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Comment by borkt | Hacker News Reader

Mixed use is precisely what zoning regulations are pushing for these days. If there were no zoning laws developers would only build whatever makes them the most money (from what I gather this may be mini-storage in all honesty). Edit: also elder care. I see developers do all sorts of less than honest things to win the approval to make an elder care facility.

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I used to live in a new mixed-use development. The builders built as much of the residential parts as the county would allow, and then basically quit. It's been the better part of a decade now and the place still doesn't include a single office or retail unit. A huge chunk of land just sits empty. I'm certain that if the county stepped out and allowed the developers do what they wanted, that land would instantly be filled with even more residential units and that would be it. (And given the demand for housing, that may not be a bad thing, but the result isn't mixed-use.)

That is definitely true. I work on the infrastructure/engineering side of municipal government but I have worked on the private side in companies that also do land planning. Developers always promise anything the city wants in order to get approval for a tentative map, then phase the construction. Phase 1 residential goes in and gets certificate of occupancy, next day "phase 1 went way over budget, we just cant do it right now." Not all developments go this way but a lot do. I am always very careful to structure conditions in such a way that they at are obliged to construct all public infrastructure and as much of the development as I possibly can prior to giving them public works signoff.

>>Phase 1 residential goes in and gets certificate of occupancy, next day "phase 1 went way over budget, we just cant do it right now." Not all developments go this way but a lot do.

Sounds like a great reason to blacklist that developer for, say, 5 years.

It's my understanding that self storage (and in some places, paid parking) are basically a low up front cost way to break even. It's basically a way to cover your taxes and make a small profit while you hope that land values go up.

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