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APPENDIX C lUfALY~I~ TO DnDMlla TIU; UUCT PARK5 BAn ON ADJACENT PROPERTY VALUES LA 5224 Contemporary Issues Spring 1987 Carol E. Zoff Pelton Assignment .5 Current Issue Ana.lysis The issue chosen for analysis is to determine if property ildjilcent to or in tpe ricinil.V of pad land will expeJ"ience an incre3Seil1 mu.tel Jl31ue. This issue is of importance to me betause the City Council of Centervil1ehas taken the word of a housing subdivision developer who says that tie would be unable to sell lots adjacent to a proposed park site. This wasatactor in ttleirdecision to deny the recommendatIon of the Park and Recreation Commission to aquire this parkland. If the Council is under the impression that parkland will make it difficult to sell adjaCent property and this affects their decisions on other park landaquisition. then I would like to be able to provide the other view point that parks will improve the sellabiHty and market value of adjacent or nearby property. thus generating additional tax income for the city. Hopefully this wiU help the Council to make more informed decisions in the future. . These Park and RetreationCommission park land aquisition proposals are in keeping with the ComprehenSive Plan and park: land dedication ordinance for Centervi11e. These documents have been the guides for my thesis that includes a comprehensive park: system plan. The proposals are based upon the recommendatIons in the thesis and would tit within an overall plan fprpark land aquisition and development. Overall, it is important for landscape architects to have an understanding of the ramifications of development features, such as parts. so as to justify or diSQualify them and to plan for their additional expense and/or income for a project ~, .- . This paper recognizes but will not discuss otberpark/quality of life issues. Today cities are giving Incent!vles to attract development and a developer'S attltiude toward park land dedication can persuade a council's decision. The city must identify for itself the value of park: land on overall tax revenues. both immediately and over tIme. The developer is usually lOOking at his perceived bottom line and may not have the city's ~onomic interests maximized by his proposal. The issue of park land's affect on adjacent property value has been studied for some time. Horace Cleveland used the example of Central Park in New York City as a generator of greatly Increased tax revenue for the City from increased property values of nearby property in the 1800's when advocating for park development in other cities. Over the years property value studies have been conducted and those from the past and the more current studies have generally concluded that park land will increase adjacent land values with few exceptions. It is possible that this type of study or