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COLUMBIA IN THE NEWS OPINION TAKE ACTION RESOURCES ATLANTA AUSTIN EXAMPLES |
2008 CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS The 2008 City Council elections will be important for our neighborhoods and for the city. Our District 3 council seat is in play as Anne Sinclair has decided not to rum again, and an at-large seat is open. We feel that Belinda Gergel in District 3 and Cameron Ruynan for the At-Large seat are the best candidates. Read our full opinion on the candidates... NEIGHBORHOODS WIN A BATTLE IN THE WAR At the Wednesday, January 23 City Council meeting neighborhood leaders and other concerned city residents expressed their support for the Interim Measures and their rejection of the direct mail and telemarketing campaign by the Home Builders Association of Greater Columbia and the Greater Columbia Association of REALTORS®. City Council unanimously agreed and requested that the Interim Measures move forward to be drafted into a text amendment to the zoning regulations and be considered at the February 20 Council meeting which will be held at Hand Middle School at 6pm. CITY COUNCIL WILL HOLD ANOTHER PUBLIC HEARING ON THE INTERIM MEASURES At the Wednesday, January 23 City Council meeting a public hearing will be held on the Interim Measures for Community Character Protection. The Planning Commission recommended approval with an amendment which states that "Approve interim measures for Cottontown, Hollywood/Rose Hill, Shandon, Wales Garden, and Sherwood Forest, provided that, within 4 months of approval by City Council, each neighborhood except Wales Garden shall submit petitions that show 50 percent or more of the landowners of the neighborhood support the interim measures, 4-3 with 2 abstentions (12/03/07)." Development Services recommends approval without the amendment recommended by Planning Commission. Please note that the time for the discussion of the Interim Measures has been moved from item 25 to item 9, and should begin at 10am. Read the City Council agenda... CITY WIDE DIRECT MAIL MISINFORMATION BROCHURE Monday, January 14, lots of Columbia mailboxes received an "Urgent Notice" from the "Builder and REALTOR® Community Education and Outreach Committee". We don't know exactly who comprises the "committee", but they are obviously quite concerned about the prospect of the Interim Measures for Community Character Protection as proposed by the Development Services Department of the City of Columbia being adopted. The flier does state that the message was paid for and sent by the Home Builders Association of Greater Columbia and the Greater Columbia Association of REALTORS®. We don't know exactly the scope of the mailing, but we have reports from Sherwood Forest, Shandon, University Hills, Oakwood Court, and Wales Gardens. So the alarm has been sounded in most of Columbia's intown neighborhoods. Read more about the disinformation direct mail piece... CITY COUNCIL ENDORSES INTERIM MEASURES FOR COMMUNITY CHARACTER PROTECTION On September 19, 2007, City Council voted unanimously to authorize staff to direct a text amendment to the Planning Commission for recommendation on December 3, 2007 and to immediately draft a public notice stating that the interim measures shall be effective upon the publication of that notice for property zoned or used residentially within the Cottontown, Heathwood, Hollywood/Rosehill, Shandon and Wales Garden neighborhoods. Other neighborhoods can "opt in" to the plan. Read more from the City of Columbia Planning & Development Services web site... Read more news and opinions about Columbia Infill Development... Infill development can have a positive effect on a community by reducing sprawl, providing walking neighborhoods, revitalizing older neighborhoods and forming more compact and dense urban centers. In fact, appropriate infill housing is featured prominently in the Town & Country Plan developed by Richland County. The plan states that "New housing opportunities within the "close-in" neighborhoods will be predominantly infill projects on vacant or underutilized land. Infill housing within residential areas should be of the same type and character as existing development." However, the benefits of affordable housing, increased neighborhood coherence, and using existing infrastructure are negated when developers come in and build structures that are out of place and scale to the existing neighborhood. Columbia has been seeing this trend for a few years. In some cases, zoning ordinances are being exploited to build "MacMansions" that dwarf the other homes in the neighborhood. In other situations, structures are being built as cheaply as possible with no regard for the character of the homes in the neighborhood. Lots are being subdivided and backyards sold to squeeze in another house. Atlanta, Austin and other cities are seeing more extreme development where traditional homes are torn down to make way for a large "monster home". Atlanta, Austin and other cities have taken action to bring order to their infill development even to the point of declaring building moratoriums in some neighborhoods. Unlike some other attempts to emulate Atlanta and other cities, Columbia would be wise to consider developing a comprehensive regulatory approach to infill development that ensures neighborhood integrity. Columbia Developments The Planning Commission acted on their recommendation concerning the Interim Measures at a December 3, 2007 meeting. Unfortunately, they did not seem to understand what they were considering. Read a little more about this development at our Columbia page. More information about Columbia developments are also available at our Columbia page. Take Action We would also urge you to take action by contacting the Mayor, your City Council representatives and others who may have an interest in this issue. Our Take Action page lists names and contact information for those folks. If there are other contacts we need to add, let us know. Educational Resources Our resource page includes articles written by scholars and planning professionals, and links to task forces' reports on infill guidelines being developed. We will be adding more information, opinions and web links concerning infill development and actions other communities have taken to revise zoning laws and construction permitting to stop inappropriate infill development. We hope that this information will allow Columbia to adopt policies to preserve the texture and sense of community in our traditional neighborhoods. If you have additional information or links of interest, please let us know at cnfaid@dmzgraphics.com. Sign up for the CNFAID email Update. 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