A speaker at the Main Street Summit believes rules and regulations from all levels of government promote a pattern of development that impedes economic growth.
Christopher Zimmerman is vice-president with Smart Growth America. He said current laws were set in place decades ago, and aren’t delivering the choices people want. For example, he said many cities have zoning laws in place that make it very hard to rebuild the “traditional towns” the country was founded on.
Zimmerman said the development of more traditional towns is what the market says today’s workforce wants.
"With mixed uses and walkable development, for places where you don't have to drive -- we see that happening in real estate pretty much everywhere in the country, from metro areas to small towns," Zimmerman said in an interview. He said that demand crosses generational lines -- from aging baby-boomers to younger workers.
"We have a very different structure of demand than we had say 60 years ago," Zimmerman said. "That was based on 'mom, dad and a couple of kids in a household."
Zimmerman said that used to be 60 percent of the households. Now, he said it's a quarter -- or less.
"You need different housing stock," Zimmerman said. "We have the wrong housing stock. We've been incentivizing and subsidizing the development of the wrong housing stock."
Zimmerman said his message resonates with what Gov. Doug Burgum is pushing with the Main Street Initiative.