1. I'm reasonably certain "sprawl the right way" is a
direct quote from
Suburban Nation. You misunderstand what it means. It means URBAN sprawl instead of suburban sprawl. If you look at
DPZ's method, it's mostly holding charrettes to revitalize blighted areas and/or building new places (that's the key part) that are urban, like Seaside, Florida.
2. Maybe I was mistaken about the CVC being negotiable, but I assume your critique of density caps/bonuses is similar. You just seem to be pretty much against all governmental regulation. This isn't the developers' city, it's ours. So, IMO, we should make the rules, and they should have to comply with them if they want to get into this market (and they will, because they do).
3. I don't care about being a big city. People think that just because we build upwards that we want a huge population. We don't.
It's hyperbole to say that regulations are going to result in widespread surface-level parking lots and blight. We're about to work out a comprehensive zoning code that's expressly
against what you describe. There's been some talk of
banning drive-throughs on Riverside Dr. But somehow you seem to think the opposite is going on. Look at London or D.C or San Francisco. They're very urban, but not full of huge buildings. You'll say that's because they're historic cities, but I'd respond with the fact that similar forces are at work in today's world, including in Austin. Our urban housing market is hot. There's plenty of room to build upward. And just because you can't in some place doesn't mean it can't still be urban. You just build mid-rises or low-rises. Just because it's not tall doesn't mean it's blight. You don't seem to understand that. The IBC Bank Tower is not blight.
I value view corridors for the views and because it gives cities different urban fabrics, rather than them all being just a monotonous wall/forest of buildings, i.e. a city with an array of building heights is prettier to look at than a city with buildings that are all of a similar height.
Sorry so long-winded.