Book Description

Capital improvement planning is at the forefront of a planner's role in protecting the public interest. Capital projects that are delayed or tabled can cause budget overruns or in some cases deprive communities of critical services. Members of the governing bodies responsible for approving capital improvements often have limited terms of office or of appointment, or else they may not have expertise in the fields of planning or public administration, and so it falls to the planner to understand which capital improvements are most beneficial to the community. A prioritization tool could assist decision makers in determining which capital projects to approve. This study proposes a new tool for capital project prioritization. The tool catalogs capital projects, local assets, and necessary infrastructure improvements, analyzes the potential impacts of projects, and thereby determines priorities going forward. The tool's underlying formula determines prioritization based on spatial distribution of projects, in the context of a variety of planning values, such as sustainable environmental practice and aesthetics, for example, in determining prioritization. Although data for the development of this tool is drawn from a case study of one particular municipality, Wall Township, the issue of capital improvement prioritization is widespread, as research shows. It is hoped that the methods developed for this case study might inform their application by other communities, organizations and municipal agencies.