Subjects I find more interesting than a discussion of zoning laws:
- Hot new trends in carpet
- Buccos’ playoff ticket prices
- Bob Casey (D-Antifa): Does he want to extend voting rights to cats?
- Literally anything else
And yet, here we are. Pittsburgh is finally making progress towards undoing its chaotic mess of zoning laws, which are rightly seen as an impediment to housing people want to buy, and housing that people can afford.
Zoning laws exist for a reason — some things should be illegal to build, like a steel mill at the corner of Forbes & Murray. But laws build up gradually over time, and you end up with laws mandating the strict separation of single-family housing from absolutely everything else — and places where you need a car just to cross the street. Of course, that’s a gross oversimplification, but that’s all we have space for here, folks! So, here, according to the City of Pittsburgh’s official website, are some of the good things that are going to be legal to build (again):
- Accessory Dwelling Units: “a smaller apartment within a home, detached from the primary structure in a separate building, or constructed within an existing accessory structure (like a garage or basement).” I like the term “Granny Flats,” because it makes me think of my grandma in the kitchen making pierogies all day long.
- Transit-Oriented Development: “encouraging dense housing and amenities within walking distance of frequent and high-quality transit.” Getting between home and work shouldn’t require a car.
- Parking Reform: the 1958 Zoning Code mandated off-street parking requirements for most new housing. “The removal of minimum parking requirements has led to the development of more walkable, mixed-used development, lower housing costs, and adaptive reuse of existing buildings.”
- Minimum Lot Size Reform: Basically, it was all-but-impossible to build small apartments in a lot of places because homeowners nearby wanted to keep poor people out. This plan removes the “minimum lot size per unit and reduce[s] the minimum lot size requirements.”
- Inclusionary Zoning: a zoning tool that requires new or renovated developments of 20+ units to include 10% of total units as affordable units. So far, this has been applied to certain hot markets like Lawrenceville and Oakland. Most developers obviously would rather build all market-rate; it’s unclear if this requirement makes them less likely to build.
These are mostly common-sense things that have been successful elsewhere, though none are magic tricks. The most effective way to lower the cost of housing is to crash the market (like, say killing the steel industry) and make it worth less…and we tried that.
Let’s not do that again.
CITY
For sale: 1461 Bellaire Pl., Brookline, $158,500
When I was younger and closer to the ground, I was really into the concept of carpet. But now at my advanced age (and height), I look at a 70-year-old hardwood floor polished to shine and wonder why I ever thought covering it with a dirty dishrag was a good idea. Here’s another gem in Brookline, which has a big park and a terrific main business district just a few streets away.
For rent: 5818 Stanton Ave., Lawrenceville, $1,175/month
If you want somewhere quiet and cheap in Lawrenceville, you just have to find the spot where most of your neighbors are…well, dead. It’s weird to think of a graveyard as an amenity, but Allegheny Cemetery is just so tranquil and picturesque and full of odd points of interest that it’s in a category of its own.
For sale: 2310 Fairland St., #2. Overbrook, $700/month
If you were a little kid asked to draw a house, you’d probably come up with something like this. And you know what? It’s a pretty nice house. Triangles and more triangles, windows in the right places. This is a duplex, which works out to half of a small house. But $700 a month is kind of amazing, even if it touts nearby Route 51 as an amenity (and not a Biblical curse).
For sale: 221 Bernice St., Ross, $199,500
Yes, there are affordable houses in the suburbs, too. Usually, they’re kind of weird, like this stone-and-siding oddity, which does have its charms. That’s a pretty great porch, and oh, wow — room for a basketball hoop! I think I get the appeal of the suburbs now.
For rent: 100 Adele Ave., Etna, $1,295/month
When I was a little kid, my dad announced we were going to Etna for some reason, and I groaned theatrically. I said something about how Etna was pretty much the worst place ever. When asked what that meant, I reached deep into my little-kid mind and summoned the most horrible thing I could think of: “Etna is so terrible, there’s just eyeballs rolling down the street.” I still have no idea what I meant by that, but my younger siblings were spooked. I’ve been to Etna recently, and it’s pretty nice; I recommend breakfast at Senza Bakeshop. Not a single errant eyeball sighted yet.
For sale: 3057 Mount Troy Rd., Reserve Township, $239,000
Built in 1890 out of that inimitable Pittsburgh yellow brick, yet it doesn’t look a day over 100. Just think how different Pittsburgh was back then! We were just looking out from our back porch and observing shooting stars. In the old days, the only light in the sky would be the occasional spark carried on clouds of smoke from the mills. This house is in the suburbs, but close enough to hit the city with a well-thrown football. There have been a lot of price cuts lately, and this one just dropped about $6,000.
