scorpio

I certainly would not want to be a bank, investor, or landlord with significant money tied up in non-medical suburban office parks right now. Dead malls and empty big box stores were already weighing down the commercial real estate sector. Downtown office buildings at least have their location to fall back on. Like any catastrophe it's going to be important for leaders and planners to accept reality and start recognizing that, as is the case with many catastrophes, there is an opportunity to rebuild and do better so long as one is willing to get think differently and get creative.

The fiscal impacts on municipalities could be significant. I fear their remedy is going to be to a reduction in services/quality and/or tax hikes which will only further incentivize and push people to live in unincorporated areas, especially when you factor in that proximity to employment will be less of a factor in real estate decisions for those working in some white collar sectors moving forward. Larger, diversified, and already highly-desirable municipalities will probably be able to whether storm but those that are on the brink and those that are already struggling financially are probably only going to see things get worse.

Could you expand upon what you mean by "more researched than curated"?

Exactly. It would not be a good economic sign for the region if both are not able to be successful at the same time. Most top tier regions are able to support their core as well as numerous other satellite urban (or neo/quasi-urban) nodes.

Same. My grandparents had a really fancy, freestanding one you'd put in the corner of a study. Every time I visited them, I would spin it. Every time I would eventually get my fingers caught.

I once had a professor at an out of state school insist Cuyahoga was pronounced kai-ah-HOG-ah. I've always pronounced it kai-ah-HOE-gah like Randy Newman.

I'm definitely not against cracking down on FB but how do you trust-bust a business which operates in cyber space where traditional state boundaries mean almost nothing? I deleted FB from my phone for numerous reasons but I still find myself frequently checking it on my computer, even though I don't post anything these days. My activity is pretty much limited to liking pictures of my nieces and nephews.

For better or for worse, it's pretty easy to see what the future holds if current trends continue. Barring some unforeseen, significant event, situation, policy change(s), or market shift, the development north of 70 will eventually result in Marysville, Delaware, Galena, Sunbury, Johnstown, Granville, Newark, Heath, and Hebron all becoming satellite cities of Columbus; contiguous to the current urbanized metro footprint. Some of them are practically there already. South of 70, as has always been the case, will take longer to fill in but you will eventually be able to draw a similar arc around London, Mount Sterling, Circleville, Lancaster, and Buckeye Lake. Lancaster will likely be the first south of 70 to be completely drawn in. I'm not saying any of the above is necessarily a good thing. There are serious environmental, social, economic, and logistical impacts but it does seem realistic, at least to me, given the direction things are headed.

Yep and those are the people often running for office and voting and thus setting policy. That's why I think its going to take time for those perceptions to change. The newer, younger people moving into the area and growing up in the area will not know it or remember it as a country town independent of Columbus; it will have always been an extension of greater Columbus.

No doubt there is a long, sad history of shady reasons for zoning regulations. Large lot requirements are no exception. That said, large lot provisions were/are also tied to the long-standing requirements of agencies overseeing septic systems, often at the County level. It is, or at least was in some areas, very common for said agencies to require larger lots in order to provide sufficient room for septic systems which made sense. Some agencies even wanted lots to be big enough to accommodate two systems in case the property was ever split or someone wanted to expand their home. Zoning codes were often written to reflect these requirements. Advancements in septic tech and the expansion of public sewer systems has made the size of a lot less of a concern but many zoning codes still retain these provisions put in place decades ago because its what has always been done, control population/traffic, provide an aesthetic often desired by the citizens of the community, and, yes, sadly, can restrict the demographics of an area.

I think suburban governments, particularly the unincorporated ones, sometimes are unfairly criticized. Constitutionally guaranteed private property rights, case law, the high cost/risk of litigation, and the provisions of state law pertaining to governmental structure, planning, and zoning somewhat stack the deck against them. They also sometimes are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Approve a low-density development = enabling sprawl and destroying the environment. Approve a high-density development = enabling sprawl, destroying the environment, and tick off the constituents in the community. Deny a development of any density = Not helping the metro housing supply/affordability problem, risk litigation in Federal court, and risk annexation by a neighboring village or city willing to approve it. EDIT: Forgot to mention annexation.

Since the comment in the conversation I spurred off from referenced downtown Delaware, that has been my focus. Now that you mention it, I agree, I think others in the discussion are referring to the County as a whole, especially since that is the theme of the thread.

Dublin proper doesn't, relatively speaking anyway. The townships around it certainly do. Dublin definitely deserves credit for their foresight, vision, and choices whatever the motivations may be. Urbanization and density typically is a result of necessity and cost. As those factors change for Delaware, I think their regulations and attitudes will eventually change. Probably not in the near future, and definitely not for the County as a whole, but for the city proper, they most likely will in time.

I don't disagree that some developers are way too fast and loose with the terminology. I do feel like there are suburbs that are making good faith efforts to improve, to the best of their ability, the designs of the development they are getting and those efforts should be encouraged.

I think this is really a matter of time and generational turnover. Dublin suburbanized and melted into the contiguous metro footprint years ago. Bridge Park, in some ways, seems like a natural progression. Delaware is just now starting to become contiguous to Columbus and its adjacent suburban growth. As the perceptions of what Delaware is and its role in the metro region changes, so will, likely, its policies.