General Suburban Updates and Rumours

[ijmorlan]

Waterloo NIMBYs are trying to stop yet another development: https://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news-st...hbourhood/

I guess that the developers couldn't persuade the owner of #333 to sell.

I have some sympathy for #333, but none for the guy across the street.

I wonder what would happen if zoning regulations were easier to navigate for ordinary people. Right now, subdivision is usually done by developers aka evil large corporations just in it for the money. But at one time, property owners would gradually sever pieces of the property for family members and build infill. This would gradually turn a rural area into an urban one; it might be harder to oppose a property owner putting more of their family on a property.

In any case, what is fundamentally being opposed here is more people moving into the city, even if it is filtered through an anti-development framing.

As to the suggestion that this might lead to Beechwood backyards seeing infill projects, sounds good to me. If somebody wants a bigger backyard they should buy it, not use zoning rules to prevent their neighbour from changing the use of their backyard.