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Their removal has been advised by the Environment Agency (EA) to protect existing flood barriers and prevent future damage to those set to be installed as part of a 49m project which is currently in the final stages of development.

A report presented to a recent meeting of Preston City Councils cabinet described almost all of the trees to be felled mostly along Broadgate, with a small number on Riverside as low value and poor quality. Many of the individual specimens are also known to be suffering from the fungal disease ash dieback.

However, ten of the affected trees are mature sycamores, standing in the Broadgate Gardens area, close to the junction with Fishergate Hill and Liverpool Road. Members were told that these were of higher quality and on the landward side of the current defences, but still required removal.

The EA has committed to planting five new trees for each one taken down as a result of work on its Preston and South Ribble Flood Risk Management Scheme, which is designed to better protect 4,800 homes and 350 businesses. The replacements will be a mixture of saplings and more mature examples.

Preston City Council owns the land where the soon-to-be-felled trees are located, meaning it is responsible for the maintenance of vegetation on the river bank. It is believed that much of it sprang up as a result of self-seeding, rather than planned planting but it has grown significantly in recent years.

The authoritys cabinet agreed to contribute 20,000 towards the estimated 100,000 cost of the removals, the rest of which will be funded by the EA. The agency will also oversee the specialist work, much of which will have to be carried out from the river itself, using specialist equipment and contractors.

The process will have to be completed before 1st March to ensure that it does not coincide with the bird nesting season and also to fit in with the timeframe for development of the wider flood defence scheme.

Deputy city council leader Peter Moss whose City Centre ward encompasses much of the Broadgate area said the project was vitally important.

Flooding can cause devastation for both households and businesses andthat area is now quite vulnerable, because of climate change and rising water levels.

The loss of trees is sad, but the increase in the number of trees [overall] which will be able to be planned for will hopefully, in the longer term, provide a lot of benefits for residents in the area, Cllr Moss said.

As part of its tree replacement pledge, the EA is seeking areas of land close to the Ribble where planting can take place. The organisation has also proposed to re-landscape Broadgate Gardens, which is likely to incorporate new trees as part of any redesign.

The EA also intends to work with South Ribble Borough Council, which has made its own commitment to plant 110,000 trees in the coming years, on the creation of a wetland habitat in the Ribble Sidings area.

Ground investigation work for the flood defence scheme took place earlier this year and planning permission for the final design will now be required before work can begin in 2021.

The latest stages of more than three years of public consultation which has included the issue of tree removal have been driven online by the pandemic.

A newsletter issued by the EA in October addresses the problems posed by the self-seeding trees on the river bank.

Removal of these will allow access for construction and ensure new defences are not damaged by tree root growth.

Self-seeded trees are trees that havent been planted or planned, these trees can be as a result of seeds arriving by birds, the river and the wind. They can cause damage to flood barriers, footpaths and walls due to lack of maintenance, the document notes.

More than 6.5m of funding for the overall scheme is coming from the European Regional Development Fund.

Pam Wilson lives directly opposite the Ribble on Broadgate and says she was expecting that the trees on the river side of the wall would probably be lost.

Its a real shame, but Im glad they are doing the defences - and you cant make an omelette without breaking eggs, as they say.

But 10 mature trees is a lot [to lose]. The irony is that trees take up water and hold the bank together, but not enough, I guess, Pam added.

Greg Smith, a resident of South End - a road just off Broadgate - says locals appear content with the replacement planting plans.

"From the people I have spoken to, I haven't picked up on any great issue with the trees. Some residents recall flooding in this area back in the 1970s and so they are glad of the extra protection.

"It will be sad to lose the more mature trees on this side of the wall, but as long as there are more planted than removed, I don't think it's a major concern."

The Preston and South Ribble Flood Risk Management Scheme will replace or add more than five miles of defences over a three-year period. Some of the new barriers will contain glass panels to maintain views across the Ribble.

The planned defences will be higher than the existing protective measures in the area some of which date as far back as the 1920s, others to the 1980s which are deemed to have come to the end of their useful life.

This is what the EA is proposing:

Broadgate replacement of existing concrete wall between Liverpool Road bridge and Penwortham Old Bridge, with a new one whose maximum height will be 1.6m compared to the current 1.23m.

Riverside a new concrete wall along the boundary of the BAC/EE Preston Social and Sports Association cricket pitch between Miller Gardens apartments and the two flood gates at Ribble Cottage.

- replacement of existing concrete wall between Penwortham Old Bridge and Miller Gardens apartments with a new one whose maximum height will be 2.24m compared to the current 1.08m. Includes glass panels on top.

- replacement of existing concrete wall running on the riverside of the road in front of The Continental restaurant with a new one whose maximum height will be 2.53m compared to the current 1.09m. Includes glass panels on top.

Miller Park a new concrete retaining wall along a ramped section of the main cycleway and earth embankment in Miller Park, with a maximum height of 2m compared to the 1.09m of the existing wall.

Penwortham Methodist Church a new concrete wall with a maximum height of 2.2m. Includes road ramp to raise existing road levels at the entrance to the church by 1m.

Golden Way Footpath a new concrete wall with a maximum height of 2.2m.

Riverside Road replacement of existing concrete wall running along Riverside Road from the Cadent Gas Pipe Bridge to Stanley Avenue (upstream end of Riverside Road) with a new one whose maximum height will be 2.2m compared to the current 1.3m. Includes glass panels on top.

Ribble Sidings replacement of existing 1.7m flood defence embankment with a 3.5m-high embankment with a 3m crest width. The existing riverside footpath route will be maintained with an access ramp over the proposed flood defences and a new habitat area created on the dry side of the new embankment.

Source: Environment Agency (wall and embankment heights subject to change)

For more details visit: thefloodhub.co.uk/psr

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Hundreds of trees to be cut down in Preston as part of flood defence plans - Lancashire Post

Whats quietly taken place with Judge William Martin steadily at the helm in the Indiana County Common Pleas Court for month after month and year after year is something done by only one other man in county history.

If you knew that Judge John Young, the first appointed when Indiana County was created more than 200 years ago, is the only man to serve 30 years on the bench, you just might be a trivia nut.

But if you knew that Martin will soon be the second to reach that milestone, you have serious command of local history.

A page of history turns Monday as Martins retirement after 29 years on the bench takes effect. Judge Thomas Bianco will assume the title president judge, which Martin held for 22 years, and move down the hall to preside in Courtroom No. 1. Judge Michael Clark will hear cases in Courtroom No. 2 and bring along his staff and personal law library to the freshly painted and recarpeted chambers overlooking North Eighth Street. (Martins old office also has been spruced up for Bianco.)

What also happens Monday will be the uninterrupted flow of justice that Martin has administered lo all these years, but without the need for an out-of-county backup judge and the traveling that would entail. Martin already has been approved by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to assume senior judge status, so he would be called back to the fourth floor on an as-needed basis.

Ill be out, but I wont be all the way out, Martin said. Ive told them Ill do whatever they want me to do. Theyre already scheduling me for some things here.

That would put Martin on track to reach 30 years as a judge in June, and finish one year from now when his elected successor takes office just three months shy of being the countys longest-serving jurist.

Martin himself is the last judge to be appointed by the governor to fill a retirement vacancy, when Judge Robert Earley left the bench in 1991. Then the district attorney, Martin won both the Democrat and Republican primaries and was named by Gov. Robert Casey Sr. as the interim judge, in view of his likely election to a 10-year term that November.

Since then, county voters have been divided on their choices for replacements when Judges Parker Ruddock, Gregory Olson and Carol Hanna retired. Democrats and Republicans chose different nominees for general election contests, and no governor opted to make an interim appointment, leaving the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts to choose from a pool of retired-but-willing judges to help handle the caseload.

Although an asterisk would come into play for observing Martins 30 years as a judge, another passed in October when Martin gained credit for the days in the 1980s when he taught in the paralegal program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. That allowed him to accumulate 30 years of service as a state employee (judges are not paid from the county budget).

October was Martins original target when he pondered retirement at the start of 2020, he said, but the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for avoiding upheaval wherever possible led him to hold off until the turn of the year.

Martin talked about three decades of changes in the courts, how technology has been a double-edged sword for justice, heightened security for court systems and his plans for when his judging days are through, in his first news interview in almost 30 years granted this week in the courthouse.

The courtroom was packed in 1989 when Martin, as the DA, won the conviction of Walter Beatty on two murder charges stemming from a January 1987 fire in a downtown Indiana college bar, the worst of the scores of arson fires that investigators suspected Beatty had started in a three-year spree. Putting away the Indiana arsonist, and winning convictions in nearly every high-profile case he took before a jury, was regarded as what catapulted Martin to the bench.

Sensational trials still drew full galleries for years after Martin became judge, but public attention to dramatic cases has markedly fallen in recent years, and that has disappointed Martin.

I noticed over the years that people feel they cant come. Ive always encouraged people to come to court, Martin said. You can walk in and listen to any case. But people think theres a shroud of secrecy about what were doing and there isnt, its wide open and transparent.

The pandemic the past year has hurt that cause, Martin said. Announcements and signs on the doors saying Courthouse Closed have belied the work actually being done in the courts. A brief respite from rising COVID-19 infection rates in late summer and early fall enabled Martin, Bianco and Clark to continue to dispense justice. Renting the Toretti Auditorium in the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex in White Township enabled the courts to summon scores of citizens for selection to juries, and the courts completed a good run there in August, September and October, Martin said. Judge Bianco tried the first civil jury trial in the state since March. We had three homicide cases and the attempted murder of the two troopers. But then the (virus) numbers went back up.

Over 30 years, caseloads have spiraled. Increasing numbers of criminal, civil and family cases led the state to create a third seat for a judge for Indiana County Common Pleas Court. High numbers of cases led all in the local judicial system to streamline the calendars and to reach more out-of-court resolutions to cases.

More people willing to go to court as litigants to have their troubles aired has increased.What made the job more difficult was the number of pro se litigants (people without lawyers), particularly in family law. We get emergency custody, contempts filed daily. Im usually on the phone to Children & Youth to see if theyre involved, he said. When I first started most people had a lawyer.

While not calling them frivolous, the number of complaints filed by jail inmates especially since the addition of State Correctional Institution Pine Grove to the Indiana landscape 20 years ago has created a glut on the court calendar and resources. Its the No. 1 change Martin said he would make in the legal system.

They have an absolute right to present their case. Being in prison doesnt mean they cant make a claim, he said. But there are so many of them. There ought to be a different tribunal to take care of them on a statewide basis, part of Commonwealth Court or a regional court.

There was no internet when Martin became judge. Windows was a splashy replacement for DOS. He pored over volumes and volumes of law books and relied on judicial publications to stay abreast of precedent cases. Lawyers typed their complaints, rebuttals, briefs and proposed orders and drove them to the courthouse from Altoona, Greensburg or Pittsburgh. Court workers may never have been healthier, from their exercise in hauling armloads of blue jackets between the courts, the reporters and the clerks offices.

Nothing, Martin said, has changed the justice system as much as the digital revolution. A document scanning project has relieved the prothonotary and clerk of courts of file cabinet after cabinet of hard copy. Judges, secretaries, clerks and lawyers exchange documents in an instant by email instead of days by postal delivery.

Its going to change the way people practice law. When you have a pretrial conference in a civil case, a lawyer wont have to drive from Pittsburgh to Indiana, sit down with a judge for 15 or 20 minutes, and drive the whole way back. Martin said. Now lawyers in Pittsburgh who would normally not take a case in Indiana County because they dont want to travel back and forth may now take the case because they know they can appear remotely.

Likewise, lawyers in Indiana County who like to leave the county might take cases in neighboring counties knowing the same thing. So I think this is going to change the way people practice law.

The court system had a lot of practice before the pandemic and Zoom.

Skype and Facetime first changed the way suspects were charged after hours. No longer did district judges have to leave home at all hours for preliminary arraignment in their offices. Video connections between judges in their homes and police officers in the stations replaced that.

When pandemic-related limits on gathering took effect, Martin said, Zoom brought defendants, litigants, lawyers and judges together for procedural matters to move their cases.

If theres any positive coming from the pandemic, its the use of technology, he said.

While trials have not been held online, Martin has allowed lawyers to bring laptop computers and video projectors in the courtrooms. That lets attorneys quickly and easily display photographs or documents to the entire jury, saving the time once lost with jurors individually inspecting exhibits.

It really speeds things along, and I think thats one of the positives. The pandemic has forced us to use it, he said.

But technology presents a compromise that doesnt sit well with Martin because it takes away a human element.

Part of our job is to judge peoples credibility, and its nice to have them in the room with you so you can really observe, Martin said. A lot of that is lost when youre doing Zoom. You can see them but its not the same thing. Thats one of the drawbacks.

Martin estimated he has tried almost 300 cases with juries over his career, as a judge and as an attorney. There, hes in his element.

County judges traditionally have been anxious about choosing juries. They worry most about having to disqualify too many people. Historically, their fears havent been realized, Martin said

If we summon 75 people, 72 people show up, and they dont just answer the questions wrong to get out of jury duty, he said. The people of Indiana County really take it seriously and they appear.

Youre always afraid that youre not going to get a jury, and from that standpoint it is stressful, Martin said. I love trying cases, thats the best part of my job, but jury selection always stresses me out. But we always made it through.

Reaching verdicts in courtrooms is a part of life that most would hope to be perfect. Nothing is absolute, but Martin said he hasnt seen a jury decide a case against overwhelming evidence and testimony presented.

Where thin lines separate acquittal from conviction or findings for plaintiff or defendant, Martin said no decision is wrong.

When I talk to jurors, theyll sometimes say, do you agree with us? Martin said. And I always tell them, Im the last guy to answer that question. I have been in this business so long and I have seen so much, and its not fair for me to second-guess what you do.

The reason we have a jury is to get 12 people from all different areas of the county, different occupations, different walks of life. Its that dichotomy between those people and them looking at the facts that they arrive at their verdict. Have I been surprised? Yeah, I have. But I tell jurors that they get an appreciation for being on a jury and how it works. Thats the huge thing. So you get a new appreciation for the people who serve on juries.

Martin carried a reputation for a calm demeanor and firm control of his courtroom, a trait he said was instilled in him by his father. He said he would urge his successor to abide by the same.

Never make a decision when you are upset. And regardless of who is in front of you, they deserve respect, he said. If you respect the people in front of you in court, you will get it back. And I have tried to do those two things in my career. My father always told me the best compliment a man could get would be to be considered a gentleman. And Ive tried to live up to that.

Lawyers may remember how Martin ran his courtroom but his greatest influence on Indiana Countys court system may be the Drug Treatment Court program inaugurated under his watch in 2007. The program counsels addicted defendants to make dramatic lifestyle changes chief among them, sobriety and become productive citizens, rather than imprisons them and releases them back to a cycle of drug dependency and crime. Noting the team of attorneys, the DA and public defender, the probation officers and treatment specialists who join him in gauging the defendants recovery, Martin downplayed the suggestion that Drug Treatment Court would be his legacy.

There was a lot of reluctance by a lot of people whether this would work, Martin said, noting that he had to remove himself from his traditional role. You become kind of a cheerleader for this person and you do get to know them very well. So from a judges view, its something judges dont normally do in criminal court.

It took a while for me to get used to it, but I think its a tremendous program. We have had some great successes and we have had failures.

The people we look at have been through the system and its kind of a last chance to turn your life around and get yourself straightened out. he said. The warehousing of people with addiction I dont believe is the right thing to do. You get to a point with some people who have to be excluded from society because they wont help themselves and are making victims out there. But those who are truly addicted and have a sincere desire to get their life back, thats what treatment court is for.

Martin said he tells defendants to realize from the start that addiction controls their lives. What we want to do is give you the tools so that when you graduate from this program, and you walk out that courtroom door, you are in charge of your life and addiction isnt driving you anymore.

A proverb holds that its lonely at the top.

For lawyers who rise to the level of judge in their communities, Martin said, changes to their lives may be more than they expected.

It starts as soon as judges are elected. The strong political support and the personal connections made in the campaign for votes disappear.

Your relationship with friends changes, Martin said. It can isolate you. And thats not good.

Gone is being one of the gang in the local legal circles. Up goes an unseen shield against friendship and influence anything that would cloud the view of a judges rulings and opinions being based on anything more than impartial and objective application of law.

Thats the reason why the other judges are so important to you, because they now become your sounding boards and the people you talk with more often than not, Martin said. Socially, you know that wherever you go, if you go out to dinner, somebody is going to know who you are. So it does curtail what you do. And you have to be careful.

The resulting isolation, Martin said, is not good. You have to know how normal people are thinking and acting so you can do your job.

Martins support for community causes is quiet. He has been on the board at The Salvation Army since the 1980s, but the agency never associates his name with their efforts. And he has a hands-off role on any legal matter involving the organization.

His service as a volunteer coach of the Indiana Area Senior High School football team for 25 years was Martins greatest public exposure when not wearing robes in the courtroom.

It played a big part of my life and it was a great thing for me therapy for me, Martin said. He waved his hand through the air. When I walked on the football field, all this went away. It was a good escape.

One of the best things that happens to me is, if I go into Sheetz and see one of my former players, its not Hey Judge, its Hey Coach. That makes my day when I hear that.

As he hands over the mantel of leadership on Monday, Martin does so with full confidence and some words of advice for President Judge Bianco and the days hell burn midnight oil in the office overlooking Philadelphia Street.

What that entails, and what I will not miss, is the administration of the court. That involves not just the cases that come before the judges, Martin said. Youre involved with domestic relations, Children & Youth, probation, clerk of courts, the prothonotarys office, the magistrates offices, all of that. The personnel issues that come up, changes in the law. Hell have to deal with the pandemic and the advantage he will have is that our administrator of the courts, Christy Donofrio, is excellent.

His most difficult decisions may now be made in his office rather than in his courtroom because of the administrative part of this. All the pleas come through him, whatever the lawyers file that require a court order or scheduling will go through him for review, hell be the guy calling Children & Youth every day on custody cases.

But wait, theres more. Bianco enters the 10th year of his first elected term. He must decide on one of the least stressful aspects of politics: whether to run without opposition, asking voters to say yes or no to 10 more years.

But hes going to do a tremendous job. Given where the courts are going, hes the right guy to be leading us. He is tech savvy, Martin said. As we go forward, technology is going to play a bigger and bigger role and Judge Bianco is going to be right there to lead the county and the court.

Until Martin decides to hang up the robes for good and retire from senior judge status, hes under the same judicial code and constraints that have guided him since 1991. So theres no dishing today on the law community, courtroom incidents or his judicial colleagues.

He will be asked to decide at the end of 2021. At whatever point, full retirement will be a true change.

I could do whatever I want to do at that point. I cant use the title judge anymore. Then I could be just Bill, he said. It reminds me, when Judge Olson retired, he said he was looking forward to getting his name back. Being Greg, not Judge.

So what does Bill want to do when the time allows? Travel with his wife, Janet, is on the list. But theres more.

Ive thought about training dogs to be therapy dogs, Martin allowed. He was inspired when he learned about small rural courthouses that have a dog on duty.

They have a dog in the courthouse, a therapy dog, and I could do something like that, where the dog comes in when children are here for Children & Youth cases and things like that, to kind of help them with the stress they would be facing.

Martins agenda beginning Monday, however, differs only in the change of title and easing of the assignments on his plate. A check of the court calendar shows Martin the administrators office has gone light on him so far. Courtroom No. 3 looks to be idle at least through Jan. 15.

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Martin reflects on three decades presiding from the bench - Indiana Gazette

ANN ARBOR, MI South University Avenue in Ann Arbor is looking a lot different these days as preparations are being made for the next student apartment high-rise.

A row of one- and two-story buildings that for many years contributed to South Us funky and eclectic vibe home to businesses such as South U Pizza, Oasis Grill, Rendezvous Hookah Lounge, The Village Apothecary, PNC Bank and Underground Printing was demolished recently.

All that remains standing on the south side of South U on the block between Church Street and East University Avenue now is Good Time Charleys and Catina, and theyre staying.

Rising in the big, empty space next to them will be a 13-story apartment building called Vic Village South, complementing the Vic Village North high-rise across the street.

It will join several other high-rises built in the South U area in recent years, all catering to University of Michigan students.

Vic Village South will add nearly 130 more apartments with 300-plus beds, including 14 affordable housing units, said Sean Havera of Hughes Properties, the developer, which is working with general contractor The Christman Co.

There will be four ground-floor commercial spaces in the new high-rise, some of which could be combined for a bigger business, Havera said.

Tenants have not been identified yet.

Underground Printing and PNC Bank moved into new ground-floor spaces created in the Vic Village North high-rise, which opened last year, and Oasis Grill moved down the street into a space previously occupied by China Gate.

The high life: Inside Ann Arbors newest luxury apartment high-rise

The family that owned Oasis Grill also owned South U Pizza and the Rendezvous Hookah Lounge, which closed about a year ago. The Village Apothecary closed five years ago.

Work on an earth-retention system for Vic Village South is expected to begin in February and that will allow crews to finish excavating building foundations and start construction, which will last into summer 2023, Havera said.

It wont be too difficult to start construction amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Havera said.

Where were at with all of the work being outside, that helps, he said, indicating vertical construction is not expected until around next October and there will be an extensive amount of exterior work before interior work begins.

The block of South U in front of the development has been reduced to a single traffic lane during construction.

The new building will include two levels of below-grade parking and the developer has an agreement to lease about another 40 overnight parking spaces in a nearby public parking deck.

Vic Village South will offer a different mix of floor plans and amenities than Vic Village North, Havera said, noting there will be some studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, in addition to higher-bed-count units that are attractive to larger groups of students wanting to live together.

And while Vic Village North offers more of a standard fitness center, Vic Village South will have a CrossFit gym, Havera said, adding tenants of both buildings will have shared access to the amenities in both buildings, including tech lab spaces, study areas and rooftop lounges.

Ann Arbors small-town look fading as downtown reaches toward sky

Vic Village South will have a 13th-floor lounge and game room with an outdoor TV, grill and fireplace, similar to one of the upstairs lounge spaces at Vic Village North, Havera said.

It will be the sixth student-focused apartment high-rise built in the South U area since 2009, following Zaragon Place, Landmark, ArborBLU, Six11 and Vic Village North.

After Vic Village South, Hughes Properties plans to shift focus to its next planned high-rise development, Vic Village East, where the Middle Earth shop and Safe Sex Store on South U were demolished in recent years.

Beyond the South U district, more apartment high-rises are planned downtown, including one underway at Main and William called The Standard, which is expected to open in fall 2022.

MORE FROM THE ANN ARBOR NEWS:

Before-and-after views of downtown Ann Arbors dramatic transformation

Timeline: Ann Arbors downtown housing boom and whats to come

1960s building boom introduced Ann Arbor to high-rise controversy

Vintage photos showcase downtown Ann Arbors historical charm

See plans for 3-story, mixed-use development proposed in Ann Arbor

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Another South U block demolished to make way for next Ann Arbor high-rise - MLive.com

Whether in stagnant northern cities or in the booming Sun Belt, a wide array of groups thus had ample reason to oppose urban development. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, through the implementation of height limits, density restrictions, design review boards, mandatory community input, and other veto points in the development process, they achieved more victories than many of the initial participants thought possible. The broad-based nature of the anti-growth coalition was key to its success. Nature enthusiasts, architectural historians, homeowners, and rock-ribbed socialists all found it advantageous to portray developers as a shadowy, parasitic force in metropolitan politics. Politicians, for their part, were more than willing to position themselves as defenders of this broad array of neighborhood groups and their values. But the composition of the coalition also limited the scope of its activism. In particular, the centrality of homeowners within the anti-growth alliance meant that maintaining the stability of property values would always guide the direction of the movement overall. In the 1960s and 70s, when renting in cities was relatively affordable and owning a house was often not especially profitable, this dynamic posed no obvious problem. Environmentalists believed that they could seek to save their conservation areas, preservationists their historic districts, leftists their tenant protections, and homeowners their exclusive neighborhoods, all apparently without harming one anothers interests.

These now-half-century-old arguments have had remarkable staying power well into a different era of urban history, one in which gentrification, rather than renewal, is the hot-button issue. Despite this shift, many still insist that neighborhood change remains inextricably linked to development. As Stringers reference to a gentrification-industrial complex indicates, critics have come to portray high-end shopping and glassy condos not as lagging indicators of local demographic change but as the causes thereof. The battle lines are drawn in the form of fights over discrete construction projects. Every politician wants to be seen as the second coming of Jane Jacobs, taking to the streets to block the bulldozers and save the soul of the neighborhood.

But if gentrification is defined as a demographic transition toward wealthier, whiter residents, this approach makes for a poor policy response. This is because the forces that drive this kind of neighborhood change do not come from the construction of specific apartment buildings or retail complexes, no matter how many granite countertops or artisanal coffee shops they might contain. Instead, they result from a degree of demand for inner-city living that would have shocked the slow-growthers of the 1960sdemand that, for the most part, has been channeled not into new condos but into homes built before the first wave of anti-development activism. When white-collar firms began to re-concentrate downtown in the 1980s and 90s, their workers, soon priced out of elite neighborhoods, bought old homes in marginal areas and modified them to their liking. The people they displaced crowded into poorer quarters of the city, or moved to lower-end suburbs, or, often, left for more affordable parts of the country altogether.

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The Pandemic Disproved Urban Progressives Theory About Gentrification - The Atlantic

They reflect significant changes over the past decade in the way Sydney houses its population of 5.3 million. About 15 per cent of NSW's population, or 1.12 million people the vast bulk of whom are in Sydney now live in apartments, compared with 8 per cent of Victoria's population and 7 per cent of Queensland's.

Over the past decade, 258,000 apartments have been built in NSW, which translates into an extra 500,000 people living in units.

What has not been well known is exactly who lives in them. A paucity of information spurred the University of NSW's City Futures Research Centre to embark on a project to map the socio-economic make-up of people in Sydney's apartments.

It dispels common perceptions of the social fabric of Sydney's apartment dwellers. "If you look at the marketing most developers have, there is a young couple sipping chardonnay gazing over the city," said Bill Randolph, head of City Futures.

He argues it has resulted in many apartment towers built in recent decades failing to cater for the people who end up living in them. "The bulk of the stock is two-bedroom, investment-grade units. And the majority of apartments are owned by investors," he said.

The mapping identified about five groups living in the city's apartments. As Sydney's population grows, an understanding of these tribes will become crucial for determining planning policy and ultimately tailoring apartments to suit the people who call them home.

By far the largest tribe comprises the "economically engaged". They make up half the citys apartment households and their abodes tend to be east of Olympic Park in areas such as south Sydney. "Obviously if you want to be a first homebuyer in Sydney and want to live east of Strathfield, you have to be living in a flat or an apartment," Professor Randolph said.

Those in the largest tribe tend to be in full-time professional jobs, on higher incomes and from English-speaking nationalities. Most are either mortgage-holders or private renters, and their households tend not to suffer from overcrowding. The tribe has grown significantly over the past decade, swollen by the arrival of first-home buyers and private renters.

The second-largest group comprises the young, jobless or under-employed a group barely evident in the data on apartment dwellers a decade ago.

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Professor Randolph said the group dubbed "the young, un(der)employed" emerged as a result of the investor-led boom in apartment construction. It is dominated by people aged between 15 and 24, many from north-east and south-east Asian backgrounds. Group households are also over-represented and some endure overcrowding, which the research suggests means room sharing is likely to be common. Many of them work in low-paid service jobs in the central city. All up, they account for 10 per cent of apartment households.

The third-largest tribe accounts for 8 per cent of households in Sydney's apartments. This group of "battlers" and migrant families is characterised by households on low to moderate incomes, many from south and central Asia, north Africa and the Middle East.

Several years ago, Al Turnbull and Maggie Korenblium, both 31, had difficulty finding an apartment in the private rental market that would suit their growing family.

"Once you add in Sydney rent and Sydney childcare costs, you can take away what looks like middle-class earnings," Mr Turnbull said. "It can take you to the wall."

Maggie Korenblium. Al Turnbull and their young children Esme and Hamish outside their Pyrmont apartment building.Credit:Wolter Peeters

The couple had been living in a one-bedroom apartment in Petersham in the inner west for 18 months. They had just welcomed their daughter, Esme, and started to weigh their options because their apartment was too small.

"I was preparing for two very lean years," Mr Turnbull said.

Fortunately, an application they made to an affordable housing provider was accepted and they have since been able to rent a larger two-bedroom apartment at Pyrmont.

Their rent fluctuates depending on household income. "That is the thing that is the lifesaver," he said. "I'm happy to be out of the private rental market."

Tenants Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson-Ross said developers typically built two-bedroom apartments because they were the most profitable, which often resulted in families having to split or crowd into units because it was the only housing on offer.

"What we are not good at in Australia is finding out what the tenants want," he said.

"We don't tend to ask people what they want from their housing, and that is the real challenge. What we don't have at the bottom of the market is genuine competition. Landlords aren't having to compete with each other. It's the tenants having to compete for housing."

Older public housing tenants comprise the fourth largest tribe at 6 per cent of households in apartments. Most are single occupants, aged over 65 and are on low incomes.

Mr Patterson-Ross said the waiting list and the profile of the people on it tended to drive government strategy on public housing. "They assume that once you are on the waiting list as a single person, that you are never going to move on or have a family," he said.

More than 51,000 are on the waiting list for social housing in NSW, including more than 5000 on a "priority" list. In some cases, people can be on it for decades, and a large increase in supply will be needed to dent wait times.

"It should be that you have a waiting time of maybe a couple of months before the right kind of housing becomes vacant. That is what a healthy public housing system would look like," Mr Patterson-Ross said.

Finally, established owners and downsizers mostly those over 65 make up the smallest tribe in Sydney's apartments. They comprise just 3 per cent of households in apartments.

Peter and Lindy Blackhall downsized to an apartment from a four-bedroom house.Credit:Janie Barrett

Neutral Bay apartment owners Peter Blackhall, 72, and wife Lindy, 70, are happy down-sizers. They moved out of a four-bedroom home, which included a swimming pool, garage and lawns, about eight years ago, largely due to the large number of hours they had to spend maintaining it.

"It was just too much work," Mr Blackhall said. "We had all this room four bedrooms, two bathrooms. We weren't really utilising the facilities."

The retirees now enjoy breathtaking views of Sydney Harbour and the city skyline from their two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in a 50-year-old building on the lower north shore. "They will be carrying my wife and I out of this building in a box," Mr Blackhall said.

While downsizing is often talked about as a phenomenon, Professor Randolph said the number of older people who sold their houses to move into to apartments was small, and tended to be an "upmarket group" who shifted into buildings near Sydney Harbour.

Over the past decade, construction of apartment towers has transformed Sydney's skyline, especially in areas such as Rhodes, Wentworth Point, Meadowbank, Green Square and Mascot.

As the apartment market matures, Professor Randolph expects a shift away from large towers to smaller blocks. "In a sense, the apartment market might be set for a reset over the next five years, perhaps with less of a focus on the investor," he said.

"The anecdotal evidence is that developers are looking to build much more to sell to first-home buyers because the investor market has been on the nose."

The evacuation of the Opal Tower, in the foreground, two years ago due to cracking led to a shake-up of building regulations.Credit:Janie Barrett

NSW's residential construction crisis, sparked by the Opal and Mascot towers debacles, has been a blow to the apartment market. Yet two years after residents were evacuated from the Opal Tower at Olympic Park, the hope is that tighter regulations in the wake of the crisis will prevent the construction of defect-riddled apartment buildings and renew buyer confidence.

The COVID-19 pandemic is also set to reshape Sydney's apartments.

Planning Minister Rob Stokes believes the coronavirus will leave an indelible imprint on the design of apartment buildings because there will be a greater demand for living space.

"The nature of common property I think will change," he said. "Fewer touch points in common areas to ensure less capacity for transmission of communicable disease."

He agrees that there will be a greater demand for more compact, lower rise apartment buildings, "rather than soaring towers that reach for the heavens".

A greater mix of housing types is expected in Sydney over the coming years.Credit:Janie Barrett

"Over the past 10 to 20 years, there has been a very binary choice. They have been detached homes in the suburbs or massive towers. There is now more demand for products in between," he said.

While the pandemic has resulted in Sydney's population flat-lining, SGS Economics expects it to return to historical trend by 2028. It means the city's population will expand by more than 100,000 a year, and Mr Stokes is adamant that Sydney cannot afford to put the brakes on home building now, given longer-term population forecasts.

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He is eager to encourage the fledgling build-to-rent market residential buildings in which developers own all of the apartments and lease them out in business zones of the city, saying it will create more vibrant neighbourhoods in otherwise sterile commercial districts.

"The developers have the incentive to build really good-quality stuff because they are going to own it. They're going to do a proper job because they're going to be liable for defects," he said. "On so many levels, it's a win-win."

He believed build-to-rent was a tool that would help young people get a leg into the property market because it gave security of tenure for 10 to 15 years, which the general residential market tended to lack. "That gives them 10 to 15 years where they can save up a deposit, and also use negative gearing against the baby boomers," he said.

"Younger people are competing against the baby boomers to buy the homes. Here, the younger people have the opportunity to use negative gearing to buy the house they ultimately want to live in. It levels the playing field a bit. And remember, rising property values have created a massive transfer of wealth to people over the age of 55 or 60."

Our Morning Edition newsletter is a curated guide to the most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up to The Sydney Morning Heralds newsletter here, The Ages here, Brisbane Times here, and WAtodays here.

Matt O'Sullivan is City Editor at The Sydney Morning Herald.

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The Sydney apartment tribes reshaping the harbour city - Sydney Morning Herald

By The Herald Editorial Board

It can seem judging by the building activity we see around us as if Everett and much of the rest of Snohomish County is seeing a building boom.

But bigger booms in jobs and in population have overtaken housing construction.

While construction of housing has increased about 24 percent in Everett in the 20 years between 1999 and 2018, its population growth has outpaced construction, rising 28 percent. Recent declines in housing construction have cut in to the gains seen in boom years in 2001 and 2006.

Even with a surge of 747 units of housing built in 2016, the city still averaged only 231 units a year between 2011 and 2018, compared to an average of 650 units a year in the first 10 years of the period, according to a City of Everett housing profile completed in 2019.

At the same time, median home prices have soared, pricing out middle-income homeowners and renters. A median-priced single-family home cost $194,750 in 2011; by 2018, the same home fetched about $390,000, more than doubling in price, and putting home ownership here out of the reach of many with middle-income employment.

That shortage of housing available for rent or ownership for middle-income families in Everett has prompted a multi-year effort by the City of Everett, called Rethink Housing, seeking strategies to secure the housing needs of current and future residents in a city that is expected to need 23,000 new housing units in less than 15 years.

As part of the effort, which includes a series of forums and chats this year, Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin invited Chris Gregoire to speak at an online Facebook forum last month. Gregoire, the former two-term governor, is chief executive of Challenge Seattle, a policy organization that, among other issues, is working to resolve the Greater Seattle regions own housing challenges.

Gregoire noted that Everett and Snohomish County share with Seattle and King County many of the same pressures on housing affordablility and lagging stock of housing, particularly for middle-income families.

In Everett, since 1990, while the median income level has increased 92 percent, median housing prices have increased by 173 percent and median rental costs have increased 162 percent, forcing middle-income employees out of the communities in which they work and into longer commutes.

Typically, the types of workers earning middle-income wages what has often been called family-wage jobs include health care workers, firefighters, police officers and other front-line workers, building trades workers and educators, the heart and soul of our communities, Gregoire said.

As a result of the exodus of those families, she said, public education suffers, community safety is compromised, traffic congestion worsens, homelessness increases, socioeconomic diversity declines and the regions economic growth slows.

Using the impact to public education as an example, Gregoire said, for teachers to be forced out of the community by the unaffordable cost of housing, it means fewer teachers can stay after school to help students, advise clubs or coach sports. And the loss of middle-income families can eventually result in a decline in school enrollment.

San Jose, Calif., provides a case study. Because of this lack of affordability, so many (teachers) have left that area, they had to close down three elementary schools, with more to come. If we stay on this course, theres no reason to assume that the same outcome wont happen to us, she said.

The same constraints are forcing longer commutes on firefighters, police officers, hospital staff, utility workers and others whose jobs often depend on their quick availability during a crisis.

What is happening is obvious: Were lacking affordability and compromising our quality of life because were on long commutes, were diminishing our air quality and were creating financial insecurity, Gregoire said.

Builders have good financial incentives to build for higher-income homeowners; while government and nonprofit agencies are working to get lower-income housing built. For King County, the governor said, higher-end housing comprises about 57 percent of what was recently built, with 30 percent of construction intended for lower-income residents. Housing for middle-income families made up only 12 percent of the market.

Information from the U.S. Census Bureau and Zillow estimates that the median income necessary to cover the rent for a new apartment is currently $2,800 a month in the Puget Sound region, but most middle-income households can afford only between $1,300 to $2,700 a month, if families stick to the recommendation of spending no more than 30 percent of their income on housing.

Closing that gap, Gregoire said, will require lowering the costs for property, financing and construction. Addressing a range of public-private initiatives increasing density through changes to zoning, encouraging transit-oriented development, providing below-market loans, extending housing tax incentives, streamlining permitting, reducing parking requirements along transit corridors and supporting construction and technology innovations all can add up to reduce rent or mortgage payments enough to make an apartment or home affordable to a teacher, nurse or police officer.

But it will require doing things differently than we have done and accepting change.

That resistance to change is nothing new when we consider current conceptions of neighborhoods and homes.

Most recently, Housing Hope proposed the construction of 44 units of housing a mix of single-family homes and apartments on three acres of land near Sequoia High School, intended primarily for homeless students at the alternative high school.

The project, designed with the consultation of neighbors, was of relatively low density and offered quality construction that would have fit in architecturally with the neighborhood and importantly would have filled a dire need to address a large population of homeless students in Everett. Yet the project was opposed by some, and its consideration was delayed and ultimately rejected by the Everett City Council.

The project was intended to fill a need for low-income families, but its not difficult to see similar objections raised again if apartments or other housing are proposed that strays from neighborhood norms.

We have to embrace change, Gregoire said. If we fail, the outcome is not a community we want to live in.

Making a success of rethinking housing in Everett and avoiding the potential for the citys decline by pricing out those vital to its community should begin with discussions of what residents want to see, what they are willing to accept and how to make change work.

Rethink Housing forums

The City of Everetts Rethink Housing sessions continue through the coming months. Among scheduled events online:

A virtual chat session is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12, inviting members of the public to share thoughts and ideas about the citys housing policies. A second chat session is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28

Nan Roman, chief executive of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, will speak in an online forum at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14.

A full listing of events is available at EverettWa.gov.

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Editorial: Changes needed to build more middle-income housing - The Daily Herald

The Guardian

* Senators decline to defend electoral college ploy on TV * Democrats and GOP leaders to block gambit aimed at party base * Trump pressed Georgia Republican to overturn Biden victoryAll 12 Republican senators who have pledged not to ratify the electoral college results on Wednesday, and thereby refuse to confirm Joe Bidens resounding victory over Donald Trump in the presidential election, declined to defend their move on television, a CNN host said on Sunday.It all recalls what Ulysses S Grant once wrote in 1861, Jake Tapper said on State of the Union, before quoting a letter the union general wrote at the outset of a civil war he won before becoming president himself: There are [but] two parties now: traitors and patriots.How would you describe the parties today? Tapper asked.The attempt to overturn Trumps defeat seems doomed, a piece of political theatre mounted by party grandees eager to court supporters loyal to the president before, in some cases, mounting their own runs for the White House.Nonetheless on Saturday Ted Cruz of Texas and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin led 11 senators and senators-elect in calling for an emergency 10-day audit of results in states where the president claims electoral fraud, despite failing to provide evidence and repeatedly losing in court.The senators followed Josh Hawley of Missouri like Cruz thought likely to run for president in 2024 in pledging to object to the electoral college result. A majority of House Republicans are also expected to object, after staging a Saturday call with Trump to plan their own moves.Democrats control the House and senior Senate Republicans are opposed to the attempt to disenfranchise millions many of them African Americans in swing states seemingly guaranteeing the attempt will fail. Nonetheless, Vice-President Mike Pence, who will preside over the ratification, welcomed the move by Cruz and others.A spokesman for Biden, Michael Gwin, said: This stunt wont change the fact that President-elect Biden will be sworn in on 20 January, and these baseless claims have already been examined and dismissed by Trumps own attorney general, dozens of courts, and election officials from both parties.Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee now a senator from Utah, said: The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our democratic republic.More Americans participated in this election than ever before, and they made their choice. President Trumps lawyers made their case before scores of courts; in every instance, they failed.Adding to this ill-conceived endeavour by some in Congress is the presidents call for his supporters to come to the Capitol on the day when this matter is to be debated and decided. This has the predictable potential to lead to disruption, and worse.Encouraged by Trump, far-right groups including the Proud Boys are expected to gather in Washington on Wednesday.On Sunday Romney and fellow Republicans Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine) and Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) was part of a bipartisan group of 10 senators who rejected attempts to overturn the election. On Saturday Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania, a battleground state, also registered his opposition.Hawley responded by decrying shameless personal attacks.Georgia, where Trump refuses to accept defeat, goes to the polls in vital Senate runoffs on Tuesday. Stacey Abrams, a former gubernatorial candidate there, told ABCs This Week: Its always dangerous to undermine the integrity of elections without evidence.The Democrat lost her 2018 race to Brian Kemp, a Republican who ran his own election as secretary of state. Abrams refused to concede. Asked about Republican claims Trumps objection is no different, she said: Well, its not simply different circumstances. Its apples and bowling balls.I pointed out that there were a series of actions taken that impeded the ability of voters to cast their ballots. And in almost every one of those circumstances the courts agreed, as did the state legislature.By contrast, she said, President Trump has lost every single one of his challenges in the state of Georgia and he has no evidence.The Washington Post reported that it had obtained a tape of an extraordinary hour-long call on Saturday, in which Trump pressed Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to overturn Bidens victory.The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry, Trump said. And theres nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that youve recalculated.Raffensperger said: Well, Mr President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.Trump said: So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.Trump acknowledged the call, tweeting that Raffensperger was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ballots under table scam, ballot destruction, out of state voters, dead voters, and more. He has no clue!Last week, Ben Sasse of Nebraska issued a stinging rebuke of Hawley, saying: Adults dont point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government.We have a deep cancer in American politics, Sasse added. Both Republicans and Democrats are growing more distrustful of the basic processes and procedures.The senators who followed Hawley made the same point, pointing to polling. On Sunday, Johnson said they were acting to protect democracy.Such arguments are in bad faith blame for public distrust weighs heaviest by far on the White House and its allies. To Johnsons insistence that tens of millions believe the election was stolen, NBC Meet the Press host Chuck Todd suggested he look in the mirror if he wanted to work out why.Todd then cut Johnson short, saying: You dont get to make these allegations that havent been proven true.On CNN, Tapper played remarks by Hawley from January, during Trumps impeachment.The consequences to the republic of overturning an election because you dont like the result, Hawley said, and because you believe that that election was somehow corrupted, when in fact, the evidence shows that it was not thats an interesting approach. I think its crazy, frankly.

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1 dead in 4-alarm Yonkers apartment building fire - Yahoo News

The investigation continues into what caused a massive blaze at the Waldo Heights apartments Monday in Kansas City.Investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from across the country are headed to Kansas City to help determine what caused the fire and whether the circumstances are suspicious."There was some absolutely heroic firefighting by the Kansas City, Missouri Fire Department last night," said John Ham, spokesman for the Kansas City ATF.As daylight broke, work began to figure out what caused the fire"We start with everything on the table as a possible cause," Ham said.Ham said the Kansas City ATF is working with the fire department and the police department's bomb and arson squad. The ATF's national response team has also been called in."That team is made up of fire investigators with collectively hundreds and hundreds of years of experience," Ham said. "We have forensic chemists, forensic engineers, electrical engineers."He said they're being tapped because of the size and complexity of the fire."Just because we're bringing in the national response team doesn't mean that we believe it to be a set fire, but that's certainly one of the things that are on the table," Ham said.Patrick Williamson lives in another building at the complex."We were seeing embers flying over our heads, hitting the building behind us," Williamson said.He said he also noticed a challenge for emergency crews."There were firemen, firefighters running all around just searching for fire hydrants," Williamson said.The fire department said it's typical for older construction to have fewer hydrants and that they had to use around 1500 feet of hose line to get water on the flames.Police say there was a disturbance call Monday night before the fire started. Right now, they cannot say whether they believe it's related to the fire. The ATF's national response team is expected to be on site Wednesday morning.The Red Cross is helping 30 families that lived inside the apartments. Officials said 33 people are sleeping at 16 different hotel rooms."There's so much stress going on when you have a life event like this, so we try to offer as much empathy as we can and try to get immediate assistance as quickly as we can," said Scott Riggs, of the American Red Cross.Waldo Heights required families to have renter's insurance, which should help with housing and replaced damaged items.Charities like Salvation Army are stepping up to fill in the gaps both short and long term."Nobody knows when an entire apartment building in Kansas City is going to go up in flames. But when it does, the donations we receive mean that we can be there to help folks not just with the necessities they need today but with longer term re-housing tomorrow," said Doug Donahoo, of the Salvation Army.

The investigation continues into what caused a massive blaze at the Waldo Heights apartments Monday in Kansas City.

Investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from across the country are headed to Kansas City to help determine what caused the fire and whether the circumstances are suspicious.

"There was some absolutely heroic firefighting by the Kansas City, Missouri Fire Department last night," said John Ham, spokesman for the Kansas City ATF.

As daylight broke, work began to figure out what caused the fire

"We start with everything on the table as a possible cause," Ham said.

Ham said the Kansas City ATF is working with the fire department and the police department's bomb and arson squad. The ATF's national response team has also been called in.

"That team is made up of fire investigators with collectively hundreds and hundreds of years of experience," Ham said. "We have forensic chemists, forensic engineers, electrical engineers."

He said they're being tapped because of the size and complexity of the fire.

"Just because we're bringing in the national response team doesn't mean that we believe it to be a set fire, but that's certainly one of the things that are on the table," Ham said.

Patrick Williamson lives in another building at the complex.

"We were seeing embers flying over our heads, hitting the building behind us," Williamson said.

He said he also noticed a challenge for emergency crews.

"There were firemen, firefighters running all around just searching for fire hydrants," Williamson said.

The fire department said it's typical for older construction to have fewer hydrants and that they had to use around 1500 feet of hose line to get water on the flames.

Police say there was a disturbance call Monday night before the fire started. Right now, they cannot say whether they believe it's related to the fire. The ATF's national response team is expected to be on site Wednesday morning.

The Red Cross is helping 30 families that lived inside the apartments. Officials said 33 people are sleeping at 16 different hotel rooms.

"There's so much stress going on when you have a life event like this, so we try to offer as much empathy as we can and try to get immediate assistance as quickly as we can," said Scott Riggs, of the American Red Cross.

Waldo Heights required families to have renter's insurance, which should help with housing and replaced damaged items.

Charities like Salvation Army are stepping up to fill in the gaps both short and long term.

"Nobody knows when an entire apartment building in Kansas City is going to go up in flames. But when it does, the donations we receive mean that we can be there to help folks not just with the necessities they need today but with longer term re-housing tomorrow," said Doug Donahoo, of the Salvation Army.

Read more:
ATF helping to investigate massive fire at Waldo Heights apartments - KMBC Kansas City

In 2020, Minneapolis rolled out major changes to building standards to guide the city's growth under its 2040 Comprehensive Plan. But one year after its final adoption by the City Council, that controversial plan hasn't led to many visible changes in the cityscape.

That doesn't surprise city planners, who expected developers would take some time to analyze the new regulations before changing their business plans. Last year's upheavals also played a role, they said.

"I think 2020 has had so many things going on with civil unrest and the pandemic," said Jason Wittenberg, manager of code development for the city of Minneapolis. "I think people are still wrapping their minds around what that is going to mean for people's preferences related to what kinds of environments they want to live in."

While the plan's biggest champion City Council President Lisa Bender is set to leave office in early 2022, she expects that will have little impact on the plan's rollout. "This has always been a team effort," she said in a recent public meeting.

Much of the day-to-day work is being led by a steering committee that includes city staff as well as Council Members Jeremy Schroeder, Kevin Reich and Cam Gordon.

The 2040 plan aims to create a more densely populated, transit-friendly Minneapolis by loosening restrictions on multiunit buildings across the city, among other changes. The city is pushing forward with implementing the plan even as it awaits a decision from the Minnesota Supreme Court, which heard arguments late last year on an environmental challenge.

Jack Perry, an attorney representing the groups that have sued the city, said they hope they will get to fully argue their case, which was dismissed by lower courts, and ultimately seek to block the plan and new ordinances from being enforced.

"We're confident that if we have a hearing on the merits, the city's plan will be ruled invalid," Perry said.

In a statement, city spokeswoman Sarah McKenzie said the city "remains confident that there is no legal basis to block full implementation of Minneapolis 2040."

"The Comprehensive Plan will manage the city's growth with a focus on undoing significant racial disparities created by a history of policies that have prevented equitable access to housing, jobs and investments," she said.

Here's what's happening with the 2040 plan:

2020 ushered in one of the most contentious elements: the end of single-family zoning.

City staff are still compiling statistics on the number of permits for new duplex and triplex construction in Minneapolis but don't expect to see a dramatic increase just yet.

"I think those have been fairly slow to ramp up," Wittenberg said.

Council members have asked city staff to continue monitoring the statistics and provide an update in March 2022 so they can figure out if they need to make adjustments.

After tiny homes gained popularity on home design shows, some in the city began eyeing them as a way they might provide shelter for homeless people.

New ordinance changes took effect early in 2020 that allow for "intentional community cluster" developments. Those projects allow people to live in clusters of tiny houses with shared common areas.

Wittenberg said, "We haven't seen one of those come across the permit counter yet," but they still expect that some of those projects are on the horizon.

In the interim, the city signed off on a similar project called an "indoor village," where tiny shelters are placed inside a warehouse. Local officials hope that will allow them to provide housing while also giving people a way to keep some distance from others amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Late last year, city leaders signed off on a 10-year Transportation Action Plan that's intended to change how people get around in Minneapolis.

It offers new guidelines to increase the speed and reliability of public transit, connect bikeways across the region and make the city safer for walking. The overarching goal, city leaders said, is to ensure that more people have access to affordable transportation and reduce carbon emissions.

"Our streets make up nearly a quarter of all land in Minneapolis and present an incredible opportunity to make good on commitments to race equity and climate change," Bender said in a statement after city leaders approved the plan.

Early in the new year, the city also expects to look at what parking and transportation requirements will be in place for new development. Those requirements could include developers subsidizing transit passes for residents or providing more parking for electric vehicles and bicycles.

Some developers threatened to stop doing business in Minneapolis when the city required them to include affordable housing units in new, large apartment buildings.

City staff hope to have data in the coming weeks that will show how many new affordable housing units were constructed in 2020, but Wittenberg said they "expect that those numbers are going to look fairly similar to the previous year."

In their last meeting of the year, City Council members approved new guidelines that outline how buildings should be designed in various parts of the city.

The "built form" policies regulate such things as the height of buildings and where they should be situated on lots.

"The point that we've been making is that, in many cases, we will be allowing more development and our regulations, in some cases, will be more permissive," Wittenberg said. But, he added, "we're going to apply those rules more rigidly than we have in the past to create those predictable outcomes."

Wittenberg said city staff are working on handouts that will help residents understand how the new rules apply to them.

Liz Navratil 612-673-4994

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With little effect on ground, work on Minneapolis 2040 plan continues behind the scenes - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Dec. 29Construction of a new affordable housing project for the elderly has begun in Dupont.

The Dupont Housing for the Elderly project is being developed at the former Ben Franklin School at 611 Walnut St.

Michael Molitoris, executive director of the Housing Authority of Luzerne County, the developer, said the project represents a unique public and private partnership and the culmination of three years of planning to create a housing development which will remove a vacant deteriorated building and transform the site into a "true community asset" to provide affordable housing to low-income seniors. Construction is projected to be completed in December 2021, he said.

A + E Group JV of Wilkes-Barre designed the building which consists of 36 one-bedroom units. Four of the apartments will be designed to be accessible handicapped units and one apartment will be designed for the hearing/sight impaired.

Common amenities, which are located on the first floor, include a community area, a kitchen, an elevator accessing all floors, on-site management and supportive services office and community facilities for laundry.

The building was certified with Enterprise Green Communities for its advanced energy efficiency, the use of zero VOC paints and sealers and water-resistant materials in humid areas for quality interior environment.

The financing structure for the $10.79 million project includes low-income housing tax credits through the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency with equity investment of $7.56 million facilitated by Enterprise Housing Credit Investment, LLC and other permanent financing commitments from PHFA Housing Trust Fund and the County of Luzerne HOME and Housing Trust Fund programs. Citizens Bank has provided a $5.4 million construction loan.

Trade Eastern, Inc. is the general contractor. Legal partners include Dermot Kennedy, Ernest (Bucky) Closser and Bruce Anders/ Low-Income Housing Tax Credit technical services are being provided by Tom Elias of T. Elias and Associates.

The Housing Authority of Luzerne County will provide management and maintenance staff with technical support from JLD Compliance Advisory, LLC of Hummelstown, PA. Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Scranton will provide supportive services to assist residents in meeting their everyday needs to remain independent.

Dupont Borough Council and Council President Stanley Knick were key to the plan to develop affordable housing for the elderly when they acquired the school back in 2015, according to a press release announcing the project.

Contact the writer: dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2115, @CVAllabaugh

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(c)2020 The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)

Visit The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) at citizensvoice.com

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Construction of housing project for the elderly begins in Dupont - Insurance News Net