Is There a Limit To Growth in the Bay Area? (San Francisco: real estate, apartments)

[ZorbaTheGeek]

Can growth in the Bay Area continue unchecked? Are there natural limits to growth? When I was in knee pants in the 80's I heard adults saying the East Bay (Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda, El Cerrito, Albany, and other bayside towns) was already overcrowded,there was no more room. Now growth has expanded inland. How long can this continue before transit, freeways, power and water sources are pushed beyong capacity? Is anyone paying attention, or does growth keep happening until collapse stops it?

[thechoson]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Area

"Home to approximately 7.15 million people..."

Tokyo metro area has over 30 million. Seoul has 20 million. New York, 20 million.

Is there a limit to growth? Yes. Have we reached it yet? Probably not even close. Being from Asia, I don't find the Bay Area (even San Francisco) to be "dense" at all.

[ccm123]

I would say that "the sky is the limit". Unfortunately, many real estate developers don't care about your comfort, or mine. All they care about is developing and developing, so they can make more money.

[Shadow Dude]

Transit and freeways will never be a problem. Just look at the LA area. It stretches for miles in each direction and all of it is accessible via transit and freeways. The only thing that could stop expansion is water. Electrical probably won't even be a problem. Unfortunately when developers run out of land they just start to build up into the sky instead. So really no I don't think growth will ever be stopped.

[andyadhi01]

Bay areahas growth? That's news to me. The population stabilized here like 10 years back.

[Gentoo]

Lots of the open land in the Bay Area will not be developed as it is protected park and wilderness areas. The East Bay cities mentioned cannot expand due to being bordered by other cities, the bay and parkland. The only way to go is up. this is happening somewhat in Berkeley as new lofts and apartments are going up downtown. The south and outer east bay areas are more sprawl but even they will have to start building up at some point in the future. Not yet though.

[sliverbox]

I'd say the high cost of living has probably put a tamper on how much growth can happen here. Let's face it: SF is now unaffordable to pretty much all of the working and now most of the middle class. Rents and home prices have been rising again after only falling a bit during the recession. Families with kids have it pretty tough here. A lot of people have actually been moving out as a result. So I suspect that the Bay Area will continue to grow, but probably at a progressively slower rate if the cost of living keeps on rising.

[justinbro2002]

The Bay Area still has alot of room to expand and reallocate land use. I still see alot of empty space around and they call always tear down old homes and put high density housing in it's place. Some cities have city plans that limit growth for instance some cities don't allow building in a greenbelt or the hills surrounding the city but these plans are made to be broken. Take Fremont or Dublin for example they had original city plans that forbid building on the foothills but they have pretty much abandaned that now.

[jade408]

There is a lot of infill opportunity for growth. But NIMBYs need to get out of the way.

Take a look at this "plan" on managing the growth and the overall projections. You can also take part and send your comments. Please do, because the meetings I have been to are dominated by 60 year olds who won't even be alive when the impact of the plan is felt.

One Bay Area - Plan Bay Area

[thechoson]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

I'd say the high cost of living has probably put a tamper on how much growth can happen here. Let's face it: SF is now unaffordable to pretty much all of the working and now most of the middle class. Rents and home prices have been rising again after only falling a bit during the recession. Families with kids have it pretty tough here. A lot of people have actually been moving out as a result. So I suspect that the Bay Area will continue to grow, but probably at a progressively slower rate if the cost of living keeps on rising.

Yea, but if you allow more growth, it should at least slow down the rise in cost of living.