Cracking the code
Thomas Hylton, Pennsylvania's most dogged champion in the fight against suburban sprawl, writes in today's Post-Gazette that the state's new Uniform Construction Code will remove many of the bureaucratic and economic hurdles to renovating older buildings. Previously, the state's mish-mash of local building codes favored the construction of new buildings over the redevelopment of older ones. In my opinion, this is one of the few things our friends in Harrisburg can be proud of doing this year.
As an aside, in a bit of shameless self-promotion, I touched briefly--very briefly--on this issue in my article about housing in Downtown Pittsburgh in the final issue of Pulp.
posted by Jonathan Potts at
4:29 PM
3 Comments:
I agree, this is definately an improvement on the existing situation. One of my ideas for downtown housing was functionally destroyed due to zoning problems. The group that I was working with have seen our fundamental concept of implementation occur in Providence becaue they are one of the few states with a very rehab friendly building code that favors downtown reuse. I might want to dust some plans off and see if the financials work now.
4:58 PM
Here is a gratuitous editorial cartoon on the subject of sprawl that might amuse you.
Jeff Parker From Florida Today Via Slate: 7/29 Growthzilla-AtPC
3:53 PM
While a Uniform COnstruction Code may have been a welcomed relief, you should do your homework before praising the state legistalture too loudly. The law allows older ordinances in opt-in areas to be carried over into the new code. These ordinances are suppowed to meet or exceed the requirements of the UCC, but they ar enot subject to anyone's review. At last coun, there were 897 varioations of the "Uniform Construction Code". The lawmakers also did not think it necessary to establish reasonable fees for inspection work, so municipalities and third-party agencies can charge what they will. In short, the idea was noble, bu the execution is lacking.
2:21 PM
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