Zoning for People, Not Profit

Zoning decisions in BCC have systematically favored large-scale residential development over the small businesses, community-serving retail, and neighborhood character that existing residents depend on. Commercial corridors that once supported local economies have been rezoned out of existence.

Zoning policy must prioritize community benefit first. That means protecting commercial space for small and local businesses, ensuring community input is meaningful not performative, and requiring community benefit agreements before major development approvals.

Zoning is one of the most powerful tools a city council has. When it is used to serve real estate investment rather than existing communities, the results are predictable: displacement, homogenization, and the erasure of neighborhood identity.