Benchmarking, teoría y práctica

When major public investments are made, many neighborhood changes may be triggered. Public investments are often bounded—as in URAs—or could be defined with an impact area— like a station area for a light rail stop. Best practices research suggests that having clearly articulated criteria for considering development’s community impacts within a bounded area makes the environment for the private sector more predictable than having to negotiate on a project by project basis. This approach suggests that along with the designation of public

investments, there should be a “community impacts zone” that defines an area for displacement mitigation planning; within the ‘zone’ a broad set of community impacts mitigation tools would be applied. A ‘zone’ for anti-gentrification would set expectations that development consider

impacts and attempt to mitigate negative consequences; tie public subsidy to public benefits; and utilize tools that are most appropriate for the stage of neighborhood change observed. 5.5.1 Create a “community impacts zone”

The community impacts zone incorporates best practice tools for all types of developments, not only those receiving direct public investment or subsidy. Urban Renewal Areas, NPI,

The Atlanta Beltline Ordinance. A TOD zone was created within which projects receiving bond funding were required to use first-source hiring systems that targeted low-income residents of neighborhoods inside the TOD area. It also created a community advisory system to continue to discuss how community benefits could be targeted and implemented in affected neighborhoods as development continues

Develop area plans for these ‘zones’ using the neighborhood drilldown analysis as a basis for setting goals for specific community benefits and the mitigation of potential harms as desired by the community. Set priorities that include diversity and equitable access to benefits of

revitalizing neighborhood. Engage residents in developing a vision of inclusive development. Establish early partnerships with key community based organizations [neighborhood and policy sector] that can work in tandem, recognizing that the public sector cannot address all

goals/activities.

5.5.2 Establish a practice of Community Impacts Reports

Community Impacts Reports (CIR) are analogous to environmental impact reports, asking developers to spell out costs and benefits of impacts on housing, jobs/employment, neighborhood services, or other major goals (e.g. how does a project address “healthy, connected neighborhoods” priorities?).

A CIR request could be targeted to address the vulnerabilities revealed in the neighborhood drilldown analysis and how the development will benefit community residents based on

goals/priorities. A CIR includes analysis of how a project may affect vulnerable populations, how any negative impacts might be mitigated, and whether it offers benefits to identified resident groups. A CIR should be available for public review and comment to be considered in the development approval process.

Strong encouragement and institutionalizing a practice is important. In some cases, CIRs might be required. Projects that receive direct public subsidy could be required to provide community review of CIRs that demonstrate how a the project addresses identified goals. CIRs might also be required if there are infrastructure upgrades or zoning changes to accommodate a new development. In some cities, CIR requirements have been formalized by ordinance for some kinds of development, particularly for commercial development over a certain size threshold (so- called “big box” stores).

Petaluma, California requires a Fiscal and Economic Impact Analysis report for large scale commercial development projects. These FEIA reports are community impacts reports covering the effects on local retailers and employment in particular. Examples include an assessment of impacts of a new hotel; and of a shopping plaza that included a Target, an FEIA that drew a response from the Sonoma Living Wage Coalition.11

11 _{The text of these and other Petaluma FEIAs can be found at Living Wage Sonoma’s website for CIRs} http://www.livingwagesonoma.org/community_impact_reports.htm

5.5.3 Use public subsidy and incentives with specific, plan-based benefits.

With clearly defined criteria for receipt of subsidy or public contracts, the approval of a project application should be based on specific benefits with measurable outcomes that are evaluated for continued compliance. Priorities for these benefits could be determined by the drilldown analysis of particular vulnerabilities.

Housing. For instance, the City has a set-aside of urban renewal tax increment funds for affordable housing. The drilldown analysis can be used to determine specific priorities for the following policies:

 Utilize proposed mitigation efforts as selection criteria, prioritizing development proposals that address the most vulnerable or highest priority harms

 Include mitigation of specific potential negative impacts (identified by drilldown and community input) as priority decision criteria for developers responding to RFPs for public land or subsidy;

 Adjust existing incentives (e.g. SDC or tax exemptions) and subsidy (e.g. TIF set- aside) to match particular neighborhood housing conditions

Workforce agreements. Create robust workforce and hiring policies for development (contractors/subcontractors and ongoing employment) using public land or direct

investment. Using careful definitions for first source hiring can target neighborhood residents and disadvantaged workers. Partnering with community-based organizations that provide workforce development for particular populations is effective. “Good faith agreements” on hiring would not necessarily have the intended outcomes—workforce agreements should include evaluation of performance and penalties for not meeting goals.

 The City of Los Angeles Community Workforce Agreements (CWA) requires of contractors that 30-40% of construction jobs are filled by residents of

neighborhoods where a project is located; with 10-15% of hours filled by “at-risk” or “disadvantaged” workers. Because of laws disallowing racial/ethnic targets in hiring, the City uses “at-risk” or “disadvantaged” definitions to address equity concerns. At-risk /disadvantaged may include: poverty, history of incarceration, receipt of public assistance, living in high-unemployment zip codes, being homeless, or being an unemployed custodial single parent among other criteria. Non-compliant contractors may receive assistance in finding workers, but ultimately face financial penalties or the possibility of being designated ineligible for future public work12_{. LAANE-sample language}