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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

This is very neat. A thing that's a little crazymaking in all of these maps though: one of the most important things you're looking at in a zoning map is the distinction between single-family lots (exclusively for detached houses) and multi-family lots. You have to zoom in to the single-neighborhood level to see that distinction here (between paler green and darker green), and it's subtle.

It's nowhere nearly as bad as my neighboring municipality's zoning map, though:

https://www.oak-park.us/sites/default/files/zoning/2021-02-2...

I'm convinced this map was colored specifically to obscure that distinction.

The links to zoning variance documents in the planned development (red) zones are a really nice touch!

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Oak Park has a history behind the zoning. Not a pleasant one.

So does all of Chicago.

Yeah it’s kind of shameful to be honest.

I don't know what you're referring to, but I'm curious as I moved to Chicago relatively recently. Could you elaborate?

Most likely: racism/segregation.

Chicago was one of the places restricted covenants were first struck down in the US, so the city political machine used a combination of zoning & public works (notably highway construction & public housing) to keep the city segregated and to limit the political power of Black people.

Wild how often a viaduct or train track separates a Black neighborhood from a neighboring non-Black neighborhood.

You don't want to get me started on this.

The phrasing I liked the best was ”the area colored pale green are reserved for families who qualify for a seven-digit mortage”

I would bet 90% of the properties in the pale green section of the linked map are worth much less than $1M (technically the bar would be $1.25M for a $1M mortgage at 20% down since it would be a jumbo).

In Zillow, choosing recently sold houses only within last 60 days shows mostly $300k to $600k detached single family houses, with a few $1M+ houses in the northeast section (I-90/94 seems to be the demarcation of most $1M+ homes).

Are you sure it’s not just that there isn’t enough gradients to tell?

Within 1 block of my house there are townhomes, a mansion, single family homes, 2 parks, mid rises, a hotel, real commercial, a high rise, an sro and a school.

The commercial, parks and hotel are accurately represented but only 1 set of townhouses are otherwise. And that’s the set that takes up a whole block.

Otherwise the mixed blocks all come up as single family. Which might just be a fidelity problem.

The parks and school are ~mostly correct as well.

Oh, the data is good, I just think there has to be a better color scheme for the residential areas (it needs to be green to fit the SimCity aesthetic, but there must be something else you can do).

I’m not convinced the data is good. At least in my neighborhood the zoning requirements are address by address and I’d be easily convinced coming up with a coloring scheme that attributes everything correctly is a hard computer science problem.

I'm just saying, to look at this map, you'd think Beverly and Lincoln Park were comparably zoned.

>I’d be easily convinced coming up with a coloring scheme that attributes everything correctly is a hard computer science problem.

It's not a computer science problem at all. It's literally just a matter of having a uniue color for each type of zone.

I looked it up this morning. The cities own map has accurate data for my area. They get around the color issue by overlaying the actual zoning code number over the zones.

I like the idea of not using color to encode a high level of detail. SC2K breaks it down into dense and light zones (and changes the color accordingly) and that's it.

There should be more detailed info in the tooltip for each parcel.

Is it possible that many of those uses predate the current zoning? There are numerous buildings in Chicago that would not be permitted by their current zoning.

I just looked it up on Chicagos map and no, at least the half dozen things I checked were all properly zoned.

That’s crazy to me that you have all that within a block of where you live. Are you in an East Coast city or something?

Chicago. My house is on this map.

Sadly I never got to live in a tier one city and probably never will. Please enjoy as much as you can!

What would you want more of our of that map? It looks like a lot of zoning maps I have seen but I can't think of any way to improve them other than consistency and a better viewing medium (not PDF)

It took me a moment but I think OP is trying to distinguish areas where single family homes are allowed/required from those where multi-family units are allowed.

What's wrong with your neighborhood’s zoning?

> car repair, machine shops, furniture making

None of which is really unbearable to live somewhat near to (unlike heavy industrial, they do shut down at night), but they're often pretty locally polluting. Brake dust, metal shavings, wood finishes with VOC's, paints, and then all sorts of chemicals used as solvents for cleaning, rust removers, etc.

I actually like to be able to walk home after dropping off the car for inspection at the shop. Those pollutants should be pretty contained, we're not in the 70es any more?

If there are enough solvents in use to be detectable off–site, then the industry is in the wrong zone.

What about those examples generates brake dust more than any other business? Mechanics replacing brakes doesn't generate new brake dust.

How does it bother the outside world if there's metal shavings in a machine shop? They save and recycle those for - they aren't just dumping them in the street.

Mechanics replacing brakes clean up areas with lots of it.

A lot, but my critique is of the map itself, not of the zoning.

Ah. I agree that the map is not amazing :). Color choices could be better too.

Fun challenge: find the non-SFZ residential on that map. You're not allowed to use the eyedropper tool.

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