Capital Improvement Plan

Table of Contents

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How it Works

A capital improvement plan (CIP) is a working blueprint for building and sustaining a community’s publicly funded physical infrastructure. The purpose of a CIP is to identify capital improvement projects, identify and forecast funding sources, prioritize improvements based on funding available, and estimate a timeline for completion of individual improvements. The CIP links capital expenditures to other long-range plans, such as the comprehensive plan or hazard mitigation plan, and connects community goals to priorities for public spending.

Capital improvements can significantly impact a community’s built and natural environment as they can help guide the trajectory of future growth or change, and can represent a substantial portion of a community’s overall public improvements. With the increasing frequency and magnitude of natural hazards, the capital improvement plan provides an important tool that local governments can use to mitigate risk and promote community resilience. CIPs can help facilitate the inclusion of hazard mitigation principles into project identification, prioritization, and design, and to leverage mitigation or recovery funds. CIPs can also help communities to understand how growth has the potential to increase risk, and anticipate and avoid potentially negative outcomes.

This CIP Tool Profile defines capital improvement plans/programs, describes how they might incorporate hazard mitigation principles, and discusses case studies from Colorado and elsewhere in the United States. 

What Are Capital Improvements?

Capital improvements are major, non-recurring public expenditures. Capital improvements typically refer to physical assets and include the design, purchase, construction, maintenance, or improvement of such public resources as land, buildings, parks, public infrastructure, equipment, and public spaces. Most communities designate a dollar threshold for including projects in the CIP. For example, the City of Aurora’s Capital Improvement Program identifies capital needs for projects of $25,000 or more. 

What is a Capital Improvement Plan (or Program)?

A CIP is a community planning and fiscal management tool used to coordinate the location, timing, and financing of capital improvements. A CIP identifies a community’s capital needs over a multi-year period, typically 3-7 years, and lays out a plan for capital expenditures over that time period. Most plans systematically evaluate the availability and use of capital resources according to a prioritization scheme, identify infrastructure improvements that could be funded with resources available, and inform the public about the timetable for the construction or completion of projects. CIPs often include both a comprehensive list of infrastructure needs and a fiscally-constrained plan that is limited by the funding available. CIPs are revised on a regular basis to continually reflect the needs and resources of the community and to incorporate unexpected events or opportunities.

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Integrating Hazard Mitigation Into Capital Improvement Plans

The incorporation of hazard mitigation goals and priorities into capital improvement plans is an emerging best practice for achieving community resilience. Capital improvement plans and programs typically include important public improvements such as roadways, fire stations, sewer lines, water supply and storage facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, and other critical infrastructure that are vital to community functioning and warrant careful assessment of hazard risk through the hazard identification and risk assessment process. CIPs are also the primary vehicle through which structural hazard mitigation measures get prioritized and funded. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) describes four key benefits to the integration of hazard mitigation into CIPs:

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Where It’s Been Done

Fort Collins has historically been at high-risk from flood events, including a 1997 flash flood that killed 5 people and caused over $200 million in damage. Since then, the City has worked to reduce flood risk through structural and non-structural measures including proactive floodplain management; acquisition of high-risk structures; preserving and protecting riparian areas along Spring Creek, Fossil Creek, and the Cache la Poudre River; and discouraging development in high hazard areas.  

Fort Collins defines capital improvements as projects with relatively high monetary value, a long life, and that result in the creation of a fixed asset or revitalization that upgrades or extends the useful life of a fixed asset. Along with major commitments to stormwater management projects, the City’s CIP also prioritizes projects with hazard mitigation relevance like open space acquisition and critical infrastructure enhancements. The CIP prioritization process rates projects on two tiers of criteria, the first including safety mandates and the second linkages to City approved plans. City Plan Fort Collins, adopted in 2011, includes flood risk reduction and management in its vision and key principles. The plan includes numerous principles and policies centered on the protection of the natural floodplain and waterways; the encouragement of development outside of floodplains; and requirement that structures and facilities that are unavoidably located in flood-prone areas be designed to high standards. By linking its capital improvements prioritization criteria directly to its plans that prioritize flood risk reduction, the City is able to use its CIP to accomplish key flood risk-reduction goals. 

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Advantages and Key Talking Points

As a core community planning and fiscal management document for communities, there are numerous advantages to incorporating hazard mitigation into CIPs:

  • CIPs can help translate a community vision into practical action and achieve goals of sustainability and resilience.
  • CIPs guide a significant portion of a local government’s investments in the community and provide a unique opportunity to build mitigation and resilience criteria into community investment practices.
  • CIPs link together other long-range plans, like the comprehensive plan and hazard mitigation plan, and the community’s capital improvement budget.
  • CIPs are developed and updated on a regular basis, which allows for the incorporation of best available data about natural hazards into government decision-making.
  • Incorporating hazard mitigation into the CIP can help to lower the costs from natural hazards and make more efficient use of community financial resources by reducing the costs to rebuild or repair infrastructure after future disasters.
  • The capital improvement planning process typically involves stakeholders from each department of local government and the public, bringing together a broad base of support for achieving hazard mitigation goals and objectives.
Challenges
  • Developing and updating a CIP can be a time-intensive process, and incorporating hazard planning can add additional complexity.
  • Incorporating hazard mitigation into CIPs is an emerging best practice, and so relatively few resources or tools are available to guide local government efforts.
  • Many capital plans for publically funded improvements are already restricted by the limited funds available for implementation. The increasingly urgent need for the maintenance and replacement of basic infrastructure often takes precedence over improvements unless directly related to the health and safety of the public.
  • In some instances, the up-front costs of projects that incorporate hazard mitigation may increase, even if long-term savings will be achieved.
  • The integration of strong hazard mitigation principles into CIPs may be seen as anti-development if it restricts or discourages building in high-hazard areas.
Model & Commentary

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Key Facts

Administrative capacity        

A public official typically coordinates the preparation of the CIP – whether a planner, chief executive, administrative officer, or budget officer – with support from a lead department and from other agencies like public works, finance, engineering, and/or public safety

Mapping         

Some technical mapping and GIS analysis may be required for integrating hazard areas into the project prioritization process 

Regulatory requirements      

N/A

Maintenance  

CIPs cover a multi-year period, typically 3-7 years, and are reviewed and updated on an annual basis

Adoption required      

Yes, adopted by the legislative body of the community following public review

Statutory reference   

The Colorado Revised Statutes provide local governments with financial powers to raise revenue for the purposes of capital improvements, and require that proposed expenditures for capital projects be included in annual budgets.

Associated costs        

Staff time, plus potential costs for mapping or other technical work, public outreach activities, and consultant services

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