Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Downtown/Center City Issue: Residential Development

Downtown Housing
With the resurgence of Downtown, our larger Center City area has become a popular place to live. Currently, Downtown and Center City living is attractive for young professionals and empty-nesters who tend to have smaller household sizes. Citizen input from the Legacy Update kick-off indicates that there may be an increasing number of people in Forsyth County who could be attracted to live in the Center City, perhaps as many as 30,000 of the 120,000 additional population. If household size were averaged at 1.5 per household, and if new development average density was 18 units per acre, we would need approximately 1100 acres to be developed for higher-density housing. With an even higher average density of 30 units per acre, approximately 650 acres would be required. If our community wants to locate a large number of new households in the Center City, sites will need to be identified for these increased densities. Current perceptions of density as a negative will need to be examined and challenged. Opportunities for more moderate densities should also be examined in the closer-in neighborhoods. Another Downtown housing issue is affordability. A greater selection of housing types is needed for both rental and home-ownership.

No comments: