Truckee General Plan & Implementation
Truckee, California
BAE provided key economic analysis for the Town’s most recent comprehensive General Plan Update, including a series of work products in support of Land Use, Economic Development, and Housing Elements. BAE’s work addressed key issues including maintaining a sustainable, diverse year-round community in the face of booming demand for second homes, and ways to enhance the Town’s economic base.
Housing Element and Background Studies. BAE prepared the Housing Element update, including an analysis of the Town’s workforce housing needs, availability of adequate sites to meet housing needs, and policies and programs to ensure that new resident and commercial development contributes to increasing the supply of local affordable housing.
As background to the Housing Element needs assessment, the Town commissioned BAE to complete three studies that focused on seasonal employee housing needs, site availability, and effect of new policies on development feasibility. For the Seasonal Employee Housing Needs Assessment, BAE conducted surveys of seasonal employees and employers to estimate seasonal worker household income levels, commute patterns, and peak-period demand impacts. For the Land Supply Study, BAE analyzed the existing market rate residential inventory and the cost to develop new rental and ownership housing at varying density levels. BAE also inventoried sites available to accommodate future housing demand for all income levels. For the Financial Analysis of Affordable Housing Policies, BAE analyzed affordable housing policies which would require new residential, office, retail, and industrial developments to provide affordable units to a share of employees. BAE prepared a series of static pro formas to analyze the effects of implementing policies on development feasibility.
Economic Development Element. Working closely with a Steering Committee, BAE developed an Economic Development Strategy to build a sustainable 21st century economy, based on three main initiatives: build on Truckee’s strengths and uniqueness, develop Truckee’s human capital, and utilize the Town’s tourism infrastructure year-round. Embedded in these initiatives are concepts such as leveraging regional arts-based economic development efforts, creating buy local/invest local programs, building upon Truckee’s existing outdoor recreation/eco-tourism activities, and incorporating the use of “new media” to reach the Town’s targeted audiences.
After General Plan adoption, BAE has continued working for the Town to implement cornerstone policies applicable to new developments and revitalization initiatives, including:
Pioneer Commerce Center Workforce Housing Analysis. BAE estimated very low- and low-income housing need generated by the proposed expansion of a commercial and light industrial employment center in Truckee. BAE surveyed the existing businesses in the project to document data on employee household incomes, household sizes, workers per household, and employment densities per acre. Based on the proposed expansion, BAE then estimated existing and future affordable housing demand generated from the employment center. The Town and developer used this information to determine the amount of affordable housing the project proponents will need to provide on or off-site before receiving approvals for the planned expansion. BAE has worked with the developer to conduct follow-up analysis of actual employee household characteristics in order to help fine-tune workforce housing requirements for final phases of the project.
Updated Affordable Housing In-Lieu Fee.Subsequent to the Housing Element adoption, BAE also analyzed the Town’s Affordable Housing In-Lieu Fee to integrate an escalator mechanism providing for regular adjustments to the fee in response to changing economic conditions.
Planned Community Three (PC-3) Economic Impact Analysis.The Town commissioned BAE to conduct an economic analysis of the proposed Specific Plan for this key gateway property at the Town’s eastern edge. BAE’s analysis focused on identifying the impacts of the proposed development on other existing and planned commercial development, including the historic downtown, and potential fiscal impacts on the Town from new service demand. The property owners have since re-constituted their development team and are in the process of developing an updated plan. To facilitate preparation of a Specific Plan that will be consistent with Town planning objectives, BAE prepared a market opportunities report that identified unmet and under-served market niches that the PC-3 Specific Plan could target consistent with the Town’s economic development strategy and land use objectives.
West River Street Development Feasibility Study. BAE served as the economics subconsultant on a multidisciplinary team retained to study development feasibility for this prime riverfront location in the downtown area. BAE’s work included analysis of market opportunities and financial feasibility of alternative development scenarios. The team developed two alternatives for the site with varying levels of private development, along with extensive public improvements to provide views and access to the scenic Truckee River.