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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Abstract <br /> <br />The integration of fiscal impact analysis into local comprehensive planning has been a qualified success <br />in two case study communities, A detailed look into the development and application of fiscal impact <br />analysis in Howard County, MD and Loudoun County, V A has resulted in a greater understanding of <br />development costs and revenue impacts. Despite its nalTOW acceptance and use by the planning <br />profession in general, fiscal analysIs has been institutionalized within these two planning processes and <br />has proven useful in ways not envisioned when the models were developed, Useful lessons other <br />communities considering the use of fiscal analysis are described, <br /> <br />I. Background <br /> <br />Over the past forty years, local level urban and regional planners have used a variety of economic <br />analysis techniques to incorporate economic and fiscal considerations into comprehensive plans, One <br />such techmque, fiscal impact analysis, first appeared to many planners in the seventies with the <br />publication of Fiscal Impacts of Land Development: A Critiqt1e: ofMe:thods <ll1cl Re:vie:w OfISSlle:S by <br />ThOill<lS Mue:lle:r (1976) and the FiSC<lUillP<lCt I-I<ll1clbook by Burchell and Listokin (1978), While these <br />and other works spulTed some interest in the technique at that time, fiscal impact analysis has yet to <br />achieve widespread application, However, fiscal impact analysis models have proven to be valuable <br />tools in communities where they have been conscientiously applied. <br /> <br />Howard County, Maryland, and Loudoun County, Virginia, two of the fast growing suburbs of <br />Washington, DC, are among the few communities to fully utilize the fiscal impact approach in <br />integrating economic factors into their comprehensive plans, Both have won national recognition for <br />their comprehensive plans. Howard County's The: 199Q Ge:l1e:I<ll P1<ll1,.. a six point pian for the future <br />won the American Planning Association award for planning excellence in 1990, Two years later, <br />Loudoun County's Choices and Chal1ges General pl<ln was similarly honored. The process of the <br />development and implementation of fiscal impact analysis, as it has been incorporated into two award- <br />winning planning efforts, is described in this study, Specifically, each case study site was investigated in <br />the context of the following research questions: <br /> <br />1. What are the characteristics of the fiscal impact analysis model in tenns of variables, complexity <br />and flexibility? <br />2, What specific applications of the fiscal impact analysis model have been used in comprehensive <br />planning? and <br />3. What are the perceived strengths and weaknesses of fiscal impact modeling as it relates to <br /> <br />file:lI\\metro-inet.us\Roseville\CommDev\PLANNING AND ZONING\PLANNING FI.., 02/17/2005 <br />