Determine what projects are needed

Based upon your condition and capacity information and improvements required, define a Project Needed, with estimated Year Needed. 

Example: in our case above, the following projects were identified:

In addition to adding each project to the Inventory, it can be helpful to describe each project (whether it’s an improvement to an existing facility or a brand new project needed for the future).  The Capital Facilities Project Proposal Form  can be helpful in several ways.

• The information on this form can help define the project in greater detail than one line in an inventory matrix can do.  Having staff use these forms to identify and propose projects can be very helpful to the person compiling the Capital Facilities Plan. This form should be provided to each department that has a role in planning, providing for and funding capital facilities, including your budget department.
• The Form can be used with your elected officials to explain the advantages of each proposed project.
• The Form serves as a reminder of which constituencies need to be involved in public information and education.
• These Forms (one per project) can be consolidated into one section of the Capital Facilities Plan and comprise the project descriptions. It would be helpful to designate one person to be responsible for gathering the forms and inputting the information into the capital facilities inventory template.

Example:
Here’s an example of how one might look.  In this example, the project (picnic shelter) was proposed by the city’s Parks Maintenance staff who take pride in how the parks look and function.  The form outlines the benefits to the community at large.  It could be supplemented with an inserted map of the park, location map of where the park is located within the city, and other information that is relevant, based on what level of information the jurisdiction would normally use.

Naming the Projects.  It can be helpful to use a system for naming projects.  This can help in maintaining your Capital Facilities Plan document files as well.  Once you’ve established a name for a project, use that name on every document in which the project is listed or described.  Whether you name by location, type of facility, numerically, or by some other system, consistency is key.  Your system depends on how many projects your jurisdiction has and how many are similar to each other.

Example:

• If there is only one “Picnic Shelter” on your entire list, then “Picnic Shelter” is sufficient.  However, if there is more than one, then “Picnic Shelter – Lincoln Park” or “Picnic Shelter # 1” identifies that particular one.
• For stormwater, water, sewer or road projects linked to road segments, using the location can be helpful, even critical.  “Water main – 1st Ave., Main St. to Jefferson St.” is very specific and clearly differentiates that water main from all others.
  

Determine what your Comprehensive Plan says about your jurisdiction’s future needs

Use your Comprehensive Plan and the related functional plans (e.g., Parks Plan, Water System Plan, Stormwater Management Plan, etc.) to determine what new facilities are needed to address anticipated future growth in your community.  Add that information to your inventory by designating the Facility Name, Location (if appropriate), name the Project Needed and add the approximate year in which the project is needed. 

Example:

• Your Comprehensive Plan indicates that your city is expecting to double in size over the next 20 years.  Your water system plan indicates that this will require a new water storage tank.  Your stormwater management plan indicates that within five years, you will need to address stormwater runoff for a new business park that is planned for economic development.  You would enter those projects like this:

Comprehensive Plan Policies Matrix

This tool provides an easy way to review the relationship between your jurisdiction’s comprehensive plan and the projects proposed in the capital facilities plan.  If there are policies with no projects, consider whether there should be projects added.  If there are projects with no corresponding policies, your comprehensive plan may need to be updated.

Here’s how the tool is used. The matrix  (if prompted, click no to keep the existing information) is a set of spread sheets, each of which corresponds to a chapter in the comprehensive plan.  If your plan uses different chapter categories, you can change the tabs at the bottom of the matrix to correspond to the chapters you have.

The illustration below shows how the example used above for financial planning is shown in the Comprehensive Plan Policies Matrix.  The Project, “Main Street Sewer Extension – Adams to Jefferson” relates to at least two of the policies in the Utilities Chapter of the city’s comprehensive plan.

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