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SabbathBoiseSabbath t1_j5b63f4 wrote

Well, except I'm actually an urban planner (for over 20 years) and I actually mod the urban planning forum, but nevermind all that, right....?

I'm curious. It's why I asked the question. I don't presume to know much about Maine.

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AssumptionLivid6879 t1_j5b72o6 wrote

Then what happened to Boise LOL

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SabbathBoiseSabbath t1_j5b9r7s wrote

Probably something similar to Maine...

In a very short time a whole bunch of people moved into Boise from wealthier states and drove the median price from about $240k to over $560k... that's in just under 3 years.

Meanwhile our minimum wage is still $7.25/hr and wages simply haven't kept pace.

We still do build a lot, more and more year over year, but we've just hit a limit on how much we can pump out. Partially because of the number of construction workers we have in the area, plus Covid-related shut downs, supply chain issues, developers not wanting to over leverage or carry risk, how long it took to restart construction coming out of the 2008 Recession, etc. A while bunch of reasons.

So we're behind and getting more behind, but it isn't a zoning or "NIMBY" issue either. We've capped out how much we are able to build. And over the past 6 months developers are pushing pause on projects.

It's not just a sprawl or density thing either. We're doing both. We have an entire downtown area (west downtown) which is mostly empty parking lots, that is already zoned for multiuse, multifamily, no height limit, high density development. Developers aren't bringing those projects (lots of reasons why).

So yeah, it's complicated. Far beyond what a single planner can do. But it's always fun when the actual armchair planners (like you) tell me what's what... especially when they're usually in their mid 20s and have just started watching Strongtowns or Notjustbikes over the last year or two and are now experts on everything. It makes for a good laugh.

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