Charlottesville, Virginia, spent most of a decade revising its zoning code.
It held endless community meetings.
It gave opponents ample opportunity to make their case.
They lost.
But a handful of rich homeowners sued and have gotten the new Charlottesville zoning code overturned on a technicality
https://communityengagement.substack.com/p/june-30-2025-judge-worrell-voids?r=blgf
9 millionaire homeowners, who couldn’t persuade Charlottesville residents and couldn’t win at the ballot box, decided they would throw everything they had to nullify their defeat.
And it worked
Eh it helps create thoroughfare. Our city features nothing but 2lane roads each way in/out of the downtown area, and the rest of the 120sqmi city is comprised of 1-2 lanes each way. Construction on any road dropping it a lane makes the next traffic light 6-8 blocks long.
Maybe Charlottesville is different and already has a major thoroughfare, but not having at least one “superwide road” is murder on all the small side streets that are not built to handle the traffic flooding around a blocked 2lane. Without public transit to support the population, making the city bigger without widening a few key roads into important parts is begging to have your neighborhood roads obliterated by heavy traffic.
1 or 2 lanes of traffic is not what I am referring to. 2 is plenty, the solution isn’t MoAr RoADs, it’s LESS GOD DAMN CARS! People don’t need their car to travel all the time but you try to tell them that and they lose their fucking minds. It’s goddamn infuriating and if you don’t believe me go read through the responses.
Even your response is tainted by that logic, it’s not true: We as a society do not need nor should we have to rely upon cars for everything we do. If we don’t change this, we are consigning ourselves and our children to a horrible future. Very few people seem to actually give a fuck though. This shit needs to change, but it won’t because of entitled people unwilling to change.
sigh
I’m cool with walking, biking, or busses, or whatever. But if you are increasing the size of a city, and there is no easy way to funnel people from their homes to jobs in a timely fashion, your city will experience gridlock. The issue at hand is Charlottesville expanding- meaning a population increase to feed their financial center. So yes, they need to increase the ability to cross it. Be that via bus or car, to the new suburbs and other residential zones.
I do so love my heavy v8 sports car, but I’m not so short sighted to slight the idea of public busses and bicycles - just that if we want them in cities then we need to build for them. Bus curbs and bike trails. My city builds for neither except symbolically, so yes, I notice the issues with traversing it on the individual level, when my personal commute is over 8 miles poorly timed and poorly lined Stroads. Areas with very wide lanes and clear sides but silly low artificial speed limits. Areas with narrower old streets and trees closing in on you, but are 40. Zero consideration for road dressing and all according to zoned speeds. Results in speeding and unsafe neighborhoods.