| Infill
and Neighborhood Redevelopment
California
AB
1284 (2001) would require the Department of Housing and Community
Development to approve twelve “housing opportunity districts,”
based on applications by interested cities and counties that have
a certified housing element and have adopted, among other things,
a transit village plan or an infill ordinance or other plan that
identifies infill parcels for housing development. Would require
a portion of the property tax revenues resulting from increases
in assessed value due to affordable housing construction to be
paid to the housing opportunity district, and provide the district
powers similar to those of a redevelopment agency, including the
ability to issue bonds and enter into other forms of indebtedness
for the purpose of constructing affordable housing and transit-oriented
public improvements within the district or the adjacent area.
(California
Futures Network)
AB
2359 (2000), the Community Investment Act, authorizes the
creation of the Community Development Investment Guarantee Fund
which would have established a program where private loans and
investments in underserved communities would be backed by partial
state repayment guarantees. The program would stimulate private
sector lending and investment, and encourage community development
lending and investment in very low, low-, and moderate-income
urban communities.
AB
2870 (Chaptered July 5, 2000, California Codes, Health and
Safety Code, Section 50898-50898.2) launches the Downtown Rebound
Program (DPRG) to provide financing to assist in the revitalization
of downtowns and neighborhoods, reduce development pressure of
agricultural and open space resources and provide viable live/work
linkages. The DRPG Program will provide planning grants to local
governments to promote infill housing development, housing near
transit and adaptive reuse, assisting owners of qualified buildings
in obtaining seismic and structural feasibility studies specifically
related to the purpose of adaptive reuse.
AB
857 (2002) has been called California’s best planning
bill in 30 years. AB 857 was passed by the legislature in an effort
to control sprawl and revitalize urban neighborhoods. The bill
establishes state planning priorities which encourage every state
agency to promote infill development and other efficient development
patterns while protecting the state’s environmental and
agricultural resources. “The bill is expected to maintain
and enhance public health and safety, reduce the current rate
of farmland and open space loss, address the current inequities
among communities – especially communities of color –
and save taxpayers millions of dollars.” (Smart Growth in
the Golden State press release 8/30/2002)
AB
1901 (Chaptered Sept. 29, 2000) is part of an effort to preserve
and bring back the State’s historic urban cores. “We
want to revitalize underused, urban buildings so that we don’t
continue to build out into what remains of our open space. California’s
a beautiful, expansive state, but there’s a lot of concern
– especially in our suburbs and rural communities –
that we’re simply becoming one giant strip mall. The bill
would create the Urban Initiatives Act to encourage urban revitalization
through property tax relief, income tax credit, and regulatory
flexibility.”
New Jersey
A
2591 (2002), the Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit Bill,
uses tax credits to leverage private money for non-profit community
groups who engage in community revitalization efforts. This program
could fund a variety of affordable housing and economic development
activities such as rehabilitating vacant residential and commercial
structures, making infrastructure improvements, providing public
open space, building recreation centers, and providing social
services such as job training and child care.
Arizona
House
Bill 2105 passed both Houses in 2002. It would authorize counties
to establish infill incentive districts in unincorporated areas
of a county, and adopt infill incentive plans for each district.
The plans could include provisions for expedited zoning and processing
of development plans, and waiver of development fees and standards.
(National Conference
of State Legislatures)
Florida
House
Bill 17 (1999) authorizes counties and municipalities to designate
urban infill and redevelopment areas. Local government incentives
to developers for new development, expansion of existing development
or redevelopment within an urban infill and redevelopment area
include waiver of license and permit fees, waiver of local option
sales taxes, expedited permitting, lower transportation impact
fees for development that encourages public transit, prioritized
infrastructure financing, and absorption of developer’s
concurrency costs. State incentives for local governments that
adopt urban infill and redevelopment plans include authority to
issue community redevelopment revenue bonds, community redevelopment
tax increment financing, and priority in the allocation of private
activity bonds. The act also establishes a grant program for local
government projects in urban infill and redevelopment areas, and
amends the state’s transportation concurrency requirements
to encourage public transit facilities within urban infill and
redevelopment areas. (National
Conference of State Legislatures)
Maine
Legislative
Document 2600 (Enacted in 1999, Public Laws of Maine, Chapter
776) - In an attempt to encourage smart growth planning at
the local level, the act limits state growth-related capital investments
to designated growth areas contained in a local government’s
comprehensive plan, or to areas served by a public sewer system
that can provide service to a new project. The act establishes
the Municipal Investment Trust Fund to provide loans to municipalities
that undertake comprehensive downtown revitalization efforts.
It requires the Department of Administrative and Financial Services
to develop site selection criteria for state office buildings
to encourage their location in service center downtowns. (National
Conference of State Legislatures)
Maryland
SB
389 (1997) establishes the Priority Funding Areas Program
that designates the types of existing areas – primarily
urban centers and areas proposed for revitalization – that
are eligible for state economic development funds, and authorizes
counties to designate priority funding areas that meet local guidelines
for intended use and have sufficient infrastructure in place to
make development viable. Beginning October 1, 1998, no state funding
of growth related projects can occur unless the projects are located
in a priority funding area.
House
Bill 5 (Enacted as Chapter 304) - This 1999 bill establishes
a Smart Growth Economic Development Infrastructure Fund in the
Department of Business and Economic Development. The fund is to
be used to make loans to economically distressed counties to finance
economic development projects.
Mixed-Use
Development
Oregon
SB
763 (2001) is known as the Vertical Housing Zone Legislation
and provides a partial tax exemption for construction projects
that combine ground-floor commercial space with upper-floor residential
use. A proposed zone must be located in concert with a light rail
station, a transit oriented area, or within a core area of an
urban center. General
Information about SB 763 provided by the Oregon Economic and
Community Development Department.
Spatial Mismatch
California
AB
2864 (2000) would create the Inter-Regional Partnership State
Pilot Project to Improve the Balance of Jobs and Housing which
would work to find solutions to imbalances of jobs and housing
in specified areas. The bill also establishes the Jobs-Housing
Balance Improvement Program that would require the department
to make grants to eligible local agencies to attract new business
to “housing rich” communities that lack an adequate
employment base.
AB
2476 (2002) would authorize the Department of Housing and
Community Development to distribute funds for local, regional,
or interregional studies that address interregional impacts relating
to transportation systems, traffic congestion, and long commutes
that result, in part, from the imbalance of jobs and housing.
Would require those studies to focus on developing strategies
to promote jobs-to-housing balance objectives. (California
Futures Network)
Tax Incremental
Financing
Washington
House
Bill 1418 (2001) was passed in an effort to promote economic
stability and orderly development in Washington’s communities.
The bill authorizes a funding mechanism called community revitalization
financing which gives jurisdictions the ability to capture future
tax revenues and use them to pay for up-front public improvements
in designated zones if they are expected to foster economic development.
Land Value
Taxation
Pennsylvania
SB
211 passed through both houses of the state legislature by
a vote of 246-2 and was signed into law by Governor Tom Ridge
in November 1998 as Act 108. The law extends the option of adopting
a split-rate property tax to the 964 boroughs of the state.
New York
Senate Bill 5652 / Assembly Bill 7901 was signed into law in 1993
and enables the city of Amsterdam, NY to adopt a two-rate property
tax.
Maryland
Act 656 from 1916 allows cities to classify land separately for
the purposes of taxation. In a 1995
opinion, the Maryland Attorney General interpreted the act
to grant authority for a two-tier taxation system.
Virginia
HB239 (2002) was signed into law by Virginia Governor Mark Warner
on February 19th and permits Fairfax City to enact Land Value
Taxation. The bill, which is the first of its kind in Virginia,
takes effect in 2003.
Location
Efficient Mortgages
Maryland
The “Live
Near Your Work” program offers a $3,000 grant –
a third from participating employers, a third from the state,
and a third from the local government of the community where the
employee works – toward costs associated with a home purchase,
with the employee committing a minimum of $1,000 in his or her
own funds. The home must be in a neighborhood in the sponsoring
jurisdiction, and the beneficiary must agree to stay in the home
for a limited period of time (usually three-to-five years).
Washington
SB
5950 was introduced in the 2001 legislature and provides ten
year property tax deferrals for construction or rehabilitation
of multifamily housing within transit corridors.
Inclusionary
Zoning
North Carolina
SB
1001 (2001) provides authority for cities and counties to
use inclusionary zoning to promote the development of affordable
housing for sale or rental to persons and families of low and
moderate income.
Transit-Oriented
Development
Pennsylvania
HB
2464 (2001) would authorize public transportation agencies
to work in cooperation with counties, municipalities, Amtrak,
and the private sector to designate and create transit revitalization
investments districts (TRIDs). The bill proposes to encourage
cooperative approaches to new development around rail transit
stations and along public transportation corridors, and to increase
ridership on public transit systems while generating revenues
for expanded services and capital improvements. It also seeks
to encourage multi-jurisdictional implementation of comprehensive
plans, stimulate public-private partnerships, and establish mechanisms
to capture the value added by joint development activities, to
reinvest in transit systems and local communities. More information
on HB 2464 is available from the American
Planning Association.
Fix-It-First
New Jersey
SB 16 received overwhelming bi-partisan support and was signed
into law (P.L. 2000, Chapter 73) by Governor Whitman on July
20, 2000. The bill re-approved the state Transportation Trust
Fund that administers future transportation development, and was
amended to include key provisions that dealt with suburban sprawl,
such as the requirement that older roads be repaired before new
ones can be built. The bill also required legislative approval
of all new highways, and included provisions dealing with additional
bike paths and replacement of diesel buses.
Historic
Preservation
California
SB
1247 would establish the California Trust for Cultural and
Historic Preservation which would use funds from the sale of bonds
to make grants, loans, or purchases relating to historical resources,
develop programs to protect and preserve California’s cultural
and historic resources, and create a master plan for cultural
and historic preservation in the state. In addition, the legislation
would consolidate cultural and historic preservation programs
within state government (California
Futures Network)
Parking Cash-Out
California
AB 2109 (1992 - California Health and Safety Code, Section 43845)
mandates that employers with over 50 workers must provide a parking
cash-out option.
Building Rehabilitation
Codes
New
Jersey
New Jersey enacted a rehabilitation
subcode or “smart code” in 1997.
Maryland
Maryland adopted legislation modeled after the New Jersey code
in 2000. Senate Bill 207 allows for rehabilitation to take place
in only one area of a building, thereby reducing rehabilitation
costs. For more information, see:
Rhode
Island
Rhode Island’s rehabilitation
code became effective May 2002. The code exempts existing
commercial buildings from certain construction requirements.
California
The 2001
California Historical Building Code was created to regulate
the preservation, rehabilitation, and restoration of historic
buildings and properties. |
