by Doug Zewizig at Evansville City Hall at the conclusion of the Evansville Smart Growth Plan. In that speech he spoke of the necessity of analyzing the impact of planning decisions before and not after action is taken.On Monday night, there was another segment of the discussion about how the city could address this. Click on the audio icon below for the opening remarks of the City Planner as he discusses what the objective of the analysis would be.
The city does have some financial analysis software that may help them in this matter and some felt that would be the best way to go. On the other hand, the city staff has had this software for many months and nothing has happened. Possibly an outside consultant would be more objective and be able to deliver the product desired in a timely manner.
After all. Nothing is going to be annexed or upgraded till the analysis is done. As Mayor Decker stated in her speech at the Mayoral debate in March of 2006, the consequences for poorly considered decisions could be disasterous for the taxpayers.
I am an advocate of impact assessment studies. I was elected alderman in April of 2004 and by June 2004 I had made contact with Steven Deller and Gareth Paul Betts both of the UW-Extension program in an effort to bring such studies to Evansville.
ReplyDeleteAt that time Steven Deller provided me with the URL below which links to a report: Urban Growth, Rural Land Conversion and the Fiscal Well-Being of Local Municipalities.
http://www.aae.wisc.edu/
pubs/sps/pdf/stpap461.pdf
and:
http://www.lic.wisc.edu/
shapingdane/facilitation/
all_resources/impacts/
analysis_background.htm
These are excellent reading to provide background and understanding of fundamental aspects of the kind of studies Evansville wishes to undertake. It is the premise in these documents that the more a community understands the better. “While outside consultants can play an important role in providing technical expertise, the community should not be held hostage to the opinions of the developer or outside advocates. An understanding and appreciation of the process of impact assessment is almost as important as the technical merits of the assessment itself.”
Since I agree with those sentiments and the topic is on the public discussion, I am offering this stuff up for all, though I provided this to the city in June 04.
Steven Deller put me in touch with Mr. Betts who kindly provided me with a copy of his software: Assessing the Impacts of Development. He also offered to provide a tutorial for the software.
It is my belief that we have very good resources in hand, and we should at least look at it and give it an evaluation before we incur or even pass-on to the developers the expense of contracting for such studies.
First I want to be clear, I believe these studies should be done. I am not proposing that the city under no circumstances not farm-out this service. I am after all an advocate for such studies. My recollection from PC was that Mr. Schwecke was asked if he was in possession of this software and he said he hadn’t gone through all of the things you (Bill Connors) had left for him. I make no claims on this software and conceded at PC that I do not possess the knowledge needed to assess this assessment software. It is my recollection Mr. Schwecke was asked to look at the software, make a determination of its usefulness, and report back. I don’t recall hearing Mr. Schwecke express any concerns for his time or abilities. I’m certain if he had, then the PC would not have asked him to look into the matter further.
ReplyDeleteI agree these kinds of costs should be passed on to the developers, and I understood Mr. Schwecke is supposed to be invoicing developers for his efforts when appropriate to do so. Having said that, if I were a developer, and paying, I may prefer an outside study for reasons of assumed impartiality. So perhaps all if this debate is for naught.
I didn’t catch any discussion at PC that the city would NOT be paying for these studies. I have understood the city is paying for the Traffic Impact Analysis going on at Hwy 14. I believe there was some talk that the new TIF#6 would pick up the tab, but I haven’t heard what happens to the expense if the TIF doesn’t get formed.
These kinds of studies should be done, but it should be perfectly clear who will be paying for them before they are approved. And if it’s the city that pays, are there ways to reduce the expense?
The day prior to this meeting, I was in Janesville forking over nearly $2200 in property taxes, which represents 6 months of my obligation. Property taxes were a hot topic during the Mayoral race. If these studies will be paid by the city and have to be out-sourced because of skills or time, so be it. But I think it is reasonable to take a moment to determine if the free software along with some in-house effort by talented people and the resulting cost savings, results in, or possibly balances, any reduction in outcome. Especially if there is the possibility it will all get ignored anyway.