Mixed-Use Properties: Affordablity Coupled With Better and New Opportunitieses Win The Day!
Policy Note: July 2025
Mixed-use properties around the 3 Hamlets’ Main Streets that make up the Town of Windham are the best way to ensure that the community can create sustainable growth patterns. Windham’s current Zoning Draft lacks this type of development and Windham will suffer from this oversight in the long run. What we should be asking ourselves as a community are the following things”
What type of growth will provide our community with long-term sustainability?
What type of zoning policies promote sustainable long-term growth?
How do we maximize our community’s best assets while attracting tourists and residents alike?
These are the questions we must consider when we address the vitality of our community's existence in the near future. We as a community should be asking what is driving the patterns of migration in communities like ours to other parts of New York State.
In 2024 the New York State Department of Labor [2024] produced a helpful report that shows some of the most important reasons why families are migrating within the borders of our state. Housing especially the ability to find “New or Better Housing” ranked as the number one reason to move at 16.4%. The second most important issue was establishing their own household at 11.1% The third most important housing issue for migration was the ability to find affordable housing at 10.5% and finally to move from the renter class into the homeowner class ranked at 8.2%. Combined this adds up to 46.2% of all migration within New York State. This stands in stark contrast to the 7% of all migration being directly related to jobs. Therefore it is clear that our local government’s priority in Windham must be to address the issue of affordable housing. Otherwise, we will spiral into economic and population decline as our median age approaches 65+ years of age by 2050. The next most important issue is creating local full employment to ensure that our population grows sustainably.
This chart from 2019 shows the general trend in Greene County as very negative with greater than -120 per 1,000 leaving the area. The only bright side was that the turnover rate was low between 50-100. Having a low turnover rate in Greene County’s population rate is a positive sign meaning that we’re retaining people somewhat even if our general trends in intrastate migration are trending negatively.
This is why it is so important for our “Zoning Law” to emphasize the power of Mixed-Use properties in a pedestrian and cyclist-friendly environment that we call our Main Streets. Hence my dismay that Windham would seek to limit the number of dwelling units in the Business District to 4 per 1 acre. Instead, we should be looking to create multi-family homes in the vertical up to 4 stories or about 50-60 feet in height [very limited] in this district where it will not create ridge line issues due to its lower elevation. [I’m also curious if they will notice that in this draft the Rural Residential District allows for homes every .2 acres on plot. I wonder if that typo will be caught before the resolution is passed. ] However, we need to increase our housing potential right on Main Street to ensure that a quality mix of offices, retail, and living spaces are within walking distance of each other. This type of zoning will increase our community’s housing stock and ensure that our population has access to affordable housing directly in the heart of our economic engine—Main Street. We must not shy away from developing smart growth that benefits residents with both conveniences to their place of work and also with the retail and other necessities, we need for a community to thrive.
Want both sides of our Main Streets populated with businesses and homes that serve a vibrant local community of residents and tourists each week all year round. We want strong development of multifamily buildings with enough apartments or condos to support real growth in our community. The current limitations of 4 dwellings per acre and 2 spaces of off-street per unit are going to make Windham either a) undevelopable considering that Windham lacks the space on the main street(s) for large-scale parking or b) it will cause developers to purchase properties to turn into parking alone. This will further exacerbate our already scarce land for the development of mixed-use. Instead, we should look to adopting policies that reduce the need for multiple car ownership on Main Street(s). We should develop plans to increase the connectivity of our Main Street(s) through bike lanes, sidewalks, and increased public parking (to a limited degree) to ensure that we can maintain a vibrant Main Street(s) with increased foot traffic.
Foot Traffic is the key to creating a popular downtown area that will enthrall tourists and residents alike with the convenience of being close to locally sourced products in a strong community. This is going to increase our community’s appeal to people who want a slower and more connected way of life. If we can create an environment where 125 new families enter our community and spend just $45,000 per year within our local economy we’ve added $5.625 million to the economy before multiplier effects.
That’s an impressive amount of growth potential from simply ensuring that our has new residents (of all ages and physical abilities). It doesn’t even account for increases in tourism( of all ages and physical abilities). Creating a livable community that is inclusive and welcoming to all needs to be the priority of our Local Government. And it will ultimately create the vibrant power of a locally based economy that will give our population the ability to grow and sustain itself. But, if we zone out that growth now in a hamfisted manner by increasing the number of single-unit family unit dwellings instead of more cost-effective and economically viable produced high-density multifamily units we will destroy our ability to maintain a population in this community.
We need to embrace the power of creating a mixed-use community that is full of opportunities to build employment and commerce in the same locations. We want to create a community that can take advantage of the “Boomerang Effect”. The Boomerang Effect is the ability to get residents who have moved away to return not just in retirement but also during their prime working ages as well. The only way we will be able to create this effect is by providing high-quality affordable housing in our community that is coupled with careers. Our current zoning plan is less than welcoming to residents in the middle class in our community.
This is why I oppose this current zoning law and if elected will do everything to create a Zoning Law that reflects the needs of the community to grow both economically and socially. That is why I support a Zoning plan that increases mixed-use properties and allows for greater growth around our Main Streets. We need a living and vibrant Main Street all week long not one that is alive only from Thursday to Sunday. A vote for me is a vote for Economic Growth that is Sustainable.