What business is good for your neighborhood?

It's been a while since I've written anything about the Zoning & Platting Commission, otherwise known (by me) as the JV Planning Commission. For many years the commission was dominated by single-family zoning zealots (some of whom were cluelessly appointed by otherwise pro-housing Council members) whose only goal was to maintain the status quo. ZAP notoriously refused to even engage in the CodeNEXT process. So while it didn't actually do anything useful, it frequently offered an instructive glimpse into Austin's planning predicament.

ZAP is much better now. There are numerous people on the panel who actually acknowledge the major economic and environmental issues facing the city and are using their positions to try to address them.

For instance, two proposals that came up at the most recent ZAP meeting: One to decrease the number of legal commercial uses on major corridors and another to increase the number of legal commercial uses in single-family neighborhoods.

ZAP briefly discussed but did not take action on either of these items at its most recent meeting. It plans to do so at its Oct. 1 meeting.

Neighborhood-friendly biz

The first resolution, authored by Commissioners Lonny Stern & Ryan Puzycki, calls for making the following uses allowable on parcels with any type of single-family or multifamily zoning:

1. Counseling Services
2. Guidance Services
3. Medical Offices – —not exceeding 5,000 sq/ft of gross floor space
4. Consumer Repair Services;
5. Food Sales;
6. General Retail Sales (Convenience);
7. Personal Improvement Services
8. Personal Services
9. Pet Services
10. Restaurant (Limited)

The idea, said Stern, is to allow more people to be able to get to more things on foot. The city's existing Euclidian zoning paradigm is premised on a strict separation of commercial and residential uses. The outcome is that many of us can't get to anything without a car:

"If you need an egg, you need to go to the pharmacy, you need to go to the pet store, you want to do yoga, you want a quick bite to eat or coffee –– you're probably going to get in your car. And even if these things are nearby, they're most likely on a major corridor, which may not be comfortable or accessible to an elder or a young person. Would you let an 8-year-old cross South Lamar unattended? Probably not. But you might allow them to cross a neighborhood street."

I think the idea –– more walkable businesses –– is uncontroversial in the abstract. Everybody seems to want more stuff to walk to.