Economic Development in New Haven

So before we get into some of my questions, I think it'd be really good to level set because we're going to be talking about planning and zoning a lot.

What is planning and zoning from a very like fifth grade level? Could you guys maybe, Laura, you talk about planning, you talk about zoning.

When we say planning and zoning, what are we talking about?

Yeah, sure.

I think, you know, when we say planning, people often think of the kind of planning that you do in your everyday life, like you're planning an event or you're planning for your future um and that is some of what we do as planners which is like thinking ahead about what what the future might look like um we in most planning departments we're looking at both kind of what we want the future to be but also what what will it take to get to that future that the community envisions.

And in order to get there, it takes a lot of sort of on the ground work.

Abdul mentioned the kind of community-based work that is his background.

I also come from a nonprofit background.

And that engagement work is a lot of what planners do, which is like talking to the community, engaging residents in the community about what they envision for their future.

And then understanding what will it take on a physical level? What does it take in terms of water infrastructure or transportation infrastructure or housing or economic development to get to that envisioned future? So, yeah, the way that residents see planning departments is usually by way of like a land use application or some physical change in the community.

But most planners are doing a lot more than that, sort of connecting dots, bringing resources to bear in a situation, engaging with residents.

So that is the broader scope of planning that really does encompass more outside of what people usually think of as kind of land use regulatory planning.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I would add, I think zoning is in the way the rules that tell you what you can build, where you can build it and how it interacts with other things around you.

And so when people come in, like Laura was saying, and they have an application to open a barbershop to build a five story residential development.

Zoning is the thing that tells them if they can even do that, what the parameters are around that, who they have to talk to to get a special approval for that thing if it's not immediately allowed, as well as all the ways that we're kind of being thoughtful of the relationship of that new development to the things that already exist in the places that we're in.

And so zoning shows up for people not only in their individual property, but also in what we call zoning districts, the kind of boundaries of which areas have different rules compared to other ones.

So you may see our main street areas, places like Whaley Avenue, places like down here on Chapel and Church, where there's a lot more business activity and the rules that are around there say that those businesses can exist and they should thrive and grow there.

Whereas if you're in a very residential neighborhood where you've got front lawns, you've got kids running and riding their bikes.

There's less likelihood to see a lot of businesses there, but you're more likelihood to see a variety of maybe houses that fit within that context.

It's because of zoning that we set rules that say that area is different from the other ones.

It's also the thing that tells us to check for things like what's happening within a coastal area.

Are there extra rules that we put on to what can happen when you're in that kind of area compared to if you are near the train station, compared to if you are near some kind of very important natural resource that we're trying to protect? And so we kind of use that in connection to planning, and that zoning should really be informed by the planning that we do.

Between what we learn about the infrastructure needs, what we see as really strong policy priorities, and what we see as community visions for the future, the zoning is kind of this enabling environment.

So before we get into some of my questions, I think it'd be really good to level set because we're going to be talking about planning and zoning a lot.

What is planning and zoning from a very like fifth grade level? Could you guys maybe, Laura, you talk about planning, you talk about zoning.

When we say planning and zoning, what are we talking about?

Yeah, sure.

I think, you know, when we say planning, people often think of the kind of planning that you do in your everyday life, like you're planning an event or you're planning for your future um and that is some of what we do as planners which is like thinking ahead about what what the future might look like um we in most planning departments we're looking at both kind of what we want the future to be but also what what will it take to get to that future that the community envisions.

And in order to get there, it takes a lot of sort of on the ground work.

Abdul mentioned the kind of community-based work that is his background.

I also come from a nonprofit background.

And that engagement work is a lot of what planners do, which is like talking to the community, engaging residents in the community about what they envision for their future.

And then understanding what will it take on a physical level? What does it take in terms of water infrastructure or transportation infrastructure or housing or economic development to get to that envisioned future? So, yeah, the way that residents see planning departments is usually by way of like a land use application or some physical change in the community.

But most planners are doing a lot more than that, sort of connecting dots, bringing resources to bear in a situation, engaging with residents.

So that is the broader scope of planning that really does encompass more outside of what people usually think of as kind of land use regulatory planning.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I would add, I think zoning is in the way the rules that tell you what you can build, where you can build it and how it interacts with other things around you.

And so when people come in, like Laura was saying, and they have an application to open a barbershop to build a five story residential development.

Zoning is the thing that tells them if they can even do that, what the parameters are around that, who they have to talk to to get a special approval for that thing if it's not immediately allowed, as well as all the ways that we're kind of being thoughtful of the relationship of that new development to the things that already exist in the places that we're in.

And so zoning shows up for people not only in their individual property, but also in what we call zoning districts, the kind of boundaries of which areas have different rules compared to other ones.

So you may see our main street areas, places like Whaley Avenue, places like down here on Chapel and Church, where there's a lot more business activity and the rules that are around there say that those businesses can exist and they should thrive and grow there.

Whereas if you're in a very residential neighborhood where you've got front lawns, you've got kids running and riding their bikes.

There's less likelihood to see a lot of businesses there, but you're more likelihood to see a variety of maybe houses that fit within that context.

It's because of zoning that we set rules that say that area is different from the other ones.

It's also the thing that tells us to check for things like what's happening within a coastal area.

Are there extra rules that we put on to what can happen when you're in that kind of area compared to if you are near the train station, compared to if you are near some kind of very important natural resource that we're trying to protect? And so we kind of use that in connection to planning, and that zoning should really be informed by the planning that we do.

Between what we learn about the infrastructure needs, what we see as really strong policy priorities, and what we see as community visions for the future, the zoning is kind of this enabling environment.