Editor's Note: This status report follows Linda Tomaselli's case published in the March 2013 issue of Practicing Planner, "Fiscal Impact Analysis Using GIS in Anoka, Minnesota." Thorvig's observations further demonstrate that GIS data generated for fiscal impact analysis can be used for other planning purposes.

The City of Anoka, Minnesota, has only begun to scratch the surface of the capabilities and information that has been provided in the database and report. The report describes the impact various land uses have on city services. Since the completion of the report, we have used this information to assist the city in land use and zoning, development, and financial decisions.

Zoning Changes

Quite often zoning changes require findings to support a change from one type of use to another. The report provides evidence of the extent to which the various land uses depend on city services. The fiscal impact analysis data produced in GIS assist the city with regard to providing such findings. For example, the city recently reviewed a request by a church to expand a cemetery, which required a rezoning. One of the required findings was to show whether the city and other service providers would be able to provide sufficient public safety, transportation, and utility facilities and services to the subject property, while maintaining sufficient levels of service to existing development. Information provided in the GIS fiscal analysis report showed that the existing cemetery generated very few public safety calls; hence we were able to find that expansion of the cemetery would not create a burden to the public safety system.

Rental Property

The city also has used the data to provide evidence that rental properties, specifically duplexes, generate higher numbers of police calls than owner-occupied units. In turn, the city has adopted ordinances that require certain actions by the property owner if police calls exceed a certain number. This was done in an attempt to recover costs and to reduce the number of police calls at various properties. It also gives the city information on what properties to potentially purchase through the Anoka Housing and Redevelopment Authority scattered site program, which targets problem properties for redevelopment. The data also show that new apartment buildings generate fewer calls than older buildings. This finding suggests the city needs to help owners of older apartment buildings invest in their properties to attract better tenants, and that new apartments don't have equal service burdens as older, existing apartments in the city.

Tax-Exempt Land

Anoka has a higher than average amount of tax-exempt land. The city recently did a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement with a developer that constructed a tax-exempt use. The information provided in the fiscal impact study report gives the city justification to enter into such agreements with developers of tax-exempt projects in an attempt to recover city service costs. It also helps the city determine future land uses. For example, in considering the future land use of vacant parcels, the data can help the city determine whether, for instance, a new school or single-family use is a better fiscal choice as it relates to city services.

Redevelopment Projects

The city owns a golf course, which is tax-exempt. City leaders want to keep the golf course because it gives the city some of its unique character. The Anoka Greens plan for the area includes redeveloping neighboring housing (which is rundown) and building high-density housing around the edges of the golf course as well as improving the golf course itself to make it more competitive.

The city also owns several large, tax-exempt properties in the area that it wants to convert to taxable uses, including high-density housing. A parkway is planned to improve circulation, unify the neighborhood, and take local traffic off of the busy U.S. Highway 10 corridor. The city contemplates using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to implement this plan. Since the data provided insights on how to address fiscal impacts of TIF districts, they will be used to evaluate the current fiscal profile for parcels in the area.

The data also help the city project future revenues and needs for city services. Since the increase in taxes (the tax increment) from the properties will be used to pay for the needed improvements in the short term, the impact of the project on the rest of the taxpayers to provide services to the area over the short term will be estimated, as well as the long-term benefit to the city after the TIF district is retired.

These are just a few examples of how Anoka has used the GIS data generated for fiscal impact analysis, and how the GIS system and fiscal data will be used in the future. The data can help the city in a variety of other ways, as unique projects and decisions come before the city.

Erik Thorvig is city planner of Anoka, Minnesota.