Land Use and Community Character Goal 7
Growth will be directed to those areas that have sufficient transportation and utility infrastructure capacity, as well as convenient access to other public services that are necessary to serve it.
7.1 Enforce Adequate Public Facilities
STRATEGY: Continue to enforce the Town’s Adequate Public Facilities regulations to ensure that services are available for new development and to fund necessary infrastructure improvements.
JUSTIFICATION: Given the small size and limited resources of the town, new development of any size can have a significant impact on the town’s ability to maintain current levels of service. Through the Adequate Public Facilities regulations, the town can analyze the effects of new development or annexation on its service levels and determine whether revenues from the proposed development, or any proffers made, will be sufficient to ensure a continuation of existing service levels.
7.2 Expand the Scope of Adequate Public Facilities Regulations
STRATEGY: Amend the Adequate Public Facilities regulations to include the consideration of the provision of fire, police, sanitation, street maintenance and parks to ensure that these other services are either present or can be provided to the development in a cost effective and efficient manner.
JUSTIFICATION: The current scope of the adequate public facilities regulations only measures impacts on water and sewer service, schools and road capacity. Expanding the scope to include the services referenced above will help to better assess the true impact of a development on all of the municipal services offered by the town.
7.3 Proactive Adequate Public Facilities Determinations
STRATEGY: Proactively identify and designate areas that have sufficient road and utility capacity, as well as access to other public services, and allow development in those areas to utilize an abbreviated Adequate Public Facilities review process.
JUSTIFICATION: The pre-identification of areas where services can be provided without a negative impact on the overall level of service to the community can help to direct development to desired / beneficial growth areas. Similarly, areas that are limited in their capacity to accommodate new development can be identified to discourage development in those areas. This will help to provide a higher degree of certainty to developers that are looking to invest in the community, while also potentially limiting the amount of time that is devoted to reviewing development proposals in areas where sufficient capacity does not exist to support growth.
7.4 Coordination of Land Use and Utility Capacity
STRATEGY: Work with Jefferson County to adopt future land use and zoning designations for areas in the town’s utility service area that reflect the existing and planned infrastructure capacities in those areas.
JUSTIFICATION: Aligning the County’s land use and zoning classifications with the capacity of the town’s utility system to serve new development will help to ensure that developer and property owner expectations are properly scaled to the carrying capacity of the utility system. This type of alignment can also lower development costs by directing growth towards those areas where costly utility extensions are not necessary.