This book presents a comprehensive method by which to determine the proportionate share of the costs and revenues generated by the development of new water, wastewater, and stormwater facilities. It presents a rational, legally defensible approach to assessing charges based on the use of new and existing facilities to support new system development. Written by a consultant who has helped hundreds of communities deal with how to pay for growth, the book is designed for all communities prese...

America’s landscape is undergoing a profound transformation as demand grows for a different kind of American Dream--smaller homes on smaller lots, multifamily options, and walkable neighborhoods. This trend presents a tremendous opportunity to reinvent our urban and suburban areas. But in a time of fiscal austerity, how do we finance redevelopment needs? In Foundations of Real Estate Development Finance: A Guide for Public-Private Partnerships, urban scholar Arthur C. Nelson argue...

Nearly half the buildings that will be standing in 2030 do not exist today. That means we have a tremendous opportunity to reinvent our urban areas, making them more sustainable and livable for future generations. But for this vision to become reality, the planning community needs reliable data about emerging trends and smart projections about how they will play out. Arthur C. Nelson delivers that resource in Reshaping Metropolitan America.This unprecedented reference prov...

After decades of evolving practice often tested in court, development impact fees have become institutionalized in the American planning and local government finance systems. But, they remain contentious, especially as they continue to evolve. This book is the third in a series of impact fee guidebooks for practitioners, following A Practitioner’s Guide to Development Impact Fees and Impact Fees: Proportionate Share Development Fees.Proportionate Share Impact Fees...

One of the policies that has been most widely used to try to limit urban sprawl has been that of urban containment. These policies are planning controls limiting the growth of cities in an attempt to preserve open rural uses, such as habitat, agriculture and forestry, in urban regions. While there has been a substantial amount of research into these urban containment policies, most have focused on issues of land use, consumption, transportation impacts or economic development issues. This ...

Many communities across the nation still lack affordable housing. And many officials continue to claim that “affordable housing” is an oxymoron. Building inexpensively is impossible, they say, because there are too many regulations. Required environmental impact statements and habitat protection laws, they contend, drive up the costs of construction. But is this actually true? In a comprehensive study of the question, the authors of this eye-opening book separate fact from myth.Wit...

Impact fees are one-time charges that are applied to new residential developments by local governments that are seeking funds to pay for the construction or expansion of public facilities, such as water and sewer systems, schools, libraries, and parks and recreation facilities. In the face of taxpayer revolts against increases in property taxes, impact fees are used increasingly by local governments throughout the U.S. to finance construction or improvement of their infrastructure. Recent ...

"Transfer of Development Rights" (TDR) programs allow local governments to put economic principles to work in encouraging good land use planning. TDR programs most often permit landowners to forfeit development rights in areas targeted for preservation and then sell those development rights to buyers who want to increase the density of development in areas designated as growth areas by local authorities.Although TDR programs must conform to zoning laws, they provide market incentiv...

The concept of “the city” —as well as “the state” and “the nation state” —is passé, agree contributors to this insightful book. The new scale for considering economic strength and growth opportunities is “the megaregion,” a network of metropolitan centers and their surrounding areas that are spatially and functionally linked through environmental, economic, and infrastructure interactions.Recently a great deal of attention has been focused on the emergence of the European Union and...

In the spirit of the Book of Common Prayer, Art Nelson provides a new collection of public and private prayers to help us meet the uncertainties of life with the dignity of prayer.Often when situations of very specific pain or joy arise (pregnancyat risk, marriage crisis, addiction, psychosis, incarceration, rape, celebrating wedding or anniversary, victory over abuse, etc.), we struggle to find the right words to pray for that situation. The high emotion of the moment or the longstanding ...

Cats distract us. Cats make us think of things outside of ourselves. And cats love to involve themselves in human affairs.In this omnibus volume of WMG Publishing's notable series, The Year of the Cat, felines of all stripes pounce and play and stalk through 100 cat stories in genres ranging from light romance to dark crime and everything in between.Entertaining cats, loving cats, even super-talented and time-traveling cats grace the pages of these twelve volumes edited by ...

"99 Science Fiction Short Stories" brings together some of the finest sci fi short stories ever crafted. Featuring gems from masters of the genre, such as H.G Wells , Robert Barr , PKD, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Norton, and many, many more!