The Latest from CommunityScale
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Nesting zoning use definitions into functional groups
Comprehensive zoning rewrites risk overwhelming users with lists of hundreds of land use definitions, many of them nearly identical in how they are applied across districts. To avoid that while keeping a useful level…
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CommunityScale in the news: Lone Tree and Hills housing expansion emerges in JoCo housing study
Local coverage highlights preliminary findings from CommunityScale’s housing study for Johnson County, Iowa, which point to Lone Tree and Hills as top candidates for new development thanks to existing water and sewer capacity. The…
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Apex Housing Plan Update
CommunityScale updated the Town of Apex’s Housing Plan to reflect the significant changes in the economy, shifts in the local market, and rapid growth experienced since the pandemic. The project included a housing needs…
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CommunityScale in the news: Lynn Council votes to ‘modernize’ zoning regulations
Lynn’s City Council has voted unanimously to adopt the comprehensive zoning rewrite CommunityScale led for the city. The sweeping overhaul replaces a 1925 code with modern standards aligned to the Vision Lynn 2023 plan,…
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City of Lynn Comprehensive Zoning Rewrite
CommunityScale authored a complete zoning rewrite for the City of Lynn, Massachusetts with Levine Planning Strategies and BBHS Law, adopted unanimously by the City Council on June 24, 2025. A technical audit found that…
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Kenton County Selects CommunityScale to Deliver Income-Aligned Housing Implementation Strategies and Action Plan
Building on CommunityScale’s 2023 housing study, Kenton County has awarded the firm a contract to prepare its Income-Aligned Housing Implementation Strategies and Action Plan. The work translates the goals of the county’s 2024 Comprehensive…
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CommunityScale in the news: Housing is focus of Stowe forum
At a community forum in Stowe, Vermont, CommunityScale shared early findings from its housing work, reporting that just one-third of local homes are owner-occupied and that roughly 1,300 diverse new units are needed. Residents…
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Federal and state push for transportation‑housing coordination
A quiet but consequential shift is reshaping transportation planning: the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law permanently amended federal code to embed housing considerations in every metropolitan planning organization’s core duties. This post explains the new…
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CommunityScale to lead a Housing Assessment Study for Johnson County, IA
CommunityScale is beginning a housing study for Johnson County, Iowa, focused specifically on the unincorporated parts of the county and a collection of smaller cities outside the immediate metropolitan area. Designed to dovetail with…
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City of Upper Arlington Housing Market Detailed Analysis
The information in this detailed housing market analysis is intended for the City to evaluate policies and programs that seek to grow the City responsibly and increase housing options for residents. This study provides…
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Economies of Scale, Housing, and Municipal Finance
Does new housing pay for itself? Local governments often weigh the revenue from new homes against the added costs of police, fire, schools, and infrastructure. This post explores how economies of scale, creditworthiness, and…
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Spotlight on Solutions: Celebrating Northern Kentucky’s Collaborative ‘Home for All’ Housing Strategies
CommunityScale was proud to see its Northern Kentucky work featured in CET/ThinkTV’s Brick by Brick segment on Home for All: Northern Kentucky Housing Strategies. The firm’s data analysis found the region needs roughly 6,650…
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Why we focus on housing supply
As home values dipped in early 2025, it was a reminder of why CommunityScale’s analysis focuses on housing supply rather than demand when addressing attainability. Incentivizing or limiting demand both warp the market and…
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Honolulu launches new affordable housing plan
In 2024, CommunityScale developed a Housing Plan for the City and County of Honolulu with support from Abt Global, and the city has since launched its 2025-2028 Strategic Housing Plan, an expansive commitment to…
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Launching a Housing Needs Assessment for Downtown Syracuse
CommunityScale is partnering with the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, New York to conduct a Housing Needs Assessment and Market Study aimed at identifying and addressing gaps in housing supply and affordability across planning horizons.…
