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Looking around the South Coast, it can feel like development has become an all-or-nothing proposition. Some poorer neighborhoods receive little to no investment, while wealthier neighborhoods fight off even modest changes in an effort to “preserve their character.” Development is being pushed further to the margins of city and town centers, where large projects on greenfield sites are built as 40B (“builder’s remedy”) projects. New housing is frequently seen as something imposed from outside on our neighborhoods, something to be fought off.
Our cities and towns need more homes for people at all stages of life. Taxpayers are increasingly bearing the burden as the costs of maintaining and building infrastructure outpace the growth of the tax base. Our neighborhoods would all benefit from more investment. How can we move past this all-or-nothing stalemate to start addressing the real needs of our cities and towns?
At Southcoast Places for People, we believe that no neighborhood should be subject to drastic, top-down change all at once. We also believe that no neighborhood should be immune to change. Great neighborhoods, cities, and towns are built by many hands through an evolutionary process.
Cities like New Bedford were built by a diverse group of hardworking people in prior generations who invested in their communities and built wealth locally. Our strongest, most enduring neighborhoods followed a traditional development pattern that allowed for a mix of uses whose buildings could be adapted and improved over time, depending on the needs of residents. It’s time to return to this proven playbook. The prosperity of our cities and towns depends on it.
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, the City Council, and city staff have taken important steps toward encouraging more traditional development. The city has already eased lot size mandates, moved toward form-based code in key commercial areas, and eased planning hurdles for smaller projects. It’s also working to breathe new life into vacant properties. But the strength of these efforts depends on local people stepping up to restore and build the places their neighborhoods need.
The next increment of development looks different for each neighborhood – larger apartment buildings make sense downtown, but “missing middle” housing may make more sense for single-family neighborhoods. Many incremental changes, like the addition of backyard cottages or allowing for a single-family home to house two families, are all but invisible from the street.
While the impact of incremental development on any block will be minimal, the collective impact of these efforts in addressing local challenges could be immense. Smart investing spreads risk across a diverse portfolio. Likewise, smart cities pursue growth by encouraging many small bets made by a diversity of players in different neighborhoods. This “small bets” strategy also strengthens the city’s hand when it comes to its larger investments: a city that already has a low-risk, diverse portfolio of projects moving forward is in a much better position to negotiate when it comes to larger, higher-risk projects.
All of our neighborhoods can benefit from incremental development. To this end, SouthCoast Places for People, in partnership with WHALE (Waterfront Historic Area League) and One SouthCoast Chamber, is launching Neighborhood Builders, a program to cultivate a diverse ecosystem of small-scale developers from throughout Greater New Bedford. This initiative will bring together a cohort of emerging and aspiring developers who share a deep love of their neighborhoods and give them the training and resources they need to make great things happen in our communities.
If you’re interested in this effort and want to move past the all-or-nothing debate, we invite you to our free kickoff event at the New Bedford Whaling Museum on Wednesday, Sept. 23, featuring a presentation on incremental development by urban designer Marques King. You can register for the event here.
Local developers are the right people to help our communities grow. It’s time we reignited this powerful force to improve and invest in the places we all love.
The public is invited to join SouthCoast Neighborhood Builders: Introduction to Incremental Development, a free event on Wednesday, Sept. 23 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.
Will Gardner is the founder of Southcoast Places for People.
