay, someone decided that it would be a good thing for the city to have a couple homes torn down and the large lots made into 30 unit apartment complexes. How Wonderful. It brought more people to an area where there were no jobs for them. Rents declined, property conditions declined, and the downward feedback loop kept spinning. This high-density housing combined with Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society programs destroyed several of the neighborhoods in Downtown. Suburbanites probably think of these neighborhoods and therefore reflexively reject the idea of high-density housing due to this bad example.

Bottom line: Planned High-Density = Good