NNECAPA News Stories
Current Stories
- New laws will allow more workforce housing 2008-07-23
- The Innovation Economy comes to Eight Towns: The Green Community Technology Process and the Triple Bottom Line 2008-07-08
- Submit an article for the next Yankee Planner! 2008-07-01
- REGISTER NOW for the 2008 NNECAPA Annual Conference 2008-06-26
New laws will allow more workforce housing
By TOM FAHEY
State House Bureau Chief
CONCORD – Gov. John Lynch signed two bills yesterday that are meant to ease the development of affordable housing throughout the state.
The new laws firm up assessment methods on rental housing and clear the way for towns to set up and fund workforce housing commissions.
Taken with a bill Lynch signed June 30, the new laws create an environment more friendly to workforce housing developers. Affordable housing for state workers has been a priority with advocates for low-income families and the business community for years.
Lynch said the state has worked hard to improve schools and provide workers with better skills, but housing remains an issue.
"Many families are increasingly priced out of New Hampshire's housing market," Lynch said. "Business cannot expand if the workforce is not available." The lack of affordable housing for new workers has cost the state roughly 2,800 jobs a year, he said.
Senate President Sylvia Larsen, D-Concord, has worked to improve workforce housing availability since 1996 and been on two study commissions in that time.
"This year we truly made some progress," she said. "What we've accomplished is to put decent and affordable housing within reach of New Hampshire families."
The new laws allow local governments to set up housing commissions and housing loan funds; simplify the assessment of properties built under a federal low-income tax credit program; adopt the holdings of a New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling that said local zoning ordinances must provide developers "realistic and reasonable" chances to build affordable housing; and establish faster appeals of local planning and zoning board rulings.
The bills brought together a coalition of employers, housing providers, developers, assessors and advocates for low-income renters, as well as Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
"This has been a key public policy issue for New Hampshire's business community for many years," said David Juvet, vice president of the Business and Industry Association. For the last four years, he said, "We kept hearing not only from our members, but businesses all over the state: 'We need more housing for our workers.'"
One key change will be that the law firms up ground rules in assessing affordable housing developments built with federal tax credits. Rental income will become a more important factor in figuring the value of the properties. Market value will become less of a factor.
New Hampshire gets annual allocations of about $22 million in federal housing tax credits that can be used for affordable housing projects, said Ignatius MacLellan of the Northern New England Housing Investment Fund. Those credits are awarded to developers, who then sell them to investors, often banks with operations in the state.
MacLellan said developers "need predictability and objectivity to sell those credits." The change in assessing standards, which take effect in July 2009, provide that certainty, he said.
As housing built with the credits is assessed at lower values, other taxpayers may pick up some of the burden, said Judy Silva of the New Hampshire Municipal Association.
"When somebody pays less, somebody else pays more, but the bottom line is that there needs to be a fair assessment to begin with," she said. The law makes clear issues in a number of cases that the Board of Tax and Land Appeals now has before it, she said.
The three workforce housing bills were HB 1442, HB 1259 and SB 342.
Posted: 2008-07-23
The Innovation Economy comes to Eight Towns: The Green Community Technology Process and the Triple Bottom Line
By Ann Ruzow Holland
Community, Economy, and the Environment are the Triple Bottom Line. Today’s municipalities resemble socially responsible businesses and are concerned about all three. A group of eight local governments in five states spent the last three years “walking the walk” and seriously changing the impact of their community actions on the local economy and environment. These communities were not only concerned about the escalating price of energy and the toll it takes on budgeting and planning, but also about new ways to organize and manage their capital assets in the public interest. They shared a sense of frustration with aging infrastructure, limited resources and an overwhelming responsibility to maintain facilities and services that were not meeting town needs today or in the future. Linking local government with the right kind and fit of technical assistance moved the group of eight from dilemma to action, bringing environment, economy and community together in a dramatic new way.
The hardest step is getting started and moving away from crisis-to-crisis planning. The Green Community Technologies(GCT) process is an innovative inventory, analysis, and planning process that helps organize and identify the most pressing problems local governments are facing. Funded by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Small Business Innovative Research program, Yellow Wood Associates of St. Albans, Vermont, created the Green Community Technologies process to help communities access the best state-of-the-art technologies to solve their infrastructure problems. Through GCT, eight local governments instituted a planned progression to more efficient, more environmentally responsible, cost-saving technologies and practices. GCT applies a “systems approach” to inventory and analyze public facilities and infrastructure, and identifies areas where alternative approaches have significant potential to save money, protect the environment and improve service delivery. Based on community priorities, GCT provides customized research into alternative proven approaches that match community needs, conditions, and constraints. When communities are ready to implement changes, GCT can help identify a roster of qualified contractors. GCT culminates by identifying capital allocation opportunities that provide sustainable solutions to community problems. The results are compelling for public officials and taxpayers alike. By moving from dilemma to action, governments are able to report substantial cost and energy savings, improved bond ratings, regulatory compliance, job generation, and protect the environment at the same time while improving community quality of life.
Getting "One’s House in Order"
Capital asset inventories do not appear to rate high on a municipality’s list of key management objectives, but the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) and state Comptrollers believe these inventories are essential and play a critical management function. It is stunning that many municipalities do not possess a comprehensive and up-to-date inventory of the assets they hold in trust for the taxpayers. The GCT inventory process can address this critical gap while meeting GASB requirements. The GCT inventory process promotes communication between decision-makers and asset managers that can lead to better management of government assets. Improved communication leads to increased shared understanding of conditions and a willingness to consider feasible alternatives. Sustainable communities rely upon well-managed public facilities that are cost effective, affordable and environmentally friendly.
Some local governments have already compiled or maintain comprehensive capital asset inventories and have met GASB requirements. GCT enables communities to start with an inventory or not, depending upon their circumstances.
Comprehensive Asset Assessments in Case Study Communities
Richmond, Massachusetts is a moderate sized community nestled in the Berkshire Mountains. Thetford, Vermont is a hill town within commuting distance of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Both Richmond and Thetford are thriving communities which are experiencing moderate residential growth and development.
GCT began with a comprehensive assessment of each town’s material assets, such as sidewalks and roads, streetlights, buildings and equipment, vehicles, town-owned forests and water resources.
Litchfield, Maine, Barnstable County, Massachusetts and Hancock, New Hampshire, wanted to focus their initial inventory on a select set of capital assets. For example, Hancock wanted to combine the GCT inventory and assessment with their highway database to develop a maintenance plan based on road condition and use. They wanted to understand how well different road segments were meeting community needs today and in the future.
The inventory process itself provided a great benefit to these five communities, detailing holdings and their condition and promoting shared knowledge of assets among town officials. In one case study, conducting an asset inventory revealed that multiple heating systems were in need of replacement. Rather than stagger their replacement, the community could consider bulk purchase, cooperative energy systems, or higher efficiency alternatives, including alternative fuel use. In another community, it became clear that culverts and roads were inadequate in the same locations and that these locations were adjacent to the next town. This offers an opportunity to confer with neighbors so the solutions are “win-win.” Without the capital asset inventory, these options may not have been discovered and evaluated.
Some of the inventories were also designed to meet the new General Accounting Standards Board Statement #34 (GASB 34), which requires communities to report municipal infrastructure as an asset. As a result, roads, bridges, drainage systems, etc., are now subject to depreciation. Estimating cost depreciation requires extensive historical data collection that can be prohibitively expensive and labor-intensive for small local governments. Communities must meet GASB standards if they want to be in a position to finance municipal projects through bonding. In addition to its other benefits, the Green Community Technologies inventory cost effectively allowed Richmond to meet this important administrative benchmark.
Towns that have already complied with GASB 34 can incorporate this information into the GCT inventory. Results of the inventory and assessment go beyond GASB compliance and help identify areas in which alternative approaches should be considered to achieve better economic, environmental and/or social outcomes. A “systems analysis” of community infrastructure leads to specific recommendations for improved management or replacement of infrastructure with more efficient, environmentally-friendly technologies. At the conclusion of the inventory and assessment, communities receive an asset management tool in the form of an electronic database that can be updated as needed for the long-term.
Jumping Ahead on the Fast Track: Hot button issues
Sometimes communities choose to forgo the inventory process in favor of a hot button issue that comes to the forefront and requires immediate attention. The GCT process is flexible and allows alternative applications. Hinesburg and Richmond, Vermont and Franklin, New York identified issues of immediate concern for Green Community Technologies to start researching alternatives. In these three cases, GCT worked with community decision-makers who had already identified assets most in need of repair, improvement or replacement. In keeping with the “Triple Bottom Line,” the GCT process identified potential cost savings and environmental benefits to each community.
Generally, when communities face infrastructure issues, they turn first to engineers or architects who provide them with a limited set of solutions based on their own expertise. Conventional solutions typically do not open the door to innovative solutions that have been effectively implemented in other places. With Green Community TechnologiesSM, communities define their needs in and learn about a wide range of proven solutions in use in the United States and beyond. From its library of technologies and technologists, alternatives are identified that provide for the wisest and most affordable decision for each community.
Hinesburg, Vermont
Hinesburg, Vermont (population 5,000) is nestled against the edge of the Green Mountains about 15 miles southeast of Burlington and about 10 miles east of Lake Champlain. In close proximity to metropolitan Burlington, Hinesburg has seen its share of growth over time, but as growth moves out from Burlington, Hinesburg will see even more.
Hinesburg was faced with growing residential demand that would force expansion of its wastewater treatment system. With a multi-million dollar capital project looming, the GCT process helped the Town by identifying opportunities to reduce input into the treatment plant by diverting grey-water from a single source that does not require expensive secondary treatment. In addition, GCT identified opportunities for water conservation in new construction that will reduce per unit wastewater flows, and alternative treatment technologies that will improve efficiency at the plant. As a result, Hinesburg expects to avoid having to invest millions of dollars in expansion in favor of much less expensive pre-treatment upgrades and a smaller and more efficient wastewater treatment system.
Solutions, such as this one, are most likely to emerge when problems are considered in a “systems” context, rather than as stand-alone issues. The stand-alone solution would have been to expand the treatment plant rather than look at the quality of flows it was treating, as well as opportunities for conservation and redirection. Without Green Community TechnologiesSM, comprehensive solutions would likely not have been considered. The traditional process of hiring expensive architects and engineers to implement conventional, “business as usual” solutions does not leave room for thinking outside the box and addressing the "Triple Bottom Line."
Franklin, New York
Franklin, New York, population 1,218 (Census 2005) is in the Adirondack region of New York. The Town is at a pivotal point in planning for their facility needs, having identified a variety of issues with respect to existing buildings. The Town has also been considering constructing a new building to meet specific town needs. Over the years, the Town’s Building Committee collected a variety of information on its buildings. However, to date, the information collected was insufficient to provide a clear path forward. This is a common problem in municipalities and one which Green Community TechnologiesSM was developed to address. Providing external and objective technical assistance often leads to improved decision-making and subsequent action.
Franklin was in need of a new approach that could address the timing and demand of multiple needs. As a result, GCT conducted a multi-facility assessment, researched green building alternatives, and identified the regulatory issues and resources associated with the project. GCT maximized the use of existing assets and minimized the amount of new construction required to meet Town goals. The more compact the spaces are, the easier and less expensive they are to heat and maintain. Green Community TechnologiesSM introduced Town decision-makers to principles and practices of green building and gave them conceptual designs to bring to an architect. GCT will locate professionals, qualified to implement green building practices, for the Town to include on its bid lists. The Town of Franklin will consider addressing its building needs in phases in order to address the most critical needs first and move functions around temporarily without running out of space for them. Most importantly, phasing will allow the Town to focus its limited resources on one or two projects at a time without becoming overwhelmed. In the words of Dave Decker, member of the Franklin Building Committee, “We need a new community house, and thanks to this we’re doing it the right way. I’m really impressed. Franklin is now working on recruiting “Green” architects, contractors and supplies, and constructing a capital finance plan for the four facilities.
Richmond, Vermont
Richmond, Vermont is located in the western foothills of the Green Mountains on the eastern edge of the Lake Champlain Valley. Like many communities, parts of Richmond’s infrastructure are nearly a hundred years old, requiring costly improvements in the near future. While faced with numerous priorities for infrastructure repair and replacement, resources available for these improvements are limited, as is the capacity to consider alternative options.
As with many communities, the Town’s capital assets had never been completely inventoried so Richmond prepared a Green Community TechnologiesSM capital asset inventory and assessment that satisfied GASB 34 requirements. Local leaders took advantage of this effort to map and digitize all infrastructure locations to create a capital asset overlay in their Geographic Information System (GIS). Richmond’s auditors commended the town on completing the fixed asset requirement.
Once the inventory was completed, the Yellow Wood team conducted a participatory review process in collaboration with town administrators and the Richmond Planning Commission.
GCT identified six areas in which alternative approaches could make a real difference in outcome and cost. GCT researched the differences in cost, performance, capacity and impact between conventional and alternative approaches. Six recommendations were made where alternative technologies would provide superior overall economic and environmental performance. Planning was tailored to meet Richmond’s “Triple Bottom Line” and engaged officials and citizens in charting the Town’s future. This process also equipped them with an analysis of options based on the latest technologies and life-cycle economics.
Green Community TechnologiesSM found a grant to help offset the cost of highly efficient pumps and motors for the new sewage treatment plant. The Town is in the process of retrofitting its historic town hall to increase energy efficiency and is taking steps to upgrade underground pipes. Richmond’s latest interest is in generating local energy using renewable fuels.
Richmond, Vermont - Lessons Learned: Moving from “Thought to Action”
For each of these eight communities, taking the time to analyze alternative approaches was not only in the communities’ best interests, but also served to conserve taxpayer dollars and improve environmental impacts, thus addressing the “Triple Bottom Line.” Introduction of a systems approach brought new choices to local government officials who needed to move from dilemma to concrete action. In the long term, implementation of GCT recommendations depends on towns’ financial management capacity.However, the Green Community TechnologiesSM process equips administrators with baseline data, asset management tools, information about emerging technologies, and a methodology for decision-making as opportunities arise. Once implemented, GCT is successful at saving tax dollars, improving bond ratings and helping assure citizens’ access to basic services. What is different about the Green Community TechnologiesSM process is that it accomplishes these goals while at the same time reducing environmental impacts, conserving resources and preserving quality of life.
By linking information on asset conditions with the extent to which they meet and will meet community needs, municipal leaders can take a proactive approach to their infrastructure. Officials can plan replacements well in advance and identify opportunities for cost savings through combined purchases. Understanding the pros and cons of alternative approaches helps public officials explain their decisions and choices to the electorate and Improves accountability for municipal infrastructure. Proactive planning combined with intelligent capital allocations will contribute to enhanced fiscal stability and physical security.
Public accountants, auditors and comptrollers recommend that municipalities take a long-term view of their infrastructure investments. Communities know that it is also in their best interests. The process of analysis can be daunting and complex. GCT uses a life-cycle costing approach to compare the total costs of alternative versus conventional approaches. Life-cycle costing is the process of considering alternatives which satisfy all performance requirements (e.g. code, safety, comfort, reliability) based on all costs spent over the life of the longest lived alternative. These costs include purchase price, operation and maintenance, replacement costs for shorter lived alternatives, and disposal cost.GCT enables communities to take a long-term view of their infrastructure by making the process accessible, affordable and successful.
Communities attain sustainability by design or fail to by default. The decisions towns make today will profoundly affect their ability to function in a near future in which energy supply and environment impact become crucial concerns. A new kind of approach is required for municipalities to make use of the emerging technologies and new practices that assure financial solvency, energy efficiency, natural resource conservation, and the capacity to meet citizens’ basic needs.
Ann Ruzow Holland, is a consulting Community Planning Advisor in Willsboro, New York and a Yellow Wood Associate. She has been a community planner and sustainable community developer for over 30 years.
Yellow Wood Associates is a community and economic development consulting firm providing research, facilitation, strategic planning, evaluation and training services since 1985. Visit the website at: http://www.greencommunitiytechnologies.com/
Posted: 2008-07-08
Submit an article for the next Yankee Planner!
Do you have a great project going on in your community that you want other planners to know about? Have you always wanted to publish an article on a planning topic/issue that is of interest to you?
Well, now is your chance to take a more active role in the creation of the next Yankee Planner (Summer edition coming out in August). Please submit articles (250 to 500 words in length) to Sandrine Thibault, NNECAPA Public Information Officer by sending her an email at: sthibault@ci.burlington.vt.us
Articles must be submitted by Thursday July 31, 2008 for the Summer edition.
**Space in the Yankee Planner is limited so articles will be published in the order they are received.
Posted: 2008-07-01
REGISTER NOW for the 2008 NNECAPA Annual Conference
Planning for the Net Generation
In twenty years, the last of the baby-boomers will be eligible for retirement, and the Net Generation will be middle-aged. What will their world look like? What will "community" mean in a society influenced by the internet and cell phones? What effect will global warming and the energy situation have on the way people live and get around? How do we engage the Net Generation in identifying and planning for their needs? What can we learn from educators to help us better engage today's youth in planning for their future?
Introducing the topic on Thursday will be Barbara Knauff, Ph.D., senior instructional technologist at Dartmouth College. Barbara will provide participants with a framework for understanding the "Digital Native" and what today's on-line social networking means for community and for community participation.
Over lunch Thursday, Chapter Awards will be presented, followed by Planning Commissioners Journal Editor Wayne Senville's "Across America on US 50". Wayne took six weeks this past summer to travel across America on U.S. Route 50, meeting with well over 100 planners, planning commissioners, citizens, and elected officials in cities and towns in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California. Come hear and see what Wayne learned.
On Friday, hear keynote speaker Allison Fine – author of the award winning book "Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age". Learn more about Allison's research on the future of social change and civic engagement in the digital age at www.allisonfine.com.
Attendees will have 3 tracks of workshops to choose from with 5 sessions in each over the two day event:
- Today's Technology for Tomorrow – The focus will be on take-home tools including blogs and wikis for engaging the public in planning activities, interactive mapping, 3-D modeling, and using images to enhance your project. Also featured will be emerging technologies for rural and urban communities.
- Youth on Board - Come hear from KIDS (Kids Involved Doing Service), David Raphael and others about success stories for engaging youth in community planning decisions. Examine the role of immigration in changing age demographics and community vitality. See what campus planners are doing to create "green" learning environments.
- Looking Forward – Get a head start on tomorrow's hot topics – carbon budgets for municipalities; wastewater systems that support smart growth in smaller communities, transportation alternatives for an aging society, food system planning as a community building element, and growth as a positive force that keeps our communities vibrant for all generations.
Mobile workshops will include two different tours of Woodstock: one focusing on its village issues and one on the hills outside; a visit to White River Junction – a Vermont downtown revitalization success story; and a visit to Vermont Law School's LEED-certified buildings (new and rehabbed) and 3-story composting toilets, with a tour of the greenhouse wastewater treatment at Sharon’s visitor’s center on the way.
Friday's activities will wind up early enough for participants to tour the Billings Farm & Museum and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller; National Historic Park. Admission to both is free with your Woodstock Inn lodging. The region has much to offer in museums, venues for bike rides, unique shopping opportunities, home-grown businesses and the Wednesday afternoon farmers market.
For AICP members, CM credits will be available for certain sessions.
For more information and to register, please go to this section http://www.nnecapa.org/resources of the NNECAPA website and download the complete registration materials in .pdf format.
Posted: 2008-06-26