Cities large and small have a history of mixed-use buildings. Typically, the bottom floor is a business, perhaps a bakery, a barber or a clothing store. Above, there are one or more apartments.

There are many advantages, including affordability, public safety and economic. Property owners can maximize profit from their lots and offer affordable rentals or reduced rates for employees. Residents living in commercial areas add what Jane Jacobs calls “eyes on the streets.” More sidewalk traffic throughout the day and evening acts as a crime deterrent. Businesses, with close proximity to residents, have an increased year-round customer base. 

There are plenty of real-world examples and studies proving the benefits. Jacobs wrote extensively on the subject in her 1961 book, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities.” Her book and activism helped change the way city planners view city infill, mixed-use developments and renovations. 

Today, Jacobs’ concept has a new name: smart growth. 

“We’re currently doing it,” said City of Page Planning Director Zachary Montgomery.

“I changed the zoning codes back in January. We do allow an overlay of mixed use in the commercial zoning district. That mixed use allows for a mix of residential and commercial, where you can have both uses on the same property. What is happening, and what she talks about in her book, is back in the ’50s, after World War II, the cities were pretty much gathered around the town center, and they went out from there, not too far. Back then, all the stores and street-front shops had apartments upstairs. Today, they call it smart growth. But all it’s doing is going back to the ’50s way of doing things, where you have a mix of uses of commercial, usually downstairs on the street level, and then apartments or condos on the second, third and fourth levels.”

Montgomery sees a return to the building practices of the 1950s. There are many of instances throughout the country, especially in vacation destinations where the cost of housing is out of reach for most workers.

“That's all America is doing, is going back to that because urban sprawl is very expensive for municipalities,” said Montgomery.

“What that means is suburbs are very expensive because we have to now take the water, the sewer, the electricity, the police, the fire, farther out from the city, and that gets very expensive to do just to build a housing subdivision. So the smart growth is saying, hey, just put apartments up on the second, third and fourth floors. Get rid of the subdivisions, unless you absolutely need them, and keep all of your services affordable so you’re not having to go out miles away from the city to provide all these services, which is very expensive.” 

A June 28, 2023, a Page City Council decision sheds light on a path toward solving worker housing shortages. Council approved a mixed-use zoning overlay. The Vista Street property was then purchased by Page Unified School District to convert into apartments for teachers and staff.

Once a school district owns property, they can essentially do what they want with it. With the exception police and fire codes, the city is out of the loop. School districts have the power to build new housing or convert existing buildings to apartments, and Arizona districts are doing it. 

“They’re the 800-pound gorilla, and we’re the 200-pound chimpanzee in that fight, and they do a good job, and we know they’re regulated by the state, so we don’t worry about it,” Montgomery said. 

Page has recently rezoned parcels totaling over 60 acres of private land for multiuse. Montgomery hopes the zoning improvements will attract new developers. A big turnoff for developers is spending a lot of time and money traveling to Page, then being shut down after a series of public hearings. All those obstacles are cleared once mixed-use zoning is in place.

Forward-looking commercial property owners in Page can request mixed-use zoning changes. The process usually takes 45-60 days.

“We’re starting a new can campaign to try and recruit developers who are interested in mixed use buildings,” said Page City Manager Darren Coldwell.  

“So on the bottom, small retail shops about 1,000 square feet, up above either townhomes condos or apartments. In urban living, they’ve become very popular. There’s a whole new set of them in Flagstaff right now. And all through the valley they've popped up again. That urban living is starting to get some wheels on it again. Things have changed. People are getting married older, some people aren’t having kids. And they just like that downtown lifestyle. So we would support anything like that.”

Page City Council member Brian Carey told the Chronicle, “I think our position as a council has been pretty consistent, which is the only way to get yourself out of a housing shortage is to build something. So I think we’ve been amenable to almost every project, if not every project that’s come our way.”

This is Part Two of the Housing Solutions series. Next week, Lake Powell Chronicle will cover other housing options, including company-owned housing and deed-restricted housing for employees.