The Commonwealth should make investments consistent with state objectives as reflected in local and regional plans, including its capital budget expenditures on infrastructure.  State objectives should comprise the framework for all infrastructure investment.  Any applicant for capital funds should specify how the project would advance state objectives and follow the applicable local and regional plans.  

The Commonwealth Capital Program (Comm Cap) currently provides the state’s primary mechanism for promoting sustainable development principles through capital funding.  Comm Cap prioritizes capital funding to municipalities that implement planning best practices, thereby reinforcing the positive impact of those best practices and encouraging more municipalities to follow suit.   Several modifications to the program might make it more effective: criteria need to reflect state objectives, recognize regional and community type distinctions, and evolve to keep challenging municipalities to advance while not overburdening them.  More significant modifications might include increasing the relative importance of CommCap in project selection, and expanding the range of programs to which CommCap applies.  Ultimately, the state should establish consistency with regional plans and the Sustainable Development Principles as a requirement for all capital funding programs.  

The state should specifically target an expanded infrastructure improvement program on enabling critical infrastructure improvements that allow for compact growth consistent with local and regional plans.  Infrastructure funds should be targeted for water, sewer, and transportation infrastructure to enable this growth in appropriate areas that lack adequate facilities (including those areas where infrastructure exists but requires improvements in order to accommodate new growth).  

In conjunction with these recommendations, the Administration should seek to make coordinated and opportunistic investments where they can catalyze private sector investments in appropriate locations.  For example, the revitalization of a targeted district within a Regional Urban Center could be catalyzed through coordinated investments of housing subsidies, historic rehabilitation tax credits, infrastructure financing (PWED), and parkland acquisition funds.  This coordination might be facilitated by a state-level ombudsman charged with expediting grant review and contracting. 

18.a    EOEEA should modify Comm Cap to reflect differences in Community Types

18.b    EOEEA should modify Comm Cap to recognize the consistency of local zoning with local and regional plans

18.c    EOEEA should expand the list of discretionary grant and loan programs to which Comm Cap scores apply

18.d    The state should target an expanded infrastructure improvement program to appropriate growth areas

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