We moved to St. John in 1989 and for years, the zoning ordinance required half-acre minimum lots for residences unless they were part of a planned unit development. When those were proposed, they generally garnered some opposition but eventually were approved. Similarly, residents spoke out against townhouses as they would "cheapen" the town, so to speak. That was when the forward path to adequate funding to operate and expand LC schools was unclear, and my argument was that condo and townhome residents were less likely to have kids in school, and thus paid taxes but didn't result in higher costs for LCSC. There are a handful of rental single family homes in our neighborhood at most, and I am unsure how many of the townhomes here allow owners to rent them.
Yes, I think there's a pervasive misconception that "multi-family living" must necessarily "cheapen" a town. There's a growing (and virtually untapped in Northwest Indiana) demand for options other than single-family homes and having a rich variety of housing options strengthens a community across the board (in terms of taxes, economic development and growth, amenities, retail, quality of place, etc.).
We moved to St. John in 1989 and for years, the zoning ordinance required half-acre minimum lots for residences unless they were part of a planned unit development. When those were proposed, they generally garnered some opposition but eventually were approved. Similarly, residents spoke out against townhouses as they would "cheapen" the town, so to speak. That was when the forward path to adequate funding to operate and expand LC schools was unclear, and my argument was that condo and townhome residents were less likely to have kids in school, and thus paid taxes but didn't result in higher costs for LCSC. There are a handful of rental single family homes in our neighborhood at most, and I am unsure how many of the townhomes here allow owners to rent them.
Yes, I think there's a pervasive misconception that "multi-family living" must necessarily "cheapen" a town. There's a growing (and virtually untapped in Northwest Indiana) demand for options other than single-family homes and having a rich variety of housing options strengthens a community across the board (in terms of taxes, economic development and growth, amenities, retail, quality of place, etc.).