Table of Contents
The most successful incentives result in significant cost- and time-savings in exchange for some community benefit.
Incentives are effective strategies for enhancing relationships with the development community, guiding growth and development to desirable areas, and encouraging compliance with community objectives without additional regulation. Incentives can come in the shape of financial savings, increased density, relaxation of regulations, expedited review processes, or waivers of either fees or regulations altogether. For any incentive to work, there has to be good reason for a developer to take advantage of the incentive. This often means careful and thorough analysis of the benefits to be exchanged prior to moving forward for adoption of any such program or tool. A developer will not simply participate in an incentive program because the local government thinks it’s a good idea. The most successful incentives result in significant cost- and time-savings in exchange for some community benefit (such as protecting known hazard areas from development). They should be designed to address existing (or perceived) roadblocks to development.
This section explores planning tools and programs that communities can use to encourage development away from known hazard areas by way of incentives. Tools profiled in this section include: