The city manager of Normal said the issues raised by proposed state legislation to eliminate single-family zoning are important to the town even though the measure would only affect cities that are larger than Bloomington and Normal.
The legislation would affect cities between 100,000 and 500,000 people at first and after a few years include even bigger municipalities. Bloomington and Normal fall below the threshold, but Reece said they face housing and affordable housing shortages just like big cities.
Reece said the Twin Cities need to address the missing middle in housing — a lack of duplexes, triplexes, and even quad-plexes. And frankly, she said that has been a nationwide topic for decades. It's now being brought to a head by the lack of housing stock. A legislative wave of the hand is unlikely to have a quick effect. Zoning changes, Reece said, require other adjustments such as larger lot sizes.
"It's not just a simple zoning change. That comes at a cost to property owners and developers. There is also neighborhood impact. What are the current residents' opinions on this sort of thing. So, making zoning changes requires a lot of community participation," said Reece.
For years, she said public officials have been told that increasing density by plunking down high-rises can raise environmental and justice concerns and create lots of pavement. Now, when they look at residential density, they have a different frame of reference.
"We're looking at it in terms of a walkable community: access to services, access to healthcare, access to transit," said Reece.
Reece said Normal is paying attention to places like Houston and Minneapolis which have had success in creating workable higher density neighborhoods.
Reece said she believes the national and local conversation right now is a reaction to not only community needs for a type of housing but an expression of a desired lifestyle.
"Housing needs probably have ebbs and flows and modify over decades of time," said Reece.
She said right now Bloomington-Normal has a growing population of people over 65 who want to rent. That includes empty nesters who no longer want single family-detached housing.
"Is it a quick fix or is it a solution looking for a problem that won't exist down the road, I don't know," said Reece. "I do know that over time municipalities have to adapt to needs and work with developers to address that."
The town is moving toward reworking its own zoning, part of its longer-term strategic plan. But even community involvement and acceptance of new standards is no guarantee any changes won't eventually get pushback from those who live and love the suburban style dream. Community buy-in to something new, she acknowledged, can be perishable. In any case it's nothing that can be rushed.
