A Reasonable Next Question Is How Much More New Housing Should Harrisonburg Approve
Scott P. Rogers
These two stats create an interesting follow up question...
1. Over the past 3.5 years, the City of Harrisonburg has approved 2,866 new dwelling units.
2. Over the past 3.5 years only 25 of those dwellings have been built.
The reasonable follow up question is...
How Much More New Housing Should Harrisonburg Approve?
In conversations, locally, I hear two very different opinions about the answer to that question...
1. The City should keep approving more housing developments so that hopefully, eventually, some of the housing will be built, as there is a shortage of housing in the City.
2. The City has approved so much housing over the past three (+) years that the City definitely shouldn't approve any additional housing. If or when some or all of this approved housing is built the City will have a population increase that will likely result in the need for more schools (and other infrastructure) and thus higher taxes.
It will be interesting to see City planning staff's perspective on this, as well as that of the Planning Commission and City Council as future rezoning requests are proposed in the City to allow for additional residential developments.
