From: Kaleb Sharpe
Taylorsville
With the election of a new Columbus City Council, I am willing to recommend some policies that I think will appease liberals, progressives, conservatives, and libertarians alike.
- The legalization of the next increment of development by right (with an easy to understand and navigate approval process) in every part of the city. In my opinion, no part of Columbus should be subjected to radical change, yet no neighborhood should be completely exempt from change. This includes the streamlining of the approval process for ADUs (accessory dwelling units) and missing-middle housing throughout the city. In my opinion, a more flexible housing option to respond to a city’s needs is necessary. Furthermore, ADUs can provide income for a landowner, as people can rent these ADUs when necessary.
- Safer and more productive streets are important for the financial stability of a city, as multi-purpose “stroads” tend to be drains on city finances. In addition, they tend to be inefficient and dangerous, due to the amount of conflict points along a stroad. Furthermore, our streets should be designed with all modes of transit in mind, not just cars.
- Our accounting practices should be easy to understand, accurate, and focused on the city itself, not the Wall Street analysts and bond investors. This includes the measuring of the per-acre taxable value of properties instead of the total taxable value when determining a revenue analysis. I recommend Urban3 for this very purpose, as their revenue and cost-of-service models are easy to understand for anyone, not just those in government.
- Ending parking mandates and subsidies for developments, at least below National Road, should make our city’s land much more flexible, and should improve land use across the city.
- We shouldn’t be prioritizing car traffic in our transportation policy, we should be prioritizing all traffic. Part of this plan includes making do with our current vehicular infrastructure, and holding off on highway expansion.
In my opinion, the best way to combine these policies into one is to permit incremental development near the NexusPark project. Even though most of Columbus agrees it is a good idea, I am fairly skeptical due to the fact that it is built next to a six-lane stroad. If we want a high-level recreation center, it’s best to give that money to existing developments, or develop the land nearest to the NexusPark in order to make that area more walkable.
