Plan & Policy Development

Question 1

Fiscal Impact Analysis

Answer 1

Purpose is to estimate the impact of a development, land use change, or plan on the costs and revenues of gov’t units serving the dev’t. Involves 1) city’s property tax rate, 2) avg cost of educating a child in the local school system, 3) avg cost per sf of constructing a public building

Question 2

Cost-benefit analysis

Answer 2

Quantified comparison of costs and benefits (expressed in monetary or numerical terms). The actual and hidden costs of a project are measured against its benefits.

Question 3

Rational Planning Model

Answer 3

Model of planning process with 5 rational steps:
1. Define the problem
2. Identify the decision criteria
3. Assign weights to the criteria
4. Create a list of options and order them
5. Choose the best option and finalize the decision
Note: feminist planners tend to reject this as it comes off as value-neutral)

Question 4

Preemption

Answer 4

When a higher level of government supersedes the authority of lower levels of government

Question 5

Forms of local government

Answer 5

1. Mayor-council (weak/strong mayor and council selected separately, mayor has sig admin and budgetary authority, 2nd most common in US- seen Midwest and older/larger cities)
2. Council-manager (most common in US, council oversees everything and appoints a city manager for day to day admin, phoenix)
3. Commission (<1%, Portland has this, voters elect commissioners who are responsible for different aspects)
4. Town meeting (5%, voters decide basic policies and elect ppl to carry these out)
5. Representative Town Meeting (<1%, large group of citizens selected to go to town meetings and vote, almost exclusively small NE municipalities)

Question 6

Multi-variate Analysis

Answer 6

Looks at the interaction of variables - sometimes 2 variables affected by a third variable. (Multi-variate analysis more accurate than bi-variate)

Question 7

Alternate dispute resolution

Answer 7

Mediation, negotiation, facilitation, arbitration

Question 8

Negotiation

Answer 8

Informal, flexible, low cost
No neutral 3rd party (only includes partied directly involved)
Harder to stay on track
Power imbalances

Question 9

Mediation

Answer 9

Similar to negotiation, but DOES have neutral 3rd party (mediator). May not lead to a settlement. Can help with very contentious, on-going coordination.

Question 10

Facilitation

Answer 10

Focused on task (organizing around one goal), not conflict resolution, facilitator must be skilled

Question 11

Arbitrator

Answer 11

Formal, legally binding, win-lose statement, appeal is difficult