03-15-2021, 10:13 AM
(03-14-2021, 09:52 PM)nms Wrote: Density bonusing in itself is a poor way to plan a community. The community, through its planners, its politicians and its community engagement should be able to set the limits and guidelines for the community that the developers are willing to to play within. The community should not be forced to bribe developers (or have developers bribe the community) in order to achieve what we want in this community. Community benefits should not be transactional.
The problem is cities are constrained by provincial restrictions on zoning. Zoning has a lot of rules around what it's allowed to specify, and what it's not. However, what the city can do is set zoning low, and then only agree to zoning changes when the developer agrees to things that can't be written in to the zoning bylaw itself. Standards like "high quality architecture" can only be enforced this way.
I think it's questionable if those things really are worth enforcing that way, because a lot of the time developers just build the mediocre buildings within zoning rules. But it really is a fully intentional part of our zoning, and an attempt by cities to control things they otherwise couldn't.