Development junkies out there will be thrilled to hear that the Planning and Development Department plans to produce an annual report of Columbia’s growth and building patterns. The department is working on a draft of the first such report, which analyzes the plethora of city and county data out there.
The conclusions of the two sections drafted so far (analyzing the city’s development pace and pattern) aren’t surprising: the overall development pace has been steadily declining since 2005; it is too early to tell if the bottom has been reached; and future development will continue to follow infrastructure, primarily on the eastern fringe of the city.
For industry insiders, this is nothing new. But it is notable that the city is synthesizing its development data into a readable document available to the public. It’s full of interesting graphs, maps and data, and this report, which the department expects to finish by the end of April, will serve as a baseline to compare future trends.
Some of the more interesting tidbits in the report:
- The report references the old debate about who should pay for infrastructure expansion, and whether development pays for itself. One of the sections not yet drafted is a cost-benefit analysis of development activity. The infrastructure debate is likely to soon accelerate, because City Manager Bill Watkins is currently working on assembling an infrastructure cost allocation task force.
- “New commercial development plan submissions have albeit ceased and development of select existing sites in optimal locations are the only projects proceeding forward,” the draft report states. It also references Paul Land’s Commercial use report, which puts the city’s total commercial vacancy rate at 10.32 percent, with the highest vacancy in retail- 11.38 percent.
- The drop in residential development activity has been staggering. In 2005, there were 59 final “major” subdivision plats containing 1,537 lots approved. In 2009, there were six new “major” final plats reviewed and approved, containing only 43 lots. Of 11 residential projects looked at in detail by the report, seven have not final platted any of their lots.
- Much of the city’s development over the last five years has been concentrated in the north, especially the northeast. There were 66 zoning requests in the north (20 in NW, 44 in NE) versus 36 in the south (19 in SE, 17 in SW) since 2005. Annexation requests in Columbia’s northeast quadrant contained almost double the acreage (about 1,900 acres) as the rest of the city combined. Staff concludes that future development will likely be concentrated in the northeast.
Categories: Economy.
