Browsing by Author "Cidell, Julie"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Development Impact Fees for Minnesota? A Review of Principles and National Practices
    (1999-10-01) Adams, John S.; Cidell, Julie; Hansen, Laura J.; Jung, Hyun-Joo; Ryu, Yeon-Taek; Vandrasek, Barbara J.
    Over the last two decades, local governments throughout the country have been looking for additional sources of revenue. Cuts in federal and state intergovernmental revenues, historically high interest rates, changes in tax-exempt bond markets, and voter resistance to increased taxes have forced governments to increase their reliance on fees and user charges. Local governments face a dilemma of escalating demands for public facilities and services caused by new development without having sufficient revenues to finance these demands. Existing residents are resistant to higher taxes and fees to fund the services and improvements required by new residents. In addition to problems of growth, many communities are struggling to finance backlog needs to bring aging or nonexistent systems of infrastructure up to modern standards. As a consequence of these problems, there is considerable interest in impact fees, which are charges to developers for off-site infrastructure improvements made necessary by the new development. Impact fees are viewed as a way for growth to "pay its way." In light of the economic pressures on local governments, it is clear why they have turned to impact fees. For growing jurisdictions, impact fees represent a vast store of potential revenue that can be tapped at less political cost than other sources. This practice does not mean, however, that impact fees are always the best solution or the wisest solution for infrastructure finance when taking account of social equity considerations and the need to maintain long-term community support for capital spending programs. Impact fees pose several considerations simultaneously: legal, economic, technical, administrative, policy, and financing alternatives. When faced with a proposed future fee scheme, builders, business people, property owners, and future home buyers should study all sides of the issue at once, not just the legal or economic questions. Impact fees raise fundamental social questions such as: Who really pays? How is the fee calculated? Where does the money go? How and where is the money spent? Who really benefits from the new or expanded public facilities? What is the impact of the fees on housing costs for new and for existing residents?
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    The Groundside Effects of Air Transportation
    (2001-08-01) Adams, John S.; Cidell, Julie
    This report systematically examines land uses around airports across the country, as well as the consequences for a metropolitan region of expanding versus moving an airport. A combination of methodologies is found to be the best approach. The airports in Minneapolis- St. Paul and Denver are further examined as case studies for the question of expansion versus new construction. Conclusions include: the larger the city, the more specialized the airport land uses, and regional economic needs and wants override local economic, social, and environmental needs and wants. Future study should take a more historical approach and more carefully define the region influenced by an airport.
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    Highway Improvements and Land Development Patterns in the Greater Twin Cities Area, 1970-1997: Measuring the Connections
    (2003-02-02) Smith, Laura J.; Adams, John S.; Cidell, Julie; Vandrasek, Barbara J.
    This report uses statistical methods to measure the relationships between improvements in highway transportation and patterns of land development in suburban and exurban areas of the greater Twin Cities. The methods used measure the timing and levels of residential, commercial, industrial, and esidential land development as indicators of the strength and causality of those relationships. The report investigates the key question of leads and lags between highway improvement and land development. Findings of the report suggest that the impact of major highway improvements on land development patterns took one form in the 1970s, another in the 1980s, and still other forms in the 1990s. Findings also illustrate how the lead-lag relationships differ by development type. Although statistical relationships describing correlations of leads, lags, and contemporaneous change were found to be highly significant, the measures of those relationships seldom were constant. They changed from one time period to the next, from one type of development to another, and from one location to another within specific time periods.
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    House Price Changes and Capital Shifts in Real Estate Values in Twin Cities-Area Housing Submarkets
    (2002-02-01) Adams, John S.; Cidell, Julie; Hansen, Laura J.; Vandrasek, Barbara J.
    This report explores the movement of average prices and price changes for single-unit houses between 1970 and 1995 in three housing submarkets that radiate outward from downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul. The report investigates one way of measuring gains and losses in housing values that might be traced in part to processes of economic growth, tax policy, and the outward movement of jobs, incomes, and the capital represented by housing assets. The report theorizes that these capital shifts are the result of the capitalized value of tax expenditures and property tax differentials between city and suburb, the impacts of utility pricing schemes, and the nature of consumer demand for housing. Additional factors that drive flux in this general pattern of outward movement of capital include energy and consumer price fluctuations, general economic conditions, significant inmigration, and perceptions about both public safety and school quality in different parts of the metropolitan region. The result of this dynamic is that some households realize unearned capital gains simply by virtue of their location, while others find themselves holding a depreciating asset due to factors beyond their control.
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    Scales of Airport Expansion: Globalization, Regionalization, and Local Land Use
    (2004-07-01) Cidell, Julie
    This study examines two main issues surrounding the increasing demand for airport capacity: the effects of globalization and transportation on each other as expressed through local land use, and the politics of scale in struggles over airport expansion. The study centers around three case studies to illustrate how globalization, air transportation, and local land use are connected at the municipal, metropolitan, and regional levels. Each case study investigates a specific issue. The Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) case investigates the geographical distribution of economic impacts of the airport. The Chicago (ORD) case documents the changing land uses over time around O'Hare, as well as a detailed investigation of the current land use controversy in the vicinity of an expanding airport. The Boston (BOS) case study examines the regionally-based solution to airport demand, specifically the attempts to encourage passengers to use smaller regional airports in the area instead of the crowded Logan Airport in Boston.