Fiscally-informed planning, design, and community engagement to cultivate strong neighborhoods.
Project Highlights | March 2023
2023 is off to an exciting and busy start for us here at Verdunity! We learned that the Comprehensive Plans we worked on for Parsons, KS and Taylor, TX in 2021/2022 received Vernon Deines (national) awards from APA’s Small Town and Rural Planning (STaR) Division, and we just heard that another plan we completed last year has been selected for this year’s awards (more on this one in our June newletter). We’re fueled by our daily work to nudge communities toward a more sustainable and equitable development model, but it’s always nice to receive recognition from our peers and clients for our work!
Here’s a sample of the work we’ve been doing to help communities quantify and communicate resource gaps; develop plans to align vision, policies and investments through the lens of fiscal sustainability; and support development and infrastructure that supports vibrant and inclusive neighborhoods. Contact us if you’d like to talk about how we can help your community!
Engagement activities helped inform the Plan’s recommendations
Comprehensive Plan
Sweetwater, tX
IGNITE Sweetwater is the first comprehensive plan ever created for this rural community of just under 11,000 people. The plan is written for all audiences, and intentionally focuses on using approachable language and curated graphics to translate its concepts to residents of all backgrounds as well as city officials. Strategies were developed around the ovearching objective of improving the fiscal health and local wealth of the community through locally-led development and strengthening of Downtown and existing neighborhoods. Implementation recommendations follow the SMART goal format and are grouped by strategy and connected directly the the aspirations identified by the community. This structure helps residents see how their feedback is connected to actual actions and progress. Conducting effective engagement and producing a complete and useful plan can be difficult for smaller communities that don’t have larger budgets and staff sources. We’re extremely proud of this one, and feel that it’s a great model for other small towns and rural locales.
Development Fiscal Impact Modeling
Fernley, NV & Killeen, TX
In early 2022, Verdunity completed a citywide land use fiscal analysis for Fernley to help illuminate how their development pattern and tax cap legislation is impacting city finances and increasing infrastructure funding and housing affordability gaps. Last year, we also completed a new Comprehensive Plan for Killeen, TX where the primary focus was to adjust develop patterns to increase tax productivity from existing and new development while also diversifying housing options and price points.
As a follow-up to these efforts, Verdunity created customized development fiscal impact analysis (DFIA) tools for both cities to help city leaders make more fiscally informed development decisions and increase awareness about how new development will impact service and infrastructure liabilities for current and future residents (and taxpayers). During setup, we customize each DFIA to reflect the unique tax, budget, and development policies of the community. Where desired or when staff capacity is limited, our team can be available to run modeling on new projects as a pass-through cost to developers similar to utility and traffic impact modeling.
Get an overview of our Land Use Fiscal Analysis process and request more info on our fiscal analysis services at fiscal.verdunity.com.
Council Presentations and Work Sessions
Sharing resources and lessons learned from our work with elected officials, planning commercials, and staff is usually the first step in how we cultivate change in communities. Our presentations and workshops help community leaders understand the impacts development decisions have on city revenues, infrastructure and service costs, housing affordability, and economic development, and introduce strategies that can be implemented immediately to cultivate fiscal health (for the city) and local wealth (for residents and businesses). Cities we’ve recently presented in include Pflugerville, Fate, Melissa, DeSoto, and Josephine, TX, and we have workshops coming up in League City, TX and Albemarle, NC. In each case, content and format was customized to fit specific needs and budgets, ranging from 1-hr general presentations before a regular council meeting to 1/2 day deep-dives into local challenges and ideas.
Explore more about our keynote and workshop options and request a quote
Wheatland Plaza today
Concept rendering of improvements
Wheatland Plaza Shopping Center Retrofit
Duncanville, TX
Verdunity is supporting incremental developer Monte Anderson to retrofit this aging strip center in a Dallas first ring suburb. The property is located directly across a 6-lane stroad from a Middle School, and surrounded by residential neighborhoods on the other three sides. Many of the commercial spaces are vacant and the building, parking lot, and public areas are in poor condition. The proposed development will break the parking lot into a loop of interior streets with sidewalks and greenspace, retrofit building interiors and facades, and add new multifamily, live-work, and micro-housing units. The project also includes bike/walk connections into the surrounding neighborhoods and we are encouraging the City to right-size Wheatland Road to slow speeds, add bike lanes, and make it more conducive to human scale development and activity. As with all of Monte’s work, the development is happening incrementally and is focused on incorporating the ideas, talents, and people of the neighborhood.
Go Cultivate! podcast interviews Incremental Development and Building Community Wealth with Monte Anderson