Upzoning and city infrastructure costs
I work in a local government in Washington state. Mostly single-family affluent suburb. City leadership is concerned that a potential statewide zoning bill (4-plex everywhere, 6-plex by transit, no parking minimums, the whole deal) would lead to huge increase in city infrastructure costs (more sewers etc.).
On the one hand that makes sense, density requires some changes to local infrastructure. On the other hand from strong towns I know the unsustainability of the suburban single family form from a financial stand point. I think the city would argue what we have right now is financially unsustainable!
What is the trade off vs one time infrastructure investments now for more housing vs the economies of scale and wealth building of a more sustainable urban form?
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Obviously, this is a block-by-block kind of determination, but if the macro argument is being made that this will stress existing infrastructure, I find that to be largely off the mark. Almost all infrastructure that serves individual homes have excess capacity within the street. What tends to get stressed is collective infrastructure -- pumps, water storage facilities, treatment plants, etc... -- and those will be stressed, to a degree, by adding more people out on the edge, too.
If people are arguing that the city will not grow and, thus, not experience any stress on their infrastructure in the absence of this statewide change, well.... I think you've pointed out the problem: what's there isn't stable, lacks the financial productivity to work over the long run, and there isn't a solution to the math problem that comes from doing nothing.
Upgrading one lift station to a larger pump size comes at a cost, no doubt. So is adding a second pump somewhere on the edge to add new homes. For some reason, we find the former an imposition but the latter is an investment -- shouldn't be that way.
You have a math problem to address, a financial imbalance to fix. If they start with that imbalance, then the marginal costs to upgrade some of the existing infrastructure can be identified as the lesser expense when compared to continuation on the existing course.
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