Ted

It motivates me.

Jen Keesmaat in Toronto. They have the power.

That's the point. They have all the tools to solve those problems - right now.

Our current zoning ordinance is overly complex at best. These additions will only make it more complex to navigate and more difficult to achieve quality urban results. Nextly, I'm increasingly concerned about our decisions and attempts to manage social issues through our planning department through policy. The weed ordinance is another example. Our planning department should be working in our community to envision our future not being a cop for a (perceived) problem that doesn't solve itself through increasing land values. Then, we don't need the city to have more ways to hassel folks in our city. They have more than enough.

This is a really bad idea...

That'll fck up a bike ride...

Nobody struggles more with our friends at the city and our neighbors on citizen committees more than me, but, I think we need to keep proper score here. At Cherry and Eastern, the neighborhood and the developer are trying to thread a needle. Everyone has been working in good faith but it obviously hasn't come out of the ground yet. I expect that it will. The HPC doesn't have anything to do with the delays at that site. The HPC approved the new building at the Dollar General site. A cynical lawsuit put an end to that project. And, Valley City Linen's expansion lies outside any Historic District. Their expansion complies with the zoning ordinance and they've been willing to make changes based on community comments - all stuff good neighbors do. Valley City is a critical employer of people in our neighborhood. I'm thankful that they've decided to expand in place rather than leave the city. Pretty or not, that expansion is important and good.

Rendering by Interface Studio as part of GRForward. http://interface-studio.com/projects/grand-rapids

+1 No way this project happens.

Hey, Ryan! We've been through this before, haven't we? There have been no changes to the Secretary's Standards since we did our project. You're wrong.

It's true.

Skateboarding is not a crime.

Wyoming and Kentwood are trying to change but I don't think they've succeeded yet.

One reason apartments haven't been built along Division is that our zoning ordinance hasn't been modified to align with our transit investments. Any project of any size and will be a site by site battle for density increases. Costly and time consuming. It's a problem.

GRBJ has quite literally been writing this same opinion piece since the '80's