Urban density about to accelerate

[Mick]

I built a house in 2008, right before the crash. I had an extra deep lot with two adjacent parcels, and I proposed adding an ADU (additional dwelling unit) on the second parcel. No chance, said the planning commission.

Fast forward 17 years. We live close to Bramhall Park in Willow Glen in San Jose. A single family home on a double lot is being razed for eight separate residences. A not-very-large lot around the corner tore down a house to build a duplex and a separate small living quarters. Three residences. 80 condominiums are going up on a few acres around the corner from us.

I get the urgency. California has always been restrained in housing permits, for water, space and other considerations. The year my dad bought a house in Santa Cruz (mid-1970s), they issued 24 building permits — total.

Today, I was responding to a political survey. There is a County Assessor’s election in May. Here is the question I am answering right now:

We can build the housing we need in our downtowns and near jobs and transit, and we do not need to end single-family zoning.

OR

We need to end single-family zoning to build the housing we need to make our communities more affordable.

AYFKM??!?! “End single family zoning?” Tear down your single family house and turn it into a quad-plex?

I suppose this is the natural result of unrelenting open borders and admitting so many immigrants. From farms to smaller farms to single family houses to high-density housing.

• This topic was modified 8 months, 3 weeks ago by Mick.
• This topic was modified 8 months, 3 weeks ago by Mick.

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