Agenda 05-04-1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Eisner & Associates Studies, 1939-1985 two different ways: number of families per unit(e.g. single- family and multifamily)or the number of units per acre. • Use Range of Percentages As expected,single-family housing is by far the largest portion of any city's housing stock.This type consumes an Residential 35-39% average of 73 percent of the total housing stock in the 12 Commercial 4.8-5 cities for which this information was available.The averages Industrial 10-11 for multifamily and mobile homes are 14 percent and 3 percent,respectively.The data range for multifamily housing Streets 20-26 was from 8 percent to 41 percent of land used for housing. Open Space,Schools,Parks 10-18 The range for mobile homes was much smaller: one-half of 1 percent to 7 percent. For example the residential ratio in Long Beach,California, is Commercial Uses - 79 percent. In Pittsburgh,it is only 28 percent,according to Since the 1950s and 1960s,commercial uses,which include the 1983 survey. office and retail,have occupied an increasing amount of Suburban sprawl also explains the residential ratio increase acreage in both large and small cities.The land-use ratios in in small towns from 42 percent in 1955 to 52 percent in 1992. 1955 were 3.32 percent for the central cities and 2.54 percent An increased level of automobile ownership led to the for the satellite cities. By 1992,these averages increased creation of the bedroom community. Employment,culture, significantly,to 10 percent. and goods and services were not necessarily needed in these The biggest factor in this large percentage increase is communities as long as the nearby major city offered them. parking. Parking has become a major regulatory concern Therefore,residential uses predominate the developed land. over the last few decades,as both large and small cities These high ratios of residential land should begin have become dominated by cars. An entire parking lot is to decline due to a combination of many economic, considered a commercial use.Many uses require parking demographic,and regulatory trends that are decreasing that effectively doubles the acreage of commercial land. demand for single-family detached homes.The 20-percent- Unlike in large cities,where suburban office migration has down conventional mortgage is no longer affordable for the caused commercial land-use ratios to plateau at 10 percent, average U.S. household. According to U.S. Housing Markets this ratio continues to climb in smaller cities.The Land Use (January 29, 1990),a household needs an average down Institute estimated in 1986 that 57.3 percent of the country's payment of 28 percent.The cost of the average home from total office market was located outside major downtowns. • 1988 to 1990 increased 8.4 percent,or$11,000,while the This was an increase of nearly 10 percent from 1981.Height average income of a household has increased only 4.8 restrictions and a strong bias toward low-density development percent. exist in these areas,so buildings cover more acres. Quickly rising land cost is another major factor Also contributing to the higher commercial ratio is the contributing to the inconsistency between housing cost and rise of average square footage allowed per office worker, income,according to an article in Building Sciences according to a 1991 Price Waterhouse Study. Between 1942 (November 1987). Land costs are now one-quarter of the cost and 1979,the average work space increased from 110 square of a single-family home.Thirty years ago, that figure was feet to 199 square feet. In 1988,only nine years later,that only 10 percent. average had crept up to 342 square feet. Demographic changes are reducing demand for single- Currently,trends between office and retail development family homes as well.Couples are purchasing houses at differ greatly.The construction of office buildings has an older age and having fewer children.Builder magazine decreased considerably in most cities since the late 1980s reported in January 1992 that the percentage of home buyers due to high vacancy rates. But according to Real Estate who are first-time buyers has dropped significantly from 47.7 Perspectives magazine,retail overbuilding continued at a rate percent to 34.6 percent in 1990. Furthermore, the 1990 nearly double its absorption rate well into the recession in Census indicates that household size declined from 3.33 1990.The common types of retail development—strip centers persons in 1960 to 2.62 persons in 1989. Ultimately, this and regional malls—consume large amounts of land. Given means less space will be required for each family. In fact, that these development styles are being used in small and surveys conducted recently by the National Apartment large cities alike,the commercial ratios in both sizes of cities Association have noted an increase in apartment living. lean be expected to increase. Zoning trends have become an issue as well. Recent environmental protection regulations encourage development iIndustrial Districts patterns such as cluster and planned unit developments. Also, In large cities,the amount of land used by industrial firms courts are ruling against five-acre estate lot sizes and other peaked in the late 1970s or early 1980s,and has recently been large minimum lot size zoning when the effect is to exclude declining. In 1955,the average industrial land-use ratio was certain income groups. 6.4 percent.The 1983 survey indicated an industrial land-use ratio of 12 percent,while this current study shows a ratio Breakdown by Housing Type 'of only 10.5 percent. In small cities and suburban areas, • Although this study provides general land-use ratio the industrial land-use ratio has remained within a third percentages for residential land as a whole, some of a percentage point since 1955,at around 7.5 percent. communities may be interested in the housing stock The trend most affecting industrial land allocation is the breakdown within the residential category.Cities that offer country's economic shift from manufacturing and other heavy breakdowns within the residential category tended to do it in industry to a service industry.This may be causing what I 3