Disinformation, misinformation and hubris
- mcc021557
- Jun 17
- 4 min read
WEDNESDAY June 18th at 6:30PM The Community Development Board will be meeting on the Neighborhood Zoning. This meeting will be hybrid so both in person at council chambers and on Zoom
We do our best to counter misinformation here and today is no exception. It is particularly egregious when an elected official (in this case Kit Collins the chair of the Planning and Permitting Committee that is responsible for WRITING and PASSING this zoning) is spreading misinformation. As they are elected, the assumption is that they have expert knowledge in the matter. Kit Collins is actively spreading misinformation and propaganda. Let’s dig in. Here is the link to the blog:
PLEASE DON’T LOOK HERE FOR ANSWERS. THIS IS A PRETTY TOXIC EXAMPLE OF MISINFORMATION!
What follows below are screenshots from Kit Collin's blog, and the factual responses to her purposeful misinformation.
Let’s look at the requirements that Kit claims will hinder the zoning from actually happening…
1) open space minimums – 20%
2) lot coverage requirements – 50% (currently 35% and ADUs don’t count toward this percentage)
3) frontage and setback requirements – frontage is 35 feet (less than to build a two family now). ALL of the setbacks will be LESS than what is in zoning now in the new zoning.
4) parking requirements – the planning and permitting committee is working to lower or eliminate parking minimums NOW. This is also a requirement for the Our Revolution Platform (that six city councilors have pledged allegiance to) to work to remove parking minimums.
This is just fundamentally untrue and if Kit earnestly doesn’t know that it is untrue, then she has no business voting on this zoning as she doesn’t understand it.
This is essentially the same question repeated. The parking requirements are being lowered in the next wave of this zoning. Parking should have been done first if they wanted to provide a true picture of what is possible.
A 4k square foot lot can have a 3 unit building with the ground space being 2k square feet and as it can go to 3 stories, that is a sizeable building. That is if they do not seek special permits to build more as the city council has lowered the threshold to a special permit instead of a variance to make it easier and faster for flippers to build and profit.
YES! The lot coverage allowance is going from 35% to 50-60% depending on the district. Only UR2 projects are subject to the Green Score and that is 100% WAIVABLE! City council added in a waiver for a project that fits the purpose of adding housing, the Community Development Board can waive the Green Score. Any lot that is entirely paved over can stay as is. Any lot that has lots of green space can cover 50% of it with a building and then parking and ADUs. So nothing is impossible.
Will this zoning stress our current infrastructure? YES! You can’t take lots that hold one to two units and up it to five or more and expect the infrastructure to be able to support it. That is IMPOSSIBLE! Why would the city be paying to upgrade infrastructure so that flippers can make bigger profits? So this is going to take MORE of your tax money to pay to upgrade infrastructure so that flippers can build more units per lot. NOTHING under 6 units will go through a site plan review. The Neighborhood and Urban Residential Zoning is NOT subject to linkage fees. This is just misinformation designed to confuse people.
The Comprehensive Plan density was created by the Planning Department and the Consultants that were hired. Residents did not pick corridors or decide where density “belonged.” The Comprehensive Plan called to conduct studies and come up with strategies to avoid displacement in Environmental Justice Neighborhoods. Under Kit Collins, the Planning and Permitting Committee actively worked to rapidly gentrify EJ neighborhoods to hasten pricing them out.
Dense environmental justice neighborhoods were targeted for more density. The least dense areas were left the least dense. Glenwood has one bus and is the highest neighborhood residential zone (it matches or exceeds the zoning in the commuter and green line ¼ mile radius without rapid transit). A bus stop is NOT a bus corridor. Narrow private streets in EJ neighborhoods are zoned just as dense as the public roads around them. This is NIMBY protectionist zoning designed to rapidly gentrify the environmental justice areas.
The Planning and Permitting Committee added a second ADU because they wanted to. There was no study informing this decision. They just decided if the state asked for one, that they would make it two and maybe people would build because they could build more.
All in all. Kit’s blog was written to confuse people. It was her turn to spread the misinformation and the others are complicit.
They have all been spreading misinformation in blogs and in Facebook comments. It is a coordinated effort to confuse and misinform the residents. If they believe it, then they are ignorant and should not be in charge of something they don’t understand. If they know it is lies and propaganda, then they should be stopped from trying to create more confusion amongst the residents.
This zoning is possible. It can happen. It will happen especially in the environmental justice neighborhoods where the land is cheaper and what is allowed to be built is much more. Glenwood has their own personal flipper, and he is already door knocking and trying to buy more property because instead of 2 $1M+ townhouses, he will be able to build THREE PLUS TWO ADUs.
Don’t let the misinformation coming from elected officials confuse you! Attend this meeting! Call out their misinformation! Email the mayor and urge her to call out the lies that our elected officials are spreading!
Comments