Introduction to Concurrency Management

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Introduction to Concurrency Management
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What is Concurrency?

• Chapter 163.3177, F.S. requires Comprehensive
  Plans to adopt a concurrency management system,
  including goals, objectives and policies that
  define the necessary standards for ensuring the
  availability of required public facilities to
  serve permitted development.
• Rule 9J-5, F.A.C. establishes the minimum
  criteria for the standards necessary to ensure
  the availability of public services and
  facilities concurrent with the impact of
  development
• If adopted level of service standards cannot be
  met, development cannot be permitted!

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What Public Services and Facilities are Subject
to Concurrency?

• Potable Water
• Sanitary Sewer/Wastewater Treatment
• Solid Waste Disposal
• Recreation and Open Space
• Drainage
• Mass transit
• Transportation
• (new requirement ) Public Schools

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Key Components of Concurrency

• The Capital Improvements Element of the
  Comprehensive Plan must be financially feasible
  and capital projects should maintain adopted
  level of service standards
• The local Comprehensive Plan must include a
  system for ensuring adherence to the adopted
  level of service standards and for monitoring
  concurrency status.
• The concurrency program should contain guidelines
  for how and when to review development against
  adopted level of service standards during the
  development review process.
• The local government must adopt land development
  regulations that implement the concurrency
  management system and ensure that development
  permits do not result in a reduction in the
  levels of service below adopted level of service
  standards.

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So What Does All This Really Mean?

• It means you need to adopt any necessary capital
  projects in your Capital Improvements Element and
  your Capital Improvements Program to maintain
  adopted level of service standards
• It means you need to have adopted in your
  comprehensive plan, and in your development
  regulations, a method for assessing and
  monitoring compliance with the adopted level of
  service standards.
• And it means your development review process
  needs to include making a binding determination
  that adequate capacity for each of the 7 public
  services and facilities is, or is not, available
  to meet the needs of the project.

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How do you develop appropriate level of service
standards?

• First you need to determine whether you have
  control over all, some, or none of the referenced
  public services and facilities
• For those services and facilities for which you
  do not have control, you should adopt the
  standard adopted by the agency or government with
  responsibility.
• If your local government has direct
  responsibility for the provision of any of the
  required services and facilities, you need to
  work with your respective technical professionals
  to establish a meaningful standard that you can
  subsequently use to compare development proposals
  against.

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An example

• Pinellas County government
• Concurrency
• Management System

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Assessing level of Service Conditions

• Each calculation is basically a matter of looking
  at capacity and planned improvements, and
  dividing by existing and projected demand
• If the adopted standard can still be maintained
  after adding in anticipated impacts, then level
  of service conditions are met, capacity is
  available, and development can be permitted

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Pinellas County Level of Service Standards
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Concurrency Management System (CMS) Process

• Pinellas County developed their CMS back in 1990,
  following adoption of the original comp plan.
• It is designed around an annual snapshot of
  conditions that snapshot is adopted annually
  as an ordinance which assesses the operating
  conditions for each of the 7 services and
  facilities.
• Basically, it represents our annual concurrency
  test.

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• For the next year, our Development Review staff
  uses the Ordinance, as the basis for deciding if
  development can be approved.

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• Since the assessment is a snapshot of conditions,
  we build in a safety net by also taking a look
  at future conditions
• That is, we also look at the effect of an extra
  years growth on the operating conditions for
  each service and facility.
• If we can still meet, or exceed the adopted
  standards, then level of service conditions are
  acceptable.

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• Thanks to good planning, and a strong capital
  improvements program, the County has never
  encountered an inability to meet adopted
  standards with the exception of transportation.
  
• Good capital planning is the KEY COMPONENT of
  your Concurrency Management System!

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Good Capital Planning includes

• In the Countys case, participation in the
  regional water authority, effective conservation
  programs, and ongoing funding of transmission,
  distribution, and treatment infrastructure, and
  ongoing maintenance.

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• Funding major upgrades and maintenance to the
  regional wastewater treatment facilities, the
  collection system and the water reclamation
  distribution system

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• Land acquisition, park development and
  maintenance to meet recreation and open space
  requirements

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Stormwater projects to address drainage
deficiencies
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Solid Waste and Resource Recovery

• Improvements at the resource recovery plant and
  in recycling operations to extend the life of the
  landfill and waste-to-energy plant

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All of these funding commitments are required
to make sure the County can

• Meet its adopted level of service standards,
• Permit development,
• And meet the needs of citizens, businesses and
  visitors, and its retail and wholesale
  commitments, today and into the future.

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• Concurrency approvals are not indefinite
• If no progress is made on the development,
  concurrency approval can be revoked, making any
  future submittal for development approval subject
  to a new concurrency test statement and a new
  assessment of level of service conditions.

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What does the future hold for concurrency?

• The County will be evaluating its adopted level
  of service standards during the course of the
  upcoming year
• The overall concurrency process will be evaluated
  to see how it fits with the new school
  concurrency requirements AND
• We will see what happens with the Penny for
  Pinellas the main means of funding capital
  improvements needed to meet concurrency

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Questions?