Capital Improvement Programs
by Michael Chandler
Series of three columns by Michael Chandler covering the basics of putting together a capital improvement program.
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From PCJ #25, 26, 27; Winter, Spring, Summer 1997
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As you know, the comprehensive plan establishes policies for
current and future land use throughout a community. However, we
often forget that the plan, although an important instrument of
public policy, cannot by itself produce change.
Zoning and subdivision regulations are the most familiar "tools"
used to implement the plan. Another important implementation
tool is the capital improvement program, usually referred to as
the CIP.
Defining the CIP
The CIP is a management and fiscal planning tool communities can
use for financing and constructing needed public improvements
and facilities. Properly designed, a CIP enables a community to
identify its capital needs, rank them by priority, coordinate
their scheduling, and determine the best method of paying for
them within the community's fiscal capacity.
In most states, localities have the discretion to determine
whether they want to prepare a CIP. Usually, the planning
commission annually prepares a recommended CIP, and then
forwards it to the local governing body for adoption.
Baseline requirements for CIPs include that the CIP be based on
the comprehensive plan and that it schedule capital improvements
over a specific number of years (commonly three, five, or six).
...
One item in the Blacksburg, Virginia, capital improvement program. In this series of articles, Michael Chandler provides an introduction to capital improvement programs and their relationship to the local comprehensive plan.
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