Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance
(APFO)
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What
is an APFO?
An
adequate public facilities ordinance (APFO) is a growth management tool used by
the elected officials and staff that reviews development approval to the
availability and adequacy of public facilities. The typical facilities that are included in
most APFO’s include: water, sewer, schools and roads. If the services and facilities are not
currently existing or planned for the development can not move forward.
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How
It Works:
The Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance is linked to
the locality’s Capital Improvement Program, which establishes a schedule of how
public facilities are to be planned over a five or six year period and details
how the projects will be financed.
The ordinance identifies the standards that are
needed to permit new development to move forward. For example the schools must be at 100% of
capacity or less for a project to be approved by the APFO.
The development must demonstrate that the required
levels of public facilities and services (as required by the Mayor & Board
of Aldermen) are, or will be, available to the proposed project.
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What
are its pros and cons?
Potential
Benefits:
Allows a community to maintain control over the
timing and sequence of new development.
Forces
the community to link its comprehensive land use plan with its capital
improvement program, a principle of good planning that is often ignored.
Provides
a predictable system for determining future growth.
Limitations:
May
increase the complexity of the development process and the cost of processing
development proposals.
May
limit the amount of new housing that is available on the market.
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Do
other municipalities have APFOs? If so, why bother creating our own?
There
are many jurisdictions that have APFO’s.
While copying another ordinance would be the quickest and easiest
solution, it is not recommended for the following reasons:
Each
jurisdiction has unique issues that they need to address
Different
jurisdictions have different level of control over different services. For example, the City of
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Where
and how do I learn more about APFO’s?
The
City of
You
can also contact the Joe Adkins at 301/600-1655 or by email at jadkins@cityoffrederick.com.
