AICP Practice Test 9

Development disputes in the Town of Alder Crossing

The Town of Alder Crossing (population 21,500) sits at the edge of a growing metropolitan region. Its comprehensive plan, updated three years ago, calls for protecting wooded Kestrel Ridge and the Mill Creek floodplain while allowing new housing near the town center.

Brightwater Homes has applied for preliminary plat approval for a 140-lot subdivision on 70 acres along Mill Creek. Staff are drafting conditions of approval. One draft condition would require Brightwater to dedicate a 30-foot creekside strip for a public multiuse trail. The town also collects a transportation impact fee: a fixed amount per new dwelling unit, set by a council-adopted ordinance and fee schedule for all residential development. Brightwater's attorney has hinted at a constitutional challenge to the fee.

Last year the council adopted a ridge-protection overlay that cut allowed density on Kestrel Ridge from one dwelling per acre to one dwelling per five acres. A family that has owned 50 ridge acres since 1990 says the overlay reduced their land's market value by about 45 percent. Residents now want a pause on new subdivision applications while the town rewrites its stormwater rules, a job expected to take about 14 months.

The planning director, an AICP planner, advises the council and the planning commission and must keep the town's actions legally defensible on a small legal budget.