TO SINGLE FAMILY HOMES OAK STREET PUBLIC SCHOOLS

GRACE
MEMORIAL
CHURCH 3-4 STRY
MULTIFAMILY
APARTMENTS
3-4 STRY
MULTIFAMILY
APARTMENTS
EXISTING
SKATEBOARD
SITE

CHERRY STREET

VICTORIAN
ROW

10TH AVENUE

11TH AVENUE
8TH AVENUE

9TH AVENUE

REHAB 3 STRY
OR DEMOLITION YMCA

YORK DRY
GOODS
HISTORIC REHAB

Experience the Fundamentals of Development

ELM STREET

PHOENIX
HOTEL
EXISTING
HOMELESS
SHELTER

5 STRY
OFFICE
BUILDINGS

CITY EMPLOYMENT
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
OFFICE

E UNIVERSITY & THE HIGHWAY YART YORK AVENUE TO THE CENTRAL BUSINESS
SUBWAY STATION

3-4 STRY 3-4 STRY

OFFICE OFFICE
BUILDINGS BUILDINGS
WITH GROUND-FLOOR
 About UrbanPlan
Land Use Chart
Financial Model Overview

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
New Buildings & Open Space
Site Planner
City Council Presentation

UrbanPlan® for Students (United States)

Building Tools

© 2022 by the Urban Land Institute, 2001 L Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036-4948. Last revision August 2022.

UrbanPlan is a trademark of ULI. The text in the handbook, and accompanying UrbanPlan resources, cannot be copied with-
out written approval from ULI.

LEGO is a trademark of the LEGO Group. © 2002 The LEGO Group does not sponsor this product.
Neighborhood Letters
Glossary
 About UrbanPlan
Land Use Chart
Financial Model Overview

RFP
Contents

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
About UrbanPlan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Request for Proposals (RFP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

City of Yorktown Design Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

History of Elmwood
History of Elmwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Financial Analyst
Site Plan and Context Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Existing Buildings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

New Buildings & Open Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Building Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Land Use Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Neighborhood Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Neighborhood Liaison
Financial Model Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Existing Buildings
Development Team Roles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

} Environment & Equity Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

} Financial Analyst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

New Buildings & Open Space

} Marketing Director. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Site Planner
} Neighborhood Liaison. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

} Site Planner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
City Council Presentation

City Council Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Building Tools

Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Neighborhood Letters
Glossary
About UrbanPlan RFP Design Guidelines History of Elmwood Site Plan & Context Map Existing Buildings New Buildings & Open Space Building Tools Neighborhood Letters
Land Use Chart Financial Model Overview Enviro & Equity Director Financial Analyst Marketing Director Neighborhood Liaison Site Planner City Council Presentation Glossary

4 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 ABOUT URBANPLAN
Land Use Chart
About UrbanPlan
OVERVIEW

Financial Model Overview

UrbanPlan is a unique opportunity to dialogue to involve them in the process, and make a profit

RFP
for your company and your investors.
develop a realistic, complex revitalization
plan for a neglected city neighborhood, The RFP describes the city’s goals and objectives for the
project in detail. The city expects each development team to
and we hope it will spark your interest in
demonstrate its expertise, ability to finance its proposal, and
the community development process.

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
a compelling vision for the future of Elmwood. Your team will
In this project, you are part of a development team present its proposal to the City Council, and the council will
envisioning the future of the Elmwood District, situated in award the contract to the development team with the most
the fictional city of Yorktown (see Site Plan). Like many compelling vision and responsive plan.
real communities, Elmwood is a once-thriving area that
Your challenge is to create a plan that responds to
suffered multiple setbacks in the late 20th century, leading to
population decline and the loss of vital amenities, like parks, 1 The economic, social, cultural, and political goals of the

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
healthy food, and services like libraries. city and its residents;

Yorktown wants to encourage new and existing residents 2 Yorktown’s planning, zoning, and design regulations
to make their homes in Elmwood. The city also wants to and objectives;
encourage businesses to locate there, to provide both retail
3 The market demand for different types of land uses and
services and new jobs; and it wants to create the city’s first
real estate products; and

Site Plan & Context Map

EcoDistrict, a designation granted to neighborhoods that

Marketing Director
prioritize equity, resilience, and climate protection. The city 4 The requirements of the investors and lenders who will
is seeking a private real estate development firm to partner provide the money (financial capital) needed to build
with to help make this vision a reality. It has invited your your project.
team to compete for the project through a recently issued While UrbanPlan is based in the fictional neighborhood
Request for Proposals (RFP). of Elmwood, this program intentionally simulates the
Your development team will include five members, each challenges, complexities, and biases that exist in real-

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
taking on a different role in the development process: world discussions about how cities and neighborhoods are
environment and equity director, financial analyst, marketing shaped. For that reason, you will see language and terms
director, neighborhood liaison, and site planner. Each that reflect a range of perspectives. In particular, the letters
team will create a detailed proposal for the neighborhood, included in the handbook are dramatizations reflecting
including a vision statement, site plan, and financial model. the real viewpoints that land use professionals often
encounter in the course of their work. Like in the real world,

New Buildings & Open Space

As a development team, you specialize in one of the most
some of these views are controversial and do not promote
complex, high-risk types of development: mixed-use

Site Planner
diverse and inclusive communities. The inclusion of these
infill projects. Your past projects include building and
viewpoints is not an endorsement of the viewpoints.
rehabilitating properties and land to create residential, retail,
and office space. Your objective is to revitalize economically It is possible that language included in this handbook will
depressed neighborhoods, engage community members in spark conversations, ideas, or debates that may make
you or your classmates uncomfortable. This is completely
City Council Presentation

understandable. Technical terms common in land use can

Building Tools

A NOTE ON TEAM SIZE: Some UrbanPlan also be heavily coded with a history of prejudice. We have
development teams may include six members. In this made an effort to define these terms and explain their
case, add a second Neighborhood Liaison. The two historical context in the glossary.
Neighborhood Liaisons can divide the letters and work
together to ensure all community voices are heard.
Neighborhood Letters
Glossary

5 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 ABOUT URBANPLAN
Neighborhood Letters
Let’s Get Started:
A NOTE ON UNCERTAINTY: Unfortunately, you can’t
A successful UrbanPlan development team follows the same
know everything. Unknowable and unpredictable
process that a real development team does.
things such as natural disasters or calamities to

Financial Model Overview

1 Identify and assess risk: Gather and analyze all the entire economic systems can always happen. Even
information relevant to this project. Through this the “knowables” can change when you are predicting

RFP
process, known as “due diligence,” you will discover years into the future. So, you must gather the best
opportunities, identify tradeoff challenges, and uncover information available from which to make those
potential problems. predictions. (Also see Understanding Your Investors.)

2 Solicit feedback from the community and key

Enviro & Equity Director

stakeholders: During the development process, site, relevant regulations, details of market demand, the

Design Guidelines
developers meet with community members and other requirements to attract financial investment in the project,
stakeholders. In UrbanPlan, teams will read letters neighborhood politics, and the criteria the City Council will
submitted by community groups and key stakeholders use to select the winning team.
in order to understand the goals and desires of You and your colleagues will have to master a great deal
community members and stakeholders who have an of information in a very short amount of time. No one will
interest in what happens at the development site.

History of Elmwood
be able to memorize all the information or absorb the key

Financial Analyst
3 Create a project vision and physical plan: Based on content in one reading. Keep your handbook available, so
your due diligence, develop a distinctive vision for the you can refer to it as you work on the project.
project and realize this vision through a well-designed Tips for getting started:
physical plan that responds to the city’s goals and
• Read this entire About UrbanPlan section first. It
objectives and benefits the existing residents of the
includes key information about developing your team,
Elmwood District.

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
understanding investors, studying the site plan, crafting
4 Persuade the decision-makers: Make a compelling oral a vision statement, meeting financial goals, and
presentation to the City Council, persuading them that presenting your final project to City Council.
your proposal delivers the most powerful response to
• Read the RFP and Design Guidelines closely so you
their RFP and that your development team has the skills
understand the city’s goals and requirements for
and experience to execute the project.
the project. Then study the Site Plan and familiarize

Neighborhood Liaison
yourself with both the Existing Buildings and the New

Existing Buildings
Gathering the Information: Due Diligence
Building Types.
The RFP and supporting documents in the UrbanPlan
handbook provide all the due diligence information you • Review the Neighborhood Letters so that you have an
will need to understand the city’s goals, the development initial impression of community concerns and politics.
Your team will analyze these letters in detail as you
move into the heart of the project.

New Buildings & Open Space

A NOTE ON THE REALITY OF URBANPLAN: To realize
the benefits of UrbanPlan, you have to treat the “case” • Review the Role Descriptions for each member of the

Site Planner
and process as seriously as experienced practitioners team, so you understand how to delegate responsibilities
would—as if it were a real project. and work effectively as a development team.
You might be skeptical of the assertions about the • Preview the City Council Presentation information, so
importance of due diligence and the case details. you know the requirements and how your presentation
You might be tempted to skip or compress the
City Council Presentation

time will be structured. You’ll need to read this material

recommended team process. That will have an more closely later on, when you’re closer to preparing
Building Tools

unfortunate impact on your team’s success and your your final City Council presentation.
personal takeaways from the project. Instead, dive in
• Remember to keep an open mind. Don’t overlook key
and we hope you see benefits from the experience. You
facts that may conflict with your point of view or take
might be frustrated that certain things are not allowed
sides with a particular stakeholder group. You need to
or not realistic. Instead, focus on tackling the problem
be an analyst, not an activist.
within the constraints that are presented.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

6 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 ABOUT URBANPLAN
Neighborhood Letters
financial model, and the Site Planner needs to learn all of the
Creating an Effective
building tools, build the LEGO shapes, and learn how to use
Development Team
the online site builder.
Your team of specialists for the Elmwood project has

Financial Model Overview

Tips for getting started on your team:
five members: Environment & Equity Director, Financial
Analyst, Marketing Director, Neighborhood Liaison, and • Select a project manager to keep the discussion on

RFP
Site Planner. You will become one of these specialists for track and on time.
your team.
• Determine how each team member will keep track of
Read the role descriptions (starting with the Environment the key role-specific issues.
& Equity Director tab) to learn about each of the roles.
• Determine how you will resolve disagreements.

Enviro & Equity Director

Each role description includes a list of key responsibilities,

Design Guidelines
Remember: to make informed decisions, each of you
information essential to the job, sample questions, and
must provide input from your role.
presentation tips.
• Select a name for your development company, but
Remember, you are all members of a private development
don’t let this part of the process bog you down! You
firm. No one on the team works for the City of Yorktown or
don’t need a name until you prepare your presentation
any of the neighborhood groups. You each have a job to do.
package for City Council.

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
Your biggest challenge on this project will be to “become”
your role. Your team members must be able to rely on Understanding Your Investors
you to think and act like the Neighborhood Liaison, the
To build your project and deliver its benefits to the city, you
Financial Analyst, or whichever role you play. Because you
will need to convince investors and lenders to provide the
must depend on each other to devise a plan that balances
capital for this high-risk endeavor. Unfortunately for you,
competing interests, it is important that you be able to do the
potential investors have other investment options in their

Site Plan & Context Map

following:

Marketing Director
region, country, and even globally. Understanding how
• Know and understand the information required of your investors think will help you create a proposal that can
role on the team. attract the capital it requires.

• Listen to your teammates: they have facts and insights Private Investment Objectives and Risk
that you need to hear and understand.
In any private enterprise requiring the investment of money,
• Rely on each other to introduce important information

Neighborhood Liaison
the goal is to generate additional money from the funds

Existing Buildings
and feedback. invested—in other words, to generate a profit. Investors
establish target rates of return on that money based on the
Once you select your role, complete role-specific
degree of risk associated with a project.
assignments and master the tools you need to learn. The
Financial Analyst, for example, must become an expert in the Each opportunity comes with some risk of losing part or all
of the investment or receiving a lower-than-expected return.

New Buildings & Open Space

Investors need incentives to put their financial capital to
work in ventures that have higher risks of failure. That’s why

Site Planner
THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE: Although investors seek
higher-risk opportunities must offer higher rates of return.
profit, many also seek broader impact, called the “Triple
Investors often compare these rates with the interest rates
Bottom Line.” The three components are profit, people,
and the planet. In other words, investors want to ensure
they could receive from money placed in a low-risk bank
that their projects will improve people’s lives and savings account or interest rates they could receive from
positively affect the environment. money used to buy government-guaranteed bonds.
City Council Presentation

Building Tools

When investors ignore people and the planet, it can Large, mixed-use infill redevelopment projects take many
lead to negative outcomes, like the destruction of years, or even decades, to plan and build and are typically
rainforests and the displacement of people from their built in multiple phases (something you won’t need to worry
homes. In UrbanPlan, you should keep all three of these about for this project). Investors and developers use due
goals in mind. diligence to gather and analyze the best information they
can get to maximize the likelihood of a successful project.
However, they have to commit very large sums of money
Land Use Chart
Glossary

7 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 ABOUT URBANPLAN
Neighborhood Letters
based on current conditions and projections, which are Developing Your Ideas for Elmwood:
essentially very sophisticated guesses about the future. Creating and Executing Your Vision
A potentially high return can turn into a total loss of investors’ It is hard to resist the urge to start building immediately! But,

Financial Model Overview

capital for any number of reasons: changes in the economy as for all development teams, your time is limited, so you
(such as a recession); changes in market conditions (such need a plan to use your limited time effectively.

RFP
as reduced demand for a product); natural disasters (such as
floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes); neighborhood 1) Study the Site Plan and the Context Map
opposition; environmental cleanup; or labor strikes. The Site Planner should lead the team through this review:
For the redevelopment of Elmwood, investors will expect a • Locate existing major streets, highways, and transit

Enviro & Equity Director

projected rate of return of at least 13.5 percent. At some lines and stops. Review the 5.5-block area and the

Design Guidelines
point after the project is completed (and mostly leased or broader surrounding area. What is in Elmwood? What is
sold), it is assumed your development company will sell the close to Elmwood? What is too far to walk to?
entire development. This enables your company to have
funds to work on your next deal and it allows you to give • Locate existing residential areas. Where do people live
the investors their portion of the profit. Remember, this is a now? What different kinds of housing are available?
“potential” or projected profit, not a guaranteed interest rate. If Who do you think lives here? What might be missing?

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
the project fails, the investors do not get their money back. • Identify current and historical locations of office, retail,
or other nonresidential uses. Where do people live, work,
Public-Sector Investment Objectives (Government)
and play in Elmwood? Is there a natural focal point?
Public investment objectives are different from private-sector What brings people together? What separates them?
objectives. The public sector does not “invest” to make a
• Learn about the existing buildings and consider their
profit. It contributes money to a project for the “public good”—
possible uses. Preserving old buildings can give a

Site Plan & Context Map

to improve the community for its current and future residents.

Marketing Director
community a sense of continuity and authenticity;
In some cases, cities may be prepared to lose money. In
conversely, preservation can inhibit change and
this case, Yorktown requires that the increased tax revenues
innovative design. What building must be preserved?
generated by the project repay the city’s investment plus at
What other buildings can be preserved, and what is
least $9.5 million over a 10-year period.
the cost of doing so? How important is local history
In the RFP, you will find more information about the cost of and culture to maintaining the unique flavor of the

Neighborhood Liaison
the land, available subsidies, and any specific fees the city community?

Existing Buildings
may charge.
2) Study New and Existing Building Fact Sheets
The Financial Model The Marketing Director should lead the team through
The Financial Model calculates these projected returns for this review:
you once you have developed a project plan and input your • Review the “Existing Buildings” and “New Buildings”

New Buildings & Open Space

decisions for each block. You can view the return in the tabs to learn about the types of buildings, design
lower right corner of the Value Worksheet. Under “Developer criteria, market demand, and city subsidies, if any. The

Site Planner
Profit,” you will find both the dollar amount of profit and the Land Use Chart provides a quick summary of most of
rate of return that your proposal generates. this information.
For the city’s investment, refer to the City Revenue • Evaluate each existing building’s significance to
Worksheet. The bottom line, “Net Value,” indicates the the community, the revenue it might generate if
City Council Presentation

money returned to the city through increased tax revenues rehabilitated, the new uses and tenants that could be
over a 10-year period. If the figure is $9.5 million or greater,
Building Tools

included in this building, and the market goals it can

the project has met the city’s financial goal. (Note: numbers meet. What ways can you use these buildings if you
in parentheses are negative and indicate a loss.) rehabilitate them? Conversely, what new structures or
Although you can advocate for any proposal that your team uses can you put on the land if you tear down any of the
believes meets the city’s goals and objectives, your project existing buildings?
is unlikely to attract financing or win the contract if your
proposal does not meet both financial criteria.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

8 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 ABOUT URBANPLAN
Neighborhood Letters
3) Study the LEGO Building Shapes Create Your Vision Statement

The Site Planner should lead the team through this review: Now that you understand the site, the opportunities, and the
challenges, you will use this “palette” of land use options to
• Carefully review the “Building Tools” section to make

Financial Model Overview

develop your distinctive vision for Elmwood.
sure you understand the size and shape of each
building, parking lot or structure, and amenity. Refer to Your Vision Statement will paint a picture of the environment

RFP
the information in the “New Buildings” and “Existing —the “look and feel” you want to create and the activities and
Buildings” sections if you have questions. outcomes you want to enable. The statement may be a few
sentences or a paragraph. Rather than listing the land uses
• Note: You must build the LEGO shapes exactly as you plan to build (using nouns), your words should convey
shown. You may not modify a shape or create new what you intend to accomplish by building those uses (think

Enviro & Equity Director

uses or shapes.

Design Guidelines
verbs and adjectives).
4) Get Specific: Understanding the Opportunities and For example: Why build townhouses, apartments, and
Challenges from Your (Role) Perspective
condos (nouns)? So people can live (verb) in them. Why retail
Each team member should inform the rest of the team about stores (noun)? So people can shop (verb). Why a community
issues associated with their role and the impact, benefits, and meeting space (noun) in York Dry Goods? So people can
consequences to the community of the options available. congregate (verb) for civic activities. Why parks (noun)? So

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
people can relax or play (verbs).
Each role should start by asking what are the city’s key goals
and how does each land use respond to those goals? Then Here are some adjectives that could describe the feel of a
consider the following questions: place: boring, failing, or depressing. Will any of these be part
of your Vision Statement? If not, what words would you use?
• Neighborhood Liaison
How do the letters respond to the city’s goals and Imagine that you are looking down on your Elmwood. What
objectives? Do any of the neighborhood groups have

Site Plan & Context Map

do you see?

Marketing Director
specific objections? How much weight should your
• Is your Elmwood a beautifully designed modern
team give to their concerns?
neighborhood, a historic village, an eclectic mix, or
• Marketing Director something else? Is there a “village green,” a “Main
How much of each land use can the market support? Street,” or some notable focal point?
Which land uses might be used sparingly? How do
absorption rates of different housing and office • Is your Elmwood a little enclave separate from the rest

Neighborhood Liaison
of Yorktown, or does Elmwood draw from adjacent

Existing Buildings
uses compare?
areas and welcome the energy and opportunities
• Environment & Equity Director coming from those areas?
What is the impact of each land use on the
environment? Which land uses are more sustainable, • Who are your residents and workers? Do you see
and do they have drawbacks? How do your decisions business suits, briefcases, baby carriages, bikes,
about jobs, affordable housing, open space, and backpacks, skateboards, or wheelchairs?

New Buildings & Open Space

community facilities influence equitable outcomes?
• What would the people in a “Here’s Our Elmwood” poster

Site Planner
• Site Planner look like?
How important is the local history of Elmwood in
• Where is the action? Is it on 8th, 9th, York, Elm, or
creating a vision for Elmwood now? What is the impact
Cherry? Elsewhere?
of each land use on traffic? Obstruction of views?
Neighborhood cohesion and community? Which uses • Does the action move at different times of day and
City Council Presentation

are compatible beside each other? different days of the week?

Building Tools

• Financial Analyst • Is it vibrant on weekdays? Weeknights? Weekends?

What land uses generate the most jobs? What kinds of What about Friday and Saturday nights?
jobs? Which land uses generate the highest tax revenue?
• Are people walking or using mass transit, cars, or
Which land uses create the highest demands on city
bicycles? Does this depend on day of the week and time?
services? Which land uses are subsidized by the city?
Which land uses return the most profit to the developer? • What does the crowd look like during rush hour on
Land Use Chart
Glossary

9 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 ABOUT URBANPLAN
Neighborhood Letters
Monday morning: age, attire, and demeanor? How about Financial Analyst: never assume something will or will not
Saturday at noon and at midnight? Tuesday at 9 p.m.? work—test it.

• What are people doing in your Elmwood? Going to and Save a copy of the financial model and site plan for each

Financial Model Overview

from office buildings, strolling with an ice cream cone, scenario you test, so you can identify and compare the
or jogging? Meeting friends for pick-up basketball? Are strongest points of each one.

RFP
they in tattoo parlors, espresso bars, brewpubs, nail
Your Site Planner will construct the LEGO shapes and your
salons, artisanal cheese shops, or used bookstores? Are
physical plan. But each one of you has essential information
they carrying groceries? Going to worship?
to share to ensure that each iteration of your plan aligns with
• Can they buy milk, organic broccoli, paint, earbuds, your objectives.

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
sheets, a car battery, and a TV?
Remember: There isn’t one “right answer”— there are
• Are there parks, sports fields, and courts? Is there one many possible Vision Statements and responsive plans.
very large park or several smaller parks? Who is using However, answers can be “wrong” or “poorly thought out.”
the open space on weekdays? Weekends? What are they Proposals that ignore key facts, underestimate risks,
doing there? ignore interest groups, and prioritize the developers’
personal views over the city’s wants and values will not
Come up with questions of your own to refine your team’s

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
succeed.
vision for Elmwood. Then ask yourselves: Does your
Elmwood align with the city’s goals and objectives? Does it
align with the facts and realities of the project? Once your
Presenting Your Project to City Council
team is in agreement, you can craft a Vision Statement. Don’t The City Council will select the winning proposal after oral
worry – you can (and should) still revise and refine it as you presentations by and questioning of each development
develop your proposal. Always make sure you are checking if team.

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
the land use decisions you make on the physical site plan are
reflecting the Vision Statement. Your presentation must persuade the City Council that your
firm understands its objectives, respects its values, and can
Although the Vision Statement takes time initially, a well- produce the outcomes the Council is seeking. Presentation
thought-out vision gives your team a competitive advantage quality is typically the determining factor when the Council
once teams start building. Other teams will waste valuable decides which development team to select among several
time arguing about luxury condos, Q-Marts, homeless good proposals.

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
shelters, and affordable housing rates, and so on, before
they have a coherent team vision for the entire project. Your The team that clearly articulates its vision, expresses that
team can focus all its time testing multiple land uses and vision powerfully through its physical plan, articulates
tenant scenarios that deliver exactly what you are looking the benefits of its proposal to the city, its residents, and
for, optimizing the outcomes with each iteration. neighborhood groups, and demonstrates fact-based
reasoning behind each decision will inspire confidence

New Buildings & Open Space

6) Build and Test Multiple Scenarios among Council members.
Aligning your physical plan with your Vision Statement is The Council will use the criteria listed in Developer Selection

Site Planner
critical to your success with the City Council. The Council will Criteria and Process (behind the “RFP” tab) and the
challenge you if they feel that your plan does not deliver the Presentation Checklist (behind the “Presentation” tab) to
environment, opportunities, and activities you’ve promised in evaluate the merits of each proposal.
your Vision Statement.
Teams have 10 to 15 minutes for the presentation and 10 to
City Council Presentation

When you develop new scenarios, don’t tinker around the 15 minutes to answer questions from the Council. The exact
Building Tools

edges of previous ones. Push your Site Planner and Financial timing will be confirmed. During the presentation, each team
Analyst to build and test dramatically different amounts of member must speak from the perspective of their role for a
density and open space, housing and office, and subsidized minimum of two minutes.
and nonsubsidized uses. Experiment with “unacceptable”
scenarios. Test the financial and job-creating implications
of uses and combinations you don’t want. They may provide
insights you can use to improve the scenarios you do like.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

10 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 ABOUT URBANPLAN
Neighborhood Letters
We hope that UrbanPlan helps you to:
A NOTE ON FRUSTRATION: Leadership, communication, • Manage conflicting interests with others and within
and conflict resolution skills are needed to collaborate yourself while working toward a common goal.
effectively and resolve the team (your people) and

Financial Model Overview

project challenges (your external stakeholders and the • Consider different perspectives and practice
constraints of the problem) that arise in UrbanPlan. compromise with your teammates.

RFP
You face the same issues that frustrate land use • Assert your point of view in your role, supporting your
professionals every day: point of view with relevant evidence.
− Insufficient time − Political forces and
neighborhood groups Questions to consider and discuss:
− Incomplete

Enviro & Equity Director

information − Financial situation • How do leaders in your community balance financial,

Design Guidelines
of the city
− Constraints of social, and political needs?
market demand − Investor expectations
for product type • Who has a say in shaping your community? Who should
− Physical limitations
− Restrictions on of the site have a say? Why?
building types
− Team members you • What does your ideal community look like? How is it like
− Zoning constraints haven’t worked
with before or unlike where you live now? Why?

History of Elmwood
− Parking ratios

Financial Analyst
• What can be done in your neighborhood to bring it
Don’t waste your limited time arguing about the
closer to your ideal community? Who can help make
parameters and constraints of the problem. Every team
the change(s)?
shares the same constraints. Dive into the details of
your role and the problem as it exists. Test multiple,
varied scenarios, and use your vision and skill to create
a bold solution.

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
The UrbanPlan Experience
Roles are foundational to the UrbanPlan experience. By
embodying these roles, teams and volunteers simulate

Neighborhood Liaison
the diverse perspectives, disciplines, and concerns held

Existing Buildings
by stakeholders and land use professionals engaged in
community development.

In your UrbanPlan role, you may find yourself advocating

for things that your team believes are in the best interest
of the community but may be different than your personal

New Buildings & Open Space

beliefs. While it is natural to bring your personal values to the
decision-making process, UrbanPlan encourages you and

Site Planner
your team to engage in an evidence-based assessment of
your personal beliefs and those characterized by UrbanPlan
stakeholders (city, neighborhoods groups) to reach a
thoughtful compromise.
City Council Presentation

Remember that the volunteers who form the mock City

Building Tools

Council are also playing roles. They too may advocate

strongly for positions that may be different than their own
professional and personal beliefs outside of UrbanPlan.
Their goal is to challenge each team from the perspective of
community residents and leaders and push participants to
assess and defend their plan.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

11 | UrbanPlan Handbook
About UrbanPlan RFP Design Guidelines History of Elmwood Site Plan & Context Map Existing Buildings New Buildings & Open Space Building Tools Neighborhood Letters
Land Use Chart Financial Model Overview Enviro & Equity Director Financial Analyst Marketing Director Neighborhood Liaison Site Planner City Council Presentation Glossary

12 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Financial Model Overview

RFP
Request for Proposals
to Purchase and Develop the Elmwood District
Redevelopment Project Area

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
I. Introduction
The City of Yorktown seeks proposals from qualified developers for the Elmwood District
Redevelopment Project Area.
This Request for Proposals contains requirements for the proposal and describes the
• Development opportunity, and

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
• Developer selection criteria and process.
The city seeks a developer who can create a sustainable, economically vibrant, distinctive
district that encourages cross-generational interactions and takes maximum advantage of the
surrounding commercial, educational, and cultural resources; and acknowledges the site’s prime
access to mass transit.

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
The City of Yorktown’s redevelopment plan for the Elmwood District permits:
• New construction of office, retail, residential, and mixed-use buildings;
• Rehabilitation of existing buildings; and
• Provision of new community and recreational facilities.
The primary goals for the area’s revitalization are to:

Neighborhood Liaison
• Create housing that is attainable to a mix of income KEY THRESHOLDS:

Existing Buildings
groups (very low-income, low-income, and moderate
income) in addition to market rate housing; $9.5 million to city

• Create employment opportunities for neighborhood and 13.5% rate of return

city residents and increase the number of jobs offering a
10% affordable housing
living wage;

New Buildings & Open Space

• Attract retail businesses that serve the needs—both
products and price points—of neighborhood residents;

Site Planner
• Develop the city’s first EcoDistrict by promoting equity, resilience, and climate
protection;
• Contribute to the city’s plan for decarbonization by investing not only in green buildings,
but also in net zero buildings;
• Generate tax revenues for the city;
City Council Presentation

• Create or preserve public and private amenities that enhance retired/longtime residents’
Building Tools

ability to age in place;

• Address existing residents’ concerns about gentrification;
• Create public spaces for active and passive recreation;
• Address blight caused by dilapidated buildings and vacant lots; and
• Preserve legally designated historic sites.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

13 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
A NOTE ON BLIGHT: In real estate and planning, blight refers to deteriorated property that can include
abandoned buildings, vacant lots, or a legacy of disinvestment. However, blight also has been used as a
coded word to describe people rather than property. In this form, the designation of ‘blighted’ has been
used to justify the destruction of entire communities and displacement of its residents, often marginalized

Financial Model Overview

people of color.

Starting in the 1960s, people who shaped cities referred to this process as urban renewal. It is important

RFP
that when we discuss blight we are aware of this bias, and we do not perpetuate historic and contemporary
misuse of the term. For more on the history of blight and urban renewal, see their definitions in
the glossary.

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
Sustainable Development
Yorktown is an older city established before the dominance of the automobile, so many of its
neighborhoods, in their prime, were living examples of sustainable development before the
term was in common usage. The neighborhoods were compact, walkable, cross-generational
communities, providing a range of housing types and price point options, robust neighborhood-
serving retail, local employment opportunities, sites for civic and social congregation, and access
to public transit infrastructure.

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
The city asks that proposals meet the following three requirements:
1. Achieve Green Building Certification. Buildings generate Annual Global CO2 Emissions
nearly 40 percent of annual global CO2 emissions, with both Other

building construction and building operations contributing Transport Building

Operations
to this impact (see diagram to the right). In accordance with 22% 28%

Site Plan & Context Map

Yorktown’s commitment to carbon neutrality, all new and

Marketing Director
renovated buildings in the city must achieve certification under
Yorktown’s green building standard. As a result, buildings
will use less energy and less water in their operations, 30% 11%
user materials efficiently, and generate less waste than Industry Building
Construction
conventional buildings.
Global ABC Global Status Report, 2018, EIA
2. Include Net Zero Buildings. Developers will determine what

Neighborhood Liaison
percentage of new and renovated buildings will be net zero energy buildings. This investment

Existing Buildings
will consist of construction of solar panels, or photovoltaic (PV) arrays, on the roofs of all
buildings (except the Q-Mart which has a green roof) and parking structures to generate
electricity for the district. Any balance of electricity needed to operate the district will be
purchased off-site from the Yorktown Wind Turbine Farm. These upfront costs will be paid
back over the lifetime of the buildings through operations savings.
3. Create the city’s first EcoDistrict. An EcoDistrict is a comprehensive framework to guide

New Buildings & Open Space

urban and community development from planning to implementation. It’s a powerful way to
move projects from vision to reality, and puts equity, resilience, and climate protection at the
Site Planner
heart of every decision. Teams will identify key strategies to pursue under all three pillars and
demonstrate which metrics help them achieve those objectives. For more information on
EcoDistricts, see the glossary.

Affordable Housing
City Council Presentation

• City policy requires that a minimum of 10 percent of all housing be designated affordable,
Building Tools

but developers are invited to exceed that threshold. Developers must consider which mix
of income levels they aim to support with their housing supply. In Elmwood, building types
dictate what types of affordable housing can be provided.
• Rehabbed existing buildings: very low-income housing for families, seniors, and individuals
on very fixed incomes.
• Podium apartments: low-income housing for families and individuals with jobs that make
saving difficult.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

14 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
• Townhouses: moderate-income (workforce) housing for people who provide services to the
community: firefighters, police, teachers.
• Luxury condos: only market-rate housing.
The city does not specify which types of affordable housing be included to meet or exceed the 10
percent minimum.

Financial Model Overview

Job Creation in Elmwood

RFP
The city is seeking proposals that will generate employment, enabling neighborhood and city
residents to build careers, develop skills, and potentially live near where they work. The city
acknowledges that the redevelopment of Elmwood will generate construction jobs that will benefit
the city, but responses to this RFP will be evaluated on the creation of potential permanent jobs.

Enviro & Equity Director

While many of the new residents of Elmwood will keep their existing jobs, the city wants to

Design Guidelines
see new jobs proximate to the new residences in Elmwood. If many of the new jobs can go to
existing or new residents of Elmwood, then they are more likely to be able to walk, bike, or take
the bus to their place of employment, which can provide considerable financial savings and
increase quality of life. New jobs will be generated by all building types and land uses, including
open space. The city categorizes new jobs as follows:

Job Category Description Examples of Position Potential Housing Choice

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
(Assumes a one-person household)*

Part-time positions that do not Cashier, janitorial, mail Apartments in Rehabbed

require a degree. Majority of these room, concierge Buildings: Affordable Units (Very
Part-time entry-level jobs in Elmwood will pay hourly Low Income)
for flexible work but do not offer
benefits.

Full-time positions that do not Cashier, deli counter/ Podium: Affordable Units (Low

Site Plan & Context Map

require a degree. Majority of these butcher, stocking, Income)

Marketing Director
Full-time entry-level jobs in Elmwood will be salaried administrative support,
with benefits. research associate

Full-time salaried positions with Store manager, office Townhouses: Affordable Units
benefits that require education manager,, nurse, police (Moderate Income) and some
Mid-paying or experience levels higher than officer, teacher market-rate units
entry-level.

Full-time salaried positions with Store general manager, Market-rate housing in Podiums

Neighborhood Liaison
benefits, often supervisory or lawyer, department and Townhouses and Luxury

Existing Buildings
High-paying executive, that require education head, executive director Condos
or experience levels higher than of nonprofit
mid-paying.
* Note: most households have more than one person. For example, a four-person household might include two parents - one with a high-
paying job and one with a mid-paying job and a teenager with a part-time entry-level job.

II. The Development Opportunity

New Buildings & Open Space

The City, community, and selected respondent have an opportunity to create a development

Site Planner
that is truly of benefit to the people of Elmwood. Pertinent information to inform the RFP
respondents is listed below.
A. Location
The redevelopment site is within the Elmwood District, to the northwest of downtown Yorktown
(see Context Map).
City Council Presentation

Building Tools

B. The Elmwood District and Surrounding Area

• The Elmwood District redevelopment site is an approximately 5.5-block area (11.75
acres) within a 15-minute walk to downtown Yorktown.
• The site is bordered immediately on the north by residential neighborhoods. Two- and
three-story multifamily dwellings were converted into moderately priced condos and
rental units.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

15 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
• One block farther north, above Oak Street, is a well-established, single-family residential
area of more than 800 residences. Residents include retirees on fixed incomes who have
lived in the neighborhood for decades, many Yorktown University faculty families, and
upper-middle-income couples and families who recently moved into the neighborhood to
take advantage of the value-priced single-family housing stock.

Financial Model Overview

• Grace Memorial Church, with its entrance on Oak Street, provides a transition from both
residential neighborhoods to the site.

RFP
• Five blocks to the northeast are Yorktown’s newly renovated and high-performing public
schools: an elementary school and a high school.
• To the west and immediately adjacent to the site is low-priced multifamily rental housing
in three- and four-story apartment buildings.
• Yorktown University is five blocks to the west of the site, on the other side of the highway,

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
offering Elmwood District residents and workers many cultural, educational, and
recreational opportunities, including museums and theaters.
• The site is bordered on the south by York Street. Across York Street are three- and four-
story partially occupied office buildings with limited ground-floor retail uses, including a
medical supply store, check-cashing service, donut shop, and locally owned motorcycle
supply store.
• To the east of the site, at the intersection of Cherry Street and 11th Avenue, is a newly

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
rehabilitated 70,000-square-foot, three-story YMCA with extensive sports and fitness
facilities and programs for adults and children.
• Farther south on 11th Avenue and York Street is a new five-story City Employment
Development Services office where city residents can apply for unemployment benefits
and seek job counseling.

C. Getting to Elmwood by Automobile and Mass Transit

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
• The Elmwood District is centrally located and readily accessible by many modes of
transportation. Convenient public transportation is available, including YART—the area’s
rail and subway transit system—and numerous bus lines on York Street. Bike lanes on
York connect downtown to the Yorktown University neighborhood.
• The Elmwood District borders on York Street, a primary east–west thoroughfare
connecting downtown to Yorktown University. Traffic counts on York Street are 10 times

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
greater than those on Elm, Cherry, and Oak streets.
• Ninth Avenue bisects the site and is the primary north–south thoroughfare, with traffic
counts four times those of 8th and 10th avenues. Before the Elmwood District’s decline,
9th Avenue was served by a streetcar, but it is now served by a city bus route.
• Access to the highway is three blocks west of the site. The highway connects Elmwood
to western sections of the city and the suburbs.

New Buildings & Open Space

D. What Zoning Uses Will the City Permit in the Elmwood District?

Site Planner
The redevelopment area is zoned for office, retail, and residential uses, which can be mixed
within a block or programmed as mixed-use in new or rehabbed buildings.

E. The Elmwood District Today

In the mid-1990s, a building boom hit downtown Yorktown, attracting residents and businesses.
City Council Presentation

The city has continued to grow at a brisk pace. Home prices and rents are rising throughout
Building Tools

the city, and local leaders are eyeing Elmwood’s vacant properties as a solution to their housing
problem.
Currently, Elmwood has a variety of multifamily housing options, with rents lower than average
for the city, but housing prices are rising in the neighborhood. The rising prices have pushed
housing from low-income prices to mid-market or market rate.
The once-vibrant core is lacking in key amenities. There is no grocery store and very little retail
in a walkable area, and many remaining businesses are in disrepair.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

16 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Today, the 5.5-block redevelopment site for the Elmwood District consists of four remaining
buildings in various states of disrepair, owned by the City of Yorktown:
• The York Dry Goods Building is a vacant department store. Designed by a famous
architect, it is historically significant and thus cannot be demolished.
• The former Phoenix Hotel is currently functioning as a homeless shelter and operated by

Financial Model Overview

the Grace Memorial Church.
• The two Victorian Row buildings do not meet current fire or building codes. Twelve artists

RFP
have low-rent leases with the city to rent studio space in the buildings, but the leases are
due to expire soon.
• The Franklin Preparatory Academy foundation site, adjacent to Grace Memorial Church,
has served for several years as a makeshift skate park.

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
F. City Funding Available for the Project
The city will invest funds to meet the economic and social objectives of this RFP. Funds will
be approved based on the public benefit achieved. The developer must demonstrate to the City
Council that such benefits exist and are compatible with the entire proposal. The city will only
be offering a subsidy toward construction costs at this time. The city is unable to subsidize
any other community facilities. Any additional proposed uses requiring subsidies will be 100
percent the responsibility of the developer.

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
The city exempts the developer from paying property taxes on the affordable units and
contributes a subsidy toward operating costs for open space and community facilities.
The City of Yorktown expects to recover all investments in the project plus an additional $9.5
million through increased property and sales tax revenues within 10 years.

Use City Subsidy towards

Site Plan & Context Map

Construction Costs

Marketing Director
Affordable Housing 15%
Public Open Space: Parks & Plazas / Sports Courts / Skate Park 50%
Community Facilities / Community Benefit: City Pays 15% of Construction
Developer Subsidizes 85% of Construction Costs Costs
- Branch Library (7,500 SF) 15%

Neighborhood Liaison
- Community Art Space (2,500 SF) 15%

Existing Buildings
Providing classes and public studio space for painting,
sculpting, and potting for residents and Elmwood workers
- Community Meeting Space with Resilience Hub (7,000 SF) 15%
May be used for civic meetings or rented by Elmwood residents
for private functions
- Daycare Center (3,500 SF) 15%

New Buildings & Open Space

- Drug Treatment Center (1,500 SF) 15%
- Police Substation (1,500 SF) 15%

Site Planner
- Senior Center (6,000 SF) 15%
- Teen Center (5,000 SF) 15%
- Yorktown Bike Share Office (5,500 SF) 15%
- Public Health Clinic (4,500 SF) 15%
City Council Presentation

- Small Business Incubator (4,000 SF) 15%

Building Tools

G. Price of Land to the Developer

The city acquired the land in the Elmwood District over a period of years at a total cost of
$25 million, which is above the market value. The city will offer the land at a reduced price
of $20 million to a developer who will develop the site in a manner consistent with the goals
and objectives stated in the RFP. The city views this as an additional subsidy towards the
project similar to the subsidies noted above.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

17 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
H. Market Analysis: What Land Uses Does Market Demand Support?
The city commissioned a complete market analysis to determine viable uses for the site.
The analysis concluded that demand exists for residential, office, and retail space within the
Elmwood District redevelopment area.
All projections are based on current population data and forecasts for the overall economy over

Financial Model Overview

the next three years. Unexpected events could occur. Changing economic conditions could
affect the market demand for real estate products and price points in the Elmwood District.

RFP
1. Residential
A surge of residential growth has occurred within the city limits of Yorktown, consisting of
young professionals seeking proximity to downtown employment and empty nesters who
enjoy Yorktown’s cultural and civic activities. The expansion of Yorktown University’s graduate

Enviro & Equity Director

programs has created new demand for housing for faculty and graduate students, particularly

Design Guidelines
those with young families.
The market analysis revealed that demand exists for rental apartments, for-sale townhouses,
and luxury condos to house the area’s diverse population.
The demand for affordable units is essentially unlimited. In addition to low- and very-
income households, the city is concerned that public service workers and others making
moderate incomes are not priced out of the market.

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
Annual Demand Forecast
Use Number of Units per Year
for Next Three Years
Market-Rate Units
- Luxury Condos 35

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
- Market-Rate Podium Apartments 100
- Market-Rate Townhouses 24

Subsidized / Non-Market-Rate Units

- Affordable Podium Apartments Unlimited

Neighborhood Liaison
- Affordable Townhouses Unlimited

Existing Buildings
2. Office
Vacancy rates are very low in downtown Yorktown, so many companies are looking for office
space that is nearby. The Elmwood District will be attractive to office users who are looking
for transit access, proximity to the highway, and adjacency to talent from the university.
Yorktown is also home to many nonprofit organizations that might be attracted by lower

New Buildings & Open Space

office rents in Elmwood, particularly in rehabbed office space or in low-rise office buildings.

Site Planner
Annual Demand Forecast

Use Number of Square Feet per Year

for Next Three Years
Low-Rise Office 80,000
City Council Presentation

Mid-Rise Office 70,000

Building Tools

3. Retail
Elmwood, similar to many underserved neighborhoods, lacks basic retail services. Many
retailers have long since closed. Most national chain merchants have concentrated their new
stores in outlying suburban locations. Residents of Elmwood currently must walk 45 minutes
or travel by bus for 40 minutes in order to reach the closest grocery store and shopping
center. This particularly impacts lower-income households, senior citizens, or students that
Land Use Chart

do not have a car.

Glossary

18 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
The market study revealed opportunities for three types of retail: neighborhood retail; a
supermarket with a pharmacy; and a discount department store.

a. Neighborhood Retail
Neighborhood retail consists of small shops that serve households within the immediate
neighborhood, generally those living within one mile. These shops often include retail that

Financial Model Overview

serves residents and workers and their everyday needs, such as coffee shops, dry cleaners,
hair salons, etc., but can also include specialty shops such as a butcher shop or bookstore.

RFP
The area can support one fine-dining, full-service restaurant in the next three years if new
office space and new market-rate residential are built.
The demographics will not support large national retailers such as Old Navy or Macy’s. The
city is looking to attract locally owned businesses to the district.

Enviro & Equity Director

Neighborhood Retail Annual Demand Forecast:

Design Guidelines
22,000 square feet per year for the next three years

b. Supermarket
Demand exists for a supermarket in the market area. A new supermarket needs
approximately 25,000 households within three miles of Elmwood, new residential
development in the site, and convenient access for shoppers. The use cannot be supported
by Elmwood residents alone. The city has been in talks with a local company looking to

History of Elmwood
open a second location that focuses on purchasing produce from local farmers.

Financial Analyst
c. Discount Department Store
The market study also determined that demand exists for a discount “big-box” department
store within the market area. Currently, such stores, including Target and Walmart, are
located in the suburbs. Q-Mart, a global discount chain, is interested in a 80,000-square-foot
store in Elmwood. The retailer has found that a market area of 100,000 households within 12
miles can support one of its stores.

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
There is not demand, currently, for both a supermarket and a discount department store.

I. Developer’s Responsibility for Site Improvements

The developer is solely responsible for construction of all improvements on the site, including
underground utilities, street lighting, curbs, street trees, bioswales, and sidewalks.

Neighborhood Liaison
J. Environmental Analysis: Toxic and Hazardous Materials

Existing Buildings
Studies have revealed asbestos in Victorian Row. The developer must pay abatement costs
for this brownfield site in compliance with all relevant federal, state, and local laws and
ordinances. These costs are incurred only if Victorian Row is rehabbed.

K. Neighborhood Issues and Outreach

New Buildings & Open Space

The city and its successful developer partners have worked closely with neighborhood
residents in all neighborhood development projects to ensure opportunities for input and

Site Planner
to create neighborhood support. Prospective developers are strongly encouraged to study
the input from neighborhood organizations and neighboring property owners/occupants in
preparation for a response to the RFP. The successful developer will clearly articulate the
benefits its proposal provides to the neighborhood residents as well as to the entire city.
The City Council has provided letters from various neighborhood groups and institutions
City Council Presentation

(see “Neighborhood Letters”). A successful developer candidate will assist the City Council
in determining each group’s standing in the neighborhood and if the group’s positions are
Building Tools

aligned with city and resident goals and objectives.

L. Homeless Shelter
Development teams have three options when it comes to how to address the existing
homeless shelter, which is in substandard condition:
1. Keep in the Phoenix Hotel, which requires renovating the building.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

19 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
2. Build a new homeless shelter on the site.
3. Not include the shelter on the site, which requires paying a $1 million fee to the city’s
Homeless Shelter Relocation Fund to offset the cost of purchasing land and building
a new shelter elsewhere in Yorktown.

Financial Model Overview

M. Land Use and Urban Design Standards

RFP
All proposals must meet the requirements of the redevelopment plan and shall reflect
the development and urban design standards of the City of Yorktown (see “Design
Guidelines”).

III. Developer Selection Criteria and Process

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
The development team must make an oral presentation and provide a coherent vision,
site plan, and proposal packet with supplemental materials at an upcoming City Council
hearing (see “City Council Presentation” for requirements). We expect all submitting
teams to demonstrate how their proposals meet the city financial and non-financial goals
for the Elmwood District.
Each development firm will have 10 to 15 minutes for the presentation and 10 to 15
minutes for questions from Council. (City Council will confirm the exact time allowed

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
before the presentation.)

Proposals and Submission Deadline

The winning proposal will accomplish the greatest number of the RFP goals while
demonstrating to the City Council that the proposal is viable: grounded in market demand
and able to attract the capital required to build the project.

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
• Proposals must be for the entire site. Each existing building that is identified must
be either rehabilitated or demolished, and land uses must be specified for each
vacant lot.
• This handbook provides all due diligence information and data required for the
developer to respond to this RFP.
Responses are due three weeks from the issuance of this RFP. The City Council will not

Neighborhood Liaison
accept late or incomplete submissions.

Existing Buildings
New Buildings & Open Space
Site Planner
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

20 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Financial Model Overview

RFP
City of Yorktown
Design Guidelines

Enviro & Equity Director

DESIGN GUIDELINES
I. General Design Guidelines
A. Ensure that building height and architecture are appropriate to the design, height, bulk,
and scale of surrounding land uses.

B. Provide harmonious transitions between adjoining structures, including building mass

(footprint and height).

C. Maximize usable open space in relation to each residential building as well as the entire

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
project and the neighborhood setting.

D. Maximize views from all areas of each residential building and maintain privacy from
adjacent dwellings.

E. Maximize walkability of the site and access to mass transit.

Site Plan & Context Map

II. Parking

Marketing Director
A. Off-street parking is required for all new uses and must allow for effective vehicle
circulation. New parking is not required for existing buildings: York Dry Goods, Phoenix
Hotel, and Victorian Row.
B. Structured and surface parking entrances must be accessible directly from the street and
not via alleyways between buildings, except for Neighborhood Retail and Townhouses.

Neighborhood Liaison
1. Retail – If the retail fronts the street and the parking is behind the building, then an

Existing Buildings
alley will provide access to that rear parking.
2. Townhouses – If the black side of the townhouses is immediately beside another
building, then an alley can take vehicles to
the garage entrances.
When thinking about scale, note
C. Parking must be provided on the same block as that a surface parking lot for Retail
its related use.

New Buildings & Open Space

2 or the Supermarket consists of 30
D. Parking requirements are as follows: parking spaces, which is represented

Site Planner
by a flat
1. Office: All office types – 2 spaces for every
rectangular
1,000 square feet of office space.
LEGO piece.
2. Residential (surface and structured): The area of
a. Podium Apartments 1 and 2 – 0.85 the parking
space per unit lot is 10,000
City Council Presentation

SF which is
b. Luxury Condos 1 and 2 – 1.5 spaces
Building Tools

about the size

per unit
of two outdoor
c. Townhouses – 2 spaces per unit basketball
3. Retail: courts.

a. Neighborhood Retail: 3 surface

spaces per 1,000 square feet of new retail construction
Land Use Chart
Glossary

21 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
b. Supermarket: 4 spaces of rooftop and/or surface parking per 1,000 square feet
of grocery building

Financial Model Overview

c. Q-Mart: 4 spaces of structured parking per 1,000 square feet of
big-box building

RFP
III. Height Limits (All LEGO building shapes conform to height limit.)
A. The permitted maximum height limit of the site is 10 stories, which is the height of the
Luxury Condo 1building. However, any proposed new buildings should conform to the

Enviro & Equity Director

character of existing buildings in the area.

DESIGN GUIDELINES
B. Parking structures may not exceed five levels, which is the height of the parking garage
for the Mid-Rise Office 1 and Q-Mart.

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
New Buildings & Open Space
Site Planner
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

22 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
History of Elmwood

Financial Model Overview

Neighborhood History Growth halted in the late 1960s. Middle-class residents
fled to the suburbs, now easily accessed by the

RFP
The first residents of this area were an indigenous
tribe that lived on the land for centuries. The highway. Struggling retailers followed the residents,
Elmwood District of Yorktown, as we know it today, taking products, services, and local jobs with them
was founded in the late 1800s as a residential and creating a food desert. Business and professional
neighborhood to the west of Yorktown’s downtown. offices began moving out, and the streetcar was shut

Enviro & Equity Director

The first residents were up-and-coming merchants, down. Many of Elmwood’s remaining businesses

Design Guidelines
business owners, and professionals who built and professional offices closed as the population
townhouses and single-family homes in the diminished and unemployment soared. By the late
northern and western parts of the district which was 1970s, this once-vibrant neighborhood was marked by
connected to downtown by a streetcar. abandoned and deteriorating buildings.

As Yorktown grew and prospered, so did Elmwood. For 20 years, the Elmwood District continued to
deteriorate despite costly and sporadic city efforts to

HISTORY OF ELMWOOD
Beginning in the early 1900s, a vibrant retail and civic

Financial Analyst
area developed along 9th Avenue, centered on the bring it back to life. In 1990, a fire raged through the
historic York Dry Goods Building and luxurious Phoenix former commercial heart of Elmwood, leaving only
Hotel. Professionals and civic organizations moved four buildings in a six-block area.
their offices to the area, and the Grace Memorial
Church and the Franklin Preparatory Academy were Existing Buildings
built, giving the district the feel of a prosperous and 1. York Dry Goods: Built in 1911, York Dry Goods

Site Plan & Context Map

close-knit small town. Restaurants and retail thrived;

Marketing Director
anchored the Elmwood shopping area for more than
Elmwood residents shopped and attended social 50 years. When it first opened, York sold textiles and
events in the community; holidays were celebrated clothes, but it soon transformed into a department
with community picnics and parades. By the 1920s, store with a greater variety of higher-priced goods and
9th Avenue boasted a cinema, a public library, and a gathering spaces. The York was not simply a business,
small but lively dance hall. but a community institution known for its attention to
During the 1930s, the global depression and local customer service, charge accounts, window displays,

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
bank failures brought hard times, and many jobless and full-page advertisements in the Yorktown Daily
workers left the community in search of opportunities Mail newspaper. The York attracted residents from
elsewhere. In the 1940s, wartime production in across the city to its food hall and tea room, which are
Yorktown drew new migrants and immigrants to the among the store’s most fondly remembered elements.
city, and many of Elmwood’s single-family homes were A renowned national architect designed the building.
replaced by three- and four-story apartment buildings The York is listed as a local landmark and thus cannot

New Buildings & Open Space

to house the new workers and their families. Elmwood
thrived once again, but the wartime glory days were
Site Planner
short-lived.
When the government selected an existing route
on the west side of Elmwood for a new highway in
the late 1950s, the character of the neighborhood
drastically changed. Hundreds of families lost their
City Council Presentation

homes, and retail businesses and restaurants were

Building Tools

displaced. Elmwood was suddenly cut off from

the university district by the physical barrier of the
highway, and businesses that remained lost their
university connections and customers. The more
prosperous residents began to move out.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

23 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
be demolished, nor can the exterior be altered. The Row flourished with light industrial uses until the
building is currently vacant and in disrepair. 1960s, when the neighborhood started to decline.
2. Phoenix Hotel: Once the most elegant hotel outside One building became a storage facility, and the
other was used for several decades as very low-

Financial Model Overview

of downtown, the Phoenix Hotel was constructed
in 1901. The four-story hotel featured 50 rooms, a rent office space. Twelve artists currently have a
low-rent lease with the city to use part of the row

RFP
popular restaurant, a music lounge where a famous
jazz band was artist-in-residence, and a generous as artist studios. This lease will terminate upon the
lobby on the ground floor. The building was notable sale of the property to the selected developer. None
for its Italianate architecture and high ceilings in the of the buildings meet current fire or building codes.
ground-level public spaces. As the neighborhood Victorian Row’s structural issues and need for

Enviro & Equity Director

declined in the 1960s, the hotel, restaurant, and music asbestos abatement mean construction costs are

Design Guidelines
club were mostly empty, and no longer generated higher than rehabbing the York Dry Goods building
enough income to keep the building in good repair. or the Phoenix Hotel.
Ultimately, the hotel was forced to close, and Elmwood
lost a key institution that was both a regional draw
for tourists and a social hub for local residents. In the
1970s, the City of Yorktown purchased the hotel for

HISTORY OF ELMWOOD
Financial Analyst
use as a homeless shelter, which is currently operated
by Grace Memorial Church. The building has not been
renovated and does not meet current building or fire
codes. The city cannot afford to bring the hotel up to
code as a shelter.

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
3. Victorian Row: Comprising two warehouse
buildings that front 9th Avenue, the Watkins-Cottrell
Company, which assembled hardware and tools,

New Buildings & Open Space

originally built the warehouse at 9th and Cherry in
1876 to showcase its products in a ground-floor

Site Planner
showroom. The company added a 1910 addition
in the Beaux Arts style, which sits at 9th and
Elm. Neither building is actually Victorian, but the
company was most active in Elmwood during the
Victorian era, so the nickname stuck. Once the
City Council Presentation

hardware company moved to Yorktown’s warehouse

district after World War One, the buildings housed a
Building Tools

furniture manufacturing and display room. Victorian

Land Use Chart
Glossary

24 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
May 25, 1956

Financial Model Overview

State DOT approves contested

RFP
highway route

Enviro & Equity Director

By Arthur Fielding

Design Guidelines
The new highway will follow the path of old “No provisions have been made for relocating
Route 6 along the west side of Elmwood, displaced families and businesses,” local
dividing the historic neighborhood from the activist Charlie Howard said. “Nearly half of
University district, the State Department of the affected homeowners are over 50 years old

HISTORY OF ELMWOOD
Transportation announced Thursday. and have lived in Elmwood all of their lives.”

Financial Analyst
“The highway is a top priority and will relieve In addition, many immigrant businesses
overcrowding in the city,” Yorktown Mayor that thrived with university traffic will be
Ellis Mannheim told an enthusiastic crowd displaced, and it will be difficult for them
at the Chamber of Commerce. “Thanks to to find affordable leases in other parts of
funding from the National Interregional the city, Howard said. In some suburban

Site Plan & Context Map

Highway Committee, our great city will now neighborhoods, banks are refusing to issue

Marketing Director
have a high-speed connection to cities across mortgage loans to families they deem a
this land.” financial risk, a practice known as redlining.
Banks are primarily targeting low-income
Elmwood residents have protested the communities and communities of color.
state’s plans since the route was revealed as
a potential highway site earlier this year. Old “My parents came here with nothing, and

Neighborhood Liaison
Route 6 was one of three potential sites for they lovingly built a restaurant that has served

Existing Buildings
the new highway, which will also connect the people of Elmwood for 25 years,” said
rapidly growing suburbs to the city center, Marguerite Dixon. “Now they have nowhere
and community members in all three areas to go, and it is devastating to our family and
vigorously opposed ceding their land to the the community. This may not be the richest
state. neighborhood in Yorktown, but it’s a place
where people look out for each other. Where

New Buildings & Open Space

The new highway will displace 400 families will we find that now?”
and 25 businesses and clubs in the Elmwood
Site Planner
area. State DOT officials said they selected State planners expect highway construction to
the route because it allowed proximity to take 10 years and cost $50 million.
both the University and downtown without
damaging the integrity of the University
campus.
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

25 | UrbanPlan Handbook
About UrbanPlan RFP Design Guidelines History of Elmwood Site Plan & Context Map Existing Buildings New Buildings & Open Space Building Tools Neighborhood Letters
Land Use Chart Financial Model Overview Enviro & Equity Director Financial Analyst Marketing Director Neighborhood Liaison Site Planner City Council Presentation Glossary

26 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
2-3 STRY MULTIFAMILY 2-3 STRY MULTIFAMILY 2-3 STRY MULTIFAMILY

Financial Model Overview

CONDOS & RENTALS CONDOS & RENTALS CONDOS & RENTALS

RFP
TO SINGLE FAMILY HOMES OAK STREET PUBLIC SCHOOLS

GRACE
MEMORIAL
CHURCH 3-4 STRY

Enviro & Equity Director

MULTIFAMILY
APARTMENTS

Design Guidelines
3-4 STRY 4 STRY
2 STRY MULTIFAMILY MULTI-
MULTIFAMILY APARTMENTS FAMILY
APARTMENTS APTS
EXISTING
SKATEBOARD
SITE

CHERRY STREET
4-5 STRY

History of Elmwood
MULTI-

Financial Analyst
VICTORIAN FAMILY
ROW APTS

10TH AVENUE

11TH AVENUE
8TH AVENUE

9TH AVENUE

REHAB 3 STRY
OR DEMOLITION YMCA 4-5 STRY
MULTI-
FAMILY
YORK DRY APTS
GOODS
HISTORIC REHAB

4 STRY
MULTIFAMILY

Marketing Director
APARTMENTS

CONTEXT MAP
SITE PLAN &
ELM STREET

PHOENIX
HOTEL
4 STRY EXISTING
MULTIFAMILY HOMELESS 5 STRY
APARTMENTS SHELTER
OFFICE
BUILDINGS
5 STRY

Neighborhood Liaison
OFFICE

Existing Buildings
BUILDINGS

4-5 STRY

New Buildings & Open Space

OFFICE
CITY EMPLOYMENT BUILDINGS
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

Site Planner
OFFICE

TO THE UNIVERSITY & THE HIGHWAY YART YORK AVENUE TO DOWNTOWN

SUBWAY STATION

3-4 STRY 3-4 STRY

OFFICE OFFICE
BUILDINGS
City Council Presentation

WITH GROUND-FLOOR BUILDINGS

WITH GROUND-
RETAIL
FLOOR RETAIL
Building Tools

ELMWOOD DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT 0 25 50 100 FT

Land Use Chart
Glossary

27 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 About UrbanPlan RFP Design Guidelines History of Elmwood SITE PLAN & Existing Buildings New Buildings & Open Space Building Tools Land Use Chart
CONTEXT MAP
Neighborhood Letters Financial Model Overview Enviro & Equity Director Financial Analyst Marketing Director Neighborhood Liaison Site Planner City Council Presentation Glossary
1000 FT 250 500 0 CONTEXT MAP
ELMWOOD DISTRICT
CITY PARK

HIGHWAY
YO
RK IGH H
RI DISTRICT WA
V Y
ER WAREHOUSE
CAMPUS
TECH DISTRICT
LIGHT INDUSTRIAL HOSPITAL
MIXED-USE/
DISTRICT
UNIVERSITY

HIGHWAY
UNIVERSITY

ILE RADIUS
DOWNTOWN SITE
& STUDENT HOUSING
UNIVERSITY RETAIL

1/2 M
ADIUS

DISTRICT
ELMWOOD
ILE R
SCHOOL HOMES

1M
ELEM. SINGLE-FAMILY
AY
W
H
IG
H

28 | UrbanPlan Handbook
DISTRICT
CAMPUS RESIDENTIAL
CTR. SCHOOL
SHOPPING MIDDLE/HIGH
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Phoenix Hotel
EXISTING BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

• B
 uilt in 1901 as an elegant hotel with a well-

RFP
loved restaurant and jazz club (see “History”
tab for more information on the background
of this building)

• Currently operating as a homeless shelter

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
• In disrepair; not meeting code

BUILDING ICON • Can be renovated or demolished

(ORANGE OR BROWN)

Phoenix Hotel

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
Footprint 20,000 SF
Total square feet 60,000 SF
Height Four stories
Parking No additional parking required
Parking advisory Some tenant prospects may consider the lack of parking a drawback

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Existing buildings have embodied energy in them that is lost if a building
EcoDistrict impact is demolished. The shelter, if included, can have equity and resilience
impacts.
Potential profit for developer
Will depend on the mix of uses chosen, affordable housing does not
Mixed use
generate profit for the developer.

EXISTING BUILDINGS
Neighborhood Liaison
Developer must pay a fee of $1,000,000 to the city if shelter (new or
Shelter
rehabbed) is not included
Projected ten-year city revenue
Will depend on the mix of uses chosen, affordable housing does not
Mixed use
generate revenue for the city.
Shelter None

New Buildings & Open Space

City funds required 15% of construction costs for affordable housing

Site Planner
Demands on city services High

Residential
Potential Use Shelter Retail Office (Market Rate or
Affordable)
City Council Presentation

60,000 SF (120 From 5,000 up to

Size Up to 60,000 SF 12 units per floor
beds) 15,000 SF
Building Tools

Location All four floors Ground floor only Any floor Upper floors only
Counts as Counts toward Counts toward
Market Demand Unlimited Neighborhood Retail Low-Rise Office for Podium Apts. for
for absorption absorption absorption
Jobs 12 17 jobs/5,000 SF One job/350 per SF No jobs
Land Use Chart
Glossary

29 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
York Dry Goods
EXISTING BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

• B
 uilt in 1911 (see “History” tab for more information on

RFP
the background of this building)

• Former department store that served as a community

institution

Enviro & Equity Director

• Designed by nationally prominent architect

Design Guidelines
• Now vacant and in disrepair
BUILDING ICON
(ORANGE OR BROWN)
• Listed building that cannot be demolished

York Dry Goods

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
Footprint 20,000 SF
Total square feet 48,000 SF
Height Four stories
Parking No additional parking required

Site Plan & Context Map

Parking advisory Some tenant prospects may consider the lack of parking a drawback

Marketing Director
Existing buildings have embodied energy in them that is lost if a building is
EcoDistrict impact demolished. Community Facilities, both subsidized and rent-free, can have
climate, equity and resilience impacts.
Will depend on the mix of uses chosen, subsidized and “rent-free”
Potential profit for developer community facilities and affordable housing do not generate profit for the
developer.

EXISTING BUILDINGS
Neighborhood Liaison
Will depend on the mix of uses chosen, subsidized community facilities
Projected ten-year city revenue
and affordable housing do not generate revenue for the city.
City funds required 15% of construction costs for community facilities and affordable housing
Demands on city services High

New Buildings & Open Space

Potential Rent-Free Residential

Site Planner
Community Community Retail Office (Market Rate or
Use Facilities Facilities Affordable)
Artist Studios:
10,000 SF. From 5,000 up to
Size Various sizes Up to 48,000 SF 10 units per floor
University Classrooms: 10,000 SF
15,000 SF
City Council Presentation

Building Tools

Location Any floor Ground floor only Any floor Upper floors only
Counts as
Counts as Low- Counts toward
Market Neighborhood
Non-market use Rise Office for Podium Apts. for
Demand Retail for
absorption absorption
absorption
Jobs One job/700 SF 17 jobs/5,000 SF One job/350 per SF No jobs
Land Use Chart
Glossary

30 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Victorian Row
EXISTING BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

• Built in 1876 and 1910 (see “History” tab for more

RFP
information on the background of this building)

• Two former warehouse buildings each three stories tall

• Twelve artists currently have a low-rent lease with the

Enviro & Equity Director

city for artist studio space, but the lease will expire soon

Design Guidelines
• Structural issues and asbestos abatement will result in
higher construction costs
BUILDING ICON • Building is in disrepair and does not meet code
(ORANGE OR BROWN)
• Can be renovated or demolished (this decision must be
made for both buildings as a group)

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
Victorian Row
Footprint 40,000 SF
Total square feet 75,000 SF
Height Three stories

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Parking No additional parking required
Parking advisory Some tenant prospects may consider the lack of parking a drawback
Existing buildings have embodied energy in them that is lost if a building
EcoDistrict impact is demolished. Rent-Free community facilities can have various equity
impacts.

EXISTING BUILDINGS
Neighborhood Liaison
Will depend on the mix of uses chosen, rent-free community facilities and
Potential profit for developer
affordable housing do not generate profit for the developer.
Will depend on the mix of uses chosen, affordable housing and rent-free
Projected ten-year city revenue
community facilities do not generate revenue for the city.
City funds required 15% of construction costs for affordable housing
Demands on city services High

New Buildings & Open Space

Site Planner
Potential Rent-Free Community Residential
Retail Office (Market Rate or
Use Facilities Affordable)
Artist Studios: 10,000 SF. From 5,000 up to
Size Up to 75,000 SF 20 units per floor
University Classrooms: 15,000 SF 20,000 SF
City Council Presentation

Location Any floor Ground floor only Any floor Upper floors only
Building Tools

Market Counts as Neighborhood Counts as Low-Rise Counts as Podium

Non-market use
Demand Retail for absorption Office for absorption Apts. for absorption
Jobs One job/700 SF 17 jobs/5,000 SF One job/350 per SF No jobs
Land Use Chart
Glossary

31 | UrbanPlan Handbook
About UrbanPlan RFP Design Guidelines History of Elmwood Site Plan & Context Map Existing Buildings New Buildings & Open Space Building Tools Neighborhood Letters
Land Use Chart Financial Model Overview Enviro & Equity Director Financial Analyst Marketing Director Neighborhood Liaison Site Planner City Council Presentation Glossary

32 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Low-Rise Office 1A & 1B
NEW BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

RFP
LOW-RISE 1A LOW-RISE 1B

Enviro & Equity Director

(BLUE) (BLUE)

Design Guidelines
OR

PARKING 1A PARKING 1B
(BLACK) (BLACK)

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
These buildings contain office space for most types of small and moderate-sized businesses or professions that require office
space—for example, accounting, consulting, software design, architecture, engineering, medicine, coworking, doctor’s offices or
other health providers, and nonprofit organizations. The building would have a small lobby and no amenities.

New buildings typically offer more efficient and flexible space than rehabilitated or historic buildings—the same amount of
square footage can be used more productively. This is often very important to tenants who lease large amounts of space. In
addition, large “open floor plates”—the amount of space per floor uninterrupted by columns or structural walls—allow firms to

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
consolidate all their functions and staff on one floor instead of on multiple floors.

Low-Rise Office 1A & 1B

Footprint 15,000 SF + 15,000 SF for parking
Total square feet 45,000 SF

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Height Three stories
Parking 90 spaces in three-level parking garage
Parking structure must be provided in same block as office building and
Parking advisory must be accessible from street or connect to another parking structure
that does.
Jobs near residences can reduce GHG emissions if workers can walk, bike
EcoDistrict impact

NEW BUILDINGS
& OPEN SPACE
or take transit to work.
Market – Total annual demand 80,000 SF per year Site Planner

Potential profit for developer Average

Projected ten-year city revenue Low
City funds required None
City Council Presentation

Building Tools

Demands on city services Low to moderate

Jobs 130
Land Use Chart
Glossary

33 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Low-Rise Office 2
NEW BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

RFP
PARKING A
(BLACK)

Enviro & Equity Director

OR

Design Guidelines
LOW-RISE OFFICE 2
(BLUE)

PARKING B
(BLACK)

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
These buildings contain office space for most types of small and moderate-sized businesses or professions that require office
space—for example, accounting, consulting, software design, architecture, engineering, medicine, coworking, doctor’s offices or
other health providers, and nonprofit organizations. The building would have a small lobby and no amenities.

New buildings typically offer more efficient and flexible space than rehabilitated or historic buildings—the same amount of
square footage can be used more productively. This is often very important to tenants who lease large amounts of space. In

Site Plan & Context Map

addition, large “open floor plates”—the amount of space per floor uninterrupted by columns or structural walls—allow firms to

Marketing Director
consolidate all their functions and staff on one floor instead of on multiple floors.

Low-Rise Office 2
Footprint 20,000 SF + 20,000 SF for parking
Total square feet 60,000 SF

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Height Three stories (Three stories of office over the lobby and tenant amenities)
Parking 120 spaces in three-level parking garage
Parking structure must be provided in same block as office building and
Parking advisory must be accessible from street or connect to another parking structure
that does.
Jobs near residences can reduce GHG emissions if workers can walk, bike

NEW BUILDINGS
EcoDistrict impact

& OPEN SPACE

or take transit to work.
Market – Total annual demand 80,000 SF per year Site Planner

Potential profit for developer Average

Projected ten-year city revenue Low
City Council Presentation

City funds required None

Building Tools

Demands on city services Low to moderate

Jobs 173
Land Use Chart
Glossary

34 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Mid-Rise Office 1 & 2
NEW BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
MID-RISE 1 MID-RISE 2
(BLUE) (BLUE AND RED
RETAIL)

PARKING A PARKING B
(BLACK) (BLACK)

History of Elmwood
OR

Financial Analyst
These buildings feature premium office space, known as “Class A” in the industry, for many types of businesses, such as accounting,
law, tech, business consulting, real estate development, and architecture, etc. Some of these firms want a more prestigious building
and location than low-rise office tenants do. The firms seek a high-visibility location very close to transit and highway access.
Proximity to restaurants, fitness facilities, and business services also attracts these tenants. Mid-Rise Office space has high ceilings,

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
spacious lobby and tenant amenities. Due to the high cost of building underground parking, Mid-Rise 2 is more expensive to build, but
can generate greater value than Mid-Rise 1 due to retail space. Mid-Rise 2 is more suited to a retail street location.

Mid-Rise Office 2
Mid-Rise Office 1
(Mixed Use)
Footprint 20,000 SF + 20,000 SF for parking 20,000 SF

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Total square feet 120,000 SF 120,000 SF office
Seven stories (Six stories of office over Seven stories (Six stories of office
Height the lobby and tenant amenity space on over the lobby, retail, and tenant
ground floor) amenity space on ground floor)
Retail None 5,000 SF
Four levels of underground parking
Parking Five-level parking garage (240 spaces)
(240 for office/15 for retail)

NEW BUILDINGS
& OPEN SPACE
Site Planner
Parking structure must be provided in
same block as office building and must
Parking advisory
be accessible from street or connect to
another parking structure that does.
Jobs near residences can reduce GHG emissions if workers can walk, bike or
EcoDistrict impact
take transit to work.
City Council Presentation

Market – Total annual demand 70,000 SF per year

Building Tools

Potential profit for developer High Plus Very High Plus

Projected ten-year city revenue High Very High Plus
City funds required None
Demands on city services Low to moderate
Jobs 347 364 jobs (347 office/17 retail jobs)
Land Use Chart
Glossary

35 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Neighborhood Retail 1 & 2
NEW BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

RFP
RETAIL 1 RETAIL 2
(RED) (RED)

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
PARKING PARKING
(BLACK) (BLACK)

Neighborhood retail buildings contain small shops that serve households and workers within the immediate neighborhood,
generally those living within one mile. These shops often include retail that serves residents and workers and their everyday
needs, such as coffee shops, dry cleaners, hair salons, etc., but can also include specialty shops such as a butcher shop or

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
bookstore. Specific retail tenants targeted by the developer will be ones that can be financially successful based on the types/
demographics of residents and workers in the neighborhood.

Retail 1 Retail 2

Site Plan & Context Map

Footprint 5,000 SF + 5,000 SF for parking 10,000 SF + 10,000 SF for parking

Marketing Director
Total square feet 5,000 SF 10,000 SF office
Height One story
Note on height Due to retail high ceilings, building is same height as two-story buildings
Store Units 2-3 shops 4-6 shops

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Parking 15 surface parking spaces 30 surface parking spaces

Parking needs to have street access unless placed directly behind the
Parking advisory
retail building, in which case an alley connects the street to parking.

Jobs near residences can reduce GHG emissions if workers can walk, bike
EcoDistrict impact
or take transit to work.

NEW BUILDINGS
& OPEN SPACE
Market – Total annual demand 22,000 SF per year
Potential profit for developer Very Low Site Planner

Projected ten-year city revenue Low Minus

City funds required None
City Council Presentation

Demands on city services Low to moderate

Building Tools

Jobs 17 34
Land Use Chart
Glossary

36 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Supermarket (with Pharmacy)
NEW BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
SUPERMARKET PARKING
(RED) (BLACK)

The city is in talks with a local chain to open a second location of its popular supermarket in Elmwood. The market will be
open seven days per week from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. The parent company is committed to providing a wide variety of high-quality

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
produce, pantry items, prepared foods, and pharmacy. They have a commitment to their customers, employees, community, and
environment. They make a special effort to buy from local farms and reduce fuel use for local product transport. In addition, the
company has made a commitment to cover the costs of tuition reimbursement for employees to take university-level classes at
the Yorktown University Extension Campus if classrooms are included.

This is a single-purpose building designed specifically for a supermarket. If the supermarket goes out of business because of
new or better competition, finding a new tenant for the space may be difficult. If empty, this large building could be an eyesore in

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
the neighborhood and a setback to the city’s economic objectives.

Supermarket (with Pharmacy)

Footprint 40,000 SF + 10,000 SF for parking

Neighborhood Liaison
Total square feet 40,000 SF

Existing Buildings
Height One story
Parking 115 spaces on the roof and 30 spaces of surface parking
Parking advisory Parking needs to have street access
Supermarkets near residences and transit can reduce GHG emissions if
people can walk, bike, or take transit to do shopping.
EcoDistrict impact

NEW BUILDINGS
& OPEN SPACE
Creates high-quality jobs including an innovative educational program and
Site Planner
invests in local agriculture.
The number of households within a three-mile radius of Elmwood can
Market – Demand forecast support one Supermarket in three years. There is not currently demand for
both a Supermarket and a Q-Mart.
Potential profit for developer Low plus
City Council Presentation

Projected ten-year city revenue Very low (because food sales generate little sale tax)
Building Tools

City funds required None

Demands on city services Low to moderate
Jobs 200
Land Use Chart
Glossary

37 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Q-Mart
NEW BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director
PARKING A

Design Guidelines
(BLACK)
OR
PARKING B
(BLACK)
Q-MART
(RED)

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
Q-Mart is a global discount retail chain similar to Walmart offering an extensive range of goods and services including groceries
with a large organic produce section, pharmacy, financial services, home goods, electronics, clothing, and related discount
merchandise. The store will be open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to midnight. The building will have an 80,000 SF green roof.
Q-Mart has agreed to absorb the entire $2.5 million cost of the green roof which will not be accessible to the public.

Site Plan & Context Map

No competitors to Q-Mart currently exist near Elmwood. Although unlikely, if a more competitive store opens nearby and causes

Marketing Director
Q-Mart to fail, finding a new tenant for this massive single-purpose space will be difficult. If empty, this very large building and
parking garage could be an eyesore in the neighborhood and a setback to the city’s economic objectives.

Q-Mart

Neighborhood Liaison
Footprint 80,000 SF + 20,000 SF for parking

Existing Buildings
Total square feet 80,000 SF
Height One story
Parking 320 spaces in a six-level parking garage (can be shaped like a square or bar)
Green roof insulates building, manages stormwater, and improves air quality.
Creates 380 entry-level jobs and provides affordable products to low-
EcoDistrict impact
income residents. Emissions from transport of goods from long distances

NEW BUILDINGS
& OPEN SPACE
Site Planner
to store and car traffic generated is a concern.
The population within a 12-mile radius of Elmwood can support one Q-Mart
Market – Demand forecast in three years. There is not currently demand for both a Q-Mart and a
Supermarket.
Potential profit for developer Low
City Council Presentation

Projected ten-year city revenue Low plus

Building Tools

City funds required None

Demands on city services Low to moderate
Jobs 400
Land Use Chart
Glossary

38 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Townhouses
NEW BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
TOWNHOUSE
(YELLOW AND BLACK)

Townhouses are attached single-family units that are three stories tall. Each townhouse has a double garage at the ground level
(the black side of the LEGO block). The garage entrance side of the LEGO block can front a street or another building in which
case any alley provides access to the garages. The yellow side of the LEGO block has a front door and small patio. The yellow

History of Elmwood
side can front a street or can be placed beside another building in which case the front entrances are accessed by a public

Financial Analyst
walkway. Townhouses are typically found in quieter residential areas.

Market-Rate vs. Affordable Units

The townhouses are for sale and can include market-rate or affordable units. The market-rate units are popular with empty
nesters and upper-income families who wish to live close to their jobs and the civic, cultural, and educational opportunities of the
city. The affordable townhouse units are for sale to moderate-income households led by residents who are teachers, nurses, and

Site Plan & Context Map

firefighters. There is a limit on the profit that can be made when reselling one of these affordable townhouses to ensure that the

Marketing Director
units remain affordable for generations of Yorktown’s residents.

The City of Yorktown requires all affordable units to be integrated into market-rate buildings and to have the same design and
size as the market-rate units. These units must be incorporated at a constant rate throughout each eight-unit row of townhouses.
For example, if you input 25 percent of your townhouses as affordable, you will be providing two units that are affordable in each
townhouse row.

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Townhouses
Footprint 10,000 SF
Height Three stories including parking
Units per building 8
Parking Garages accessed via the street or an alley (16 spaces)

NEW BUILDINGS
EcoDistrict impact For-sale affordable housing helps families build generational wealth.

& OPEN SPACE

Market: Market rate 24 units per year Site Planner
Affordable Nonmarket/subsidized use with unlimited demand
Potential Developer profit: Market rate Low plus
Affordable Affordable housing does not generate profit for the developer
City Council Presentation

Projected city revenue: Market rate Very low

Building Tools

Affordable Affordable housing does not generate revenue for the city
City funds required: Market rate None
Affordable 15% of construction costs
Demands on city services Moderate
Jobs None
Land Use Chart
Glossary

39 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Podium Apartments 1 & 2
NEW BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
PODIUM 1 PODIUM 2
(YELLOW AND BLACK) (YELLOW AND RED)

Podiums 1 and 2 both house two-bedroom apartment units in five story buildings. Podium 2 has underground parking so costs
more to build than Podium 1. Podium buildings can be located anywhere, but Podium 2 might be more suited to a busier street

History of Elmwood
since it has 5,000 SF of retail while Podium 1 has parking at its base.

Financial Analyst
Market-Rate vs. Affordable Units
Both podiums are rental and can include market-rate or affordable units, which are attractive to young professionals, families, and
empty nesters who want to live in a walkable location near jobs, shops, and transit. The City of Yorktown requires all affordable
units to be integrated into market-rate buildings and to have the same design and size as the market-rate units. These units must
be incorporated at a constant rate throughout each 60-unit building. The affordable units are spread across all podium blocks; for

Site Plan & Context Map

example, if you input 25 percent of your podium apartments are affordable, you will be providing 15 units that are affordable in

Marketing Director
each 60-unit podium.

Podium 1 Podium 2 (Mixed Use)

Footprint 20,000 SF
Five stories (four residential over Five stories (four residential over one-
Height

Neighborhood Liaison
one level parking) level lobby, retail, and tenant amenities)

Existing Buildings
Units per building 60
Retail None 5,000 SF
One level at base of building Two levels of underground parking
Parking
(51 spaces) (51 for residential/15 for retail)
Higher-density residential buildings located near transit
EcoDistrict impact
can increase walkability and transit use.

NEW BUILDINGS
& OPEN SPACE
Site Planner
Market: Market rate 100 units per year
Affordable Nonmarket/subsidized use with unlimited demand
Potential Developer profit: Market rate Average
Affordable Affordable housing does not generate profit for the developer
Projected city revenue: Market rate Average minus
City Council Presentation

Affordable Affordable housing does not generate revenue for the city
Building Tools

City funds required: Market rate None

Affordable 15% of construction costs
Demands on city services Moderate
Jobs 5 22 ( 5 + 17 retail jobs)
Land Use Chart
Glossary

40 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Luxury Condos 1 & 2
NEW BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
CONDO 1 CONDO 2
(YELLOW AND BLACK) (YELLOW AND RED)

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
Luxury condos are high-rise buildings that appeal to high-income empty nesters, professional individuals, and families of all ages
who wish to live close to transit, their jobs, and the civic, cultural, and educational opportunities of the city. Each three-bedroom
unit is owned by the occupants. The roof of the base under the tower contains amenities for the condo owners, including
planters for growing vegetables and community spaces with grills and a small pool.

Site Plan & Context Map

Condo 1 has parking in the two-level base of the building with a small lobby. Condo 2 has underground parking, which frees

Marketing Director
up 5,000 SF for ground floor retail and amenities for the tenants such as a fitness center, yoga studio, coworking space, or
clubroom. Due to the high costs of building underground parking, Condo 2 is more expensive to build, but could be more
appealing. Condo 2 could be more appealing to buyers because of the retail and extra amenities. Condo 2 is suited to a busier
street, whereas Condo 1 is more suited to a quiet, residential street.

Neighborhood Liaison
Luxury Condo 1 Luxury Condo 2 (Mixed Use)

Existing Buildings
Footprint 20,000 SF
10 stories (Eight story residential 10 stories (Eight story residential
Height tower over two-level parking base tower over two-level lobby, retail,
which includes a lobby) and tenant amenities)
Units per building 56

NEW BUILDINGS
& OPEN SPACE
Retail None 5,000 SF

Parking
Two Levels at base of building Underground parking Site Planner
(84 spaces) (84 for residential/15 for retail)
Higher-density buildings located near transit
EcoDistrict Impact
can increase walkability and transit use.
Market – Total annual demand 35 units per year
City Council Presentation

Potential profit for developer High Very high

Building Tools

Projected ten-year city revenue High High plus

City funds required None
Demands on city services Moderate
Jobs 8 25 (8 + 17 retail jobs)
Land Use Chart
Glossary

41 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
New Homeless Shelter
NEW BUILDINGS

Financial Model Overview

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
NEW HOMELESS
SHELTER
(WHITE)

Grace Memorial Church is proposing an attractively designed, modern shelter that can accommodate 120 individuals each night.

History of Elmwood
The shelter does not provide permanent or temporary housing. Instead, it provides beds nightly on a first-come, first-served basis

Financial Analyst
for those who are experiencing homelessness – ranging from veterans to families with children. Rooms become available at 4
p.m. Occupants must vacate the rooms by 9 a.m. each morning.

The ground level of the new shelter includes social service facilities including counseling, meeting rooms, and a community
kitchen. Grace Memorial Church will pay for all of the construction costs for a new building and will operate the shelter.

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Homeless Shelter
Footprint 20,000 SF
Total square feet 60,000 SF
Height Three stories

Neighborhood Liaison
Due to high ceilings on first floor, the building is the same height as four-

Existing Buildings
Note on height
story buildings.
Accommodation Capacity 120 beds
Parking No additional parking
EcoDistrict impact Creates temporary housing for those in need
Market – Demand forecast Nonmarket/subsidized use by church with unlimited desire for beds

NEW BUILDINGS
& OPEN SPACE
Potential profit for developer None
Projected ten-year city revenue None Site Planner

City funds required None

Demands on city services High
City Council Presentation

Jobs 12
Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

42 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Parks/Plazas
OPEN SPACE

Financial Model Overview

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
PARKS/PLAZAS
(GREEN)

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Urban parks are green spaces set aside for relaxation and passive recreation. A plaza is paved public space for citizens to gather
for civic, religious, or commercial reasons. While it may include fountains or trees, a plaza’s primary characteristic is designed
grading and paved areas often surrounded by significant buildings. The park or plaza can include a children’s playground or
community gardens. The size can be as small as 5,000 SF, often known as a pocket park, or as large as an entire city block.

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Parks/Plazas
Footprint 5,000 SF
Access to open space has equity and resilience outcomes. Parks and
EcoDistrict impact
plazas can address stormwater runoff.

NEW BUILDINGS
& OPEN SPACE
Because amenities are a “nonmarket” use, they are not subject to market
Site Planner
Market – Total annual demand
demand.
Potential profit for developer Negative
Projected ten-year city revenue Negative
City funds required 50% of construction costs
City Council Presentation

Demands on city services High (city will maintain public amenities)

Building Tools

Jobs 1/5,000 SF
Land Use Chart
Glossary

43 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Sports Courts or Skate Park
OPEN SPACE

Financial Model Overview

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
SPORTS COURTS/SKATE PARK
(GRAY)

Sports courts provide outdoor recreation opportunities for a community’s residents, workers, and visitors. One 10,000 SF courts

History of Elmwood
facility could include three tennis courts, two basketball courts, or similar hardscaped recreation amenities. The skate park is

Financial Analyst
also 10,000 SF in size and features several types of terrain (i.e., some street, some transition). About 50 skaters can use the
skate park at the same time.

Sports Courts or Skate Park

Site Plan & Context Map

Footprint 10,000 SF

Marketing Director
Access to open space has equity outcomes. Active outdoor recreation
EcoDistrict impact
facilities promote health and well-being.
Because amenities are a “nonmarket” use, they are not subject to market
Market – Total annual demand
demand.
Potential profit for developer Negative

Neighborhood Liaison
Projected ten-year city revenue Negative

Existing Buildings
City funds required 50% of construction costs
Demands on city services High (city will maintain public amenities)
Jobs 2

NEW BUILDINGS
& OPEN SPACE
Site Planner
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

44 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
LEGO Shape and Color Guide
BUILDING TOOLS

Financial Model Overview

Building and Open Space Blocks Note to Developers/Site Planners:

RFP
- All LEGO shapes in this section
- Footprint: 5,000 or 10,000 square feet
conform to the project’s Design
- Height: Typically two stories (subject to Guidelines.
exceptions as noted below)

Enviro & Equity Director

- This section provides a convenient

Design Guidelines
consolidation of building shapes for
each use. Refer to the “New Buildings
& Open Space” and “Existing Buildings”
sections for complete details for each
use.

- Drawings are not to scale.

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
BROWN OR YELLOW BLUE RED
ORANGE

EXISTING RESIDENTIAL OFFICE RETAIL

BUILDINGS BUILDINGS BUILDINGS BUILDINGS

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
WHITE GREEN GRAY

HOMELESS PARKS/PLAZAS SPORTS COURT/

SHELTER SKATE PARK

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Parking Blocks
- Footprint: 5,000 or 10,000 square feet

- Some buildings have underground parking,

New Buildings & Open Space

but there is no accompanying LEGO block

Site Planner
City Council Presentation

FULL-HEIGHT BLOCK HALF-HEIGHT BLOCK FLAT RECTANGLE

BUILDING TOOLS

(TYPICALLY TWO STORIES (ONE STORY OF (SURFACE PARKING)

OF STRUCTURED STRUCTURED PARKING)
PARKING)

BLACK

PARKING
Land Use Chart
Glossary

45 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Existing Buildings
BUILDING TOOLS

Financial Model Overview

Overview Victorian Row

RFP
- All three buildings are orange or brown. - Footprint: 40,000 square feet

- None of these buildings require any parking. - Height: Three stories

- Total square feet: 75,000

Enviro & Equity Director

Phoenix Hotel

Design Guidelines
- Parking: None required
(Existing Homeless Shelter)

- Footprint: 20,000 square feet

- Height: Four stories BUILDING ICON

(ORANGE OR BROWN)
- Total square feet: 60,000

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
- Parking: None required

BUILDING ICON
(ORANGE OR BROWN)

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
York Dry Goods
(listed historic landmark)

- Footprint: 20,000 square feet

Neighborhood Liaison
- Height: Four stories

Existing Buildings
- Total square feet: 48,000

- Parking: None required

BUILDING ICON

New Buildings & Open Space

(ORANGE OR BROWN)

Site Planner
City Council Presentation

BUILDING TOOLS
Land Use Chart
Glossary

46 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
New Office Buildings
BUILDING TOOLS

Financial Model Overview

Overview Mid-Rise Office 1

RFP
- All office buildings are blue. - Footprint: 20,000 square feet

- All parking structures are black. - Height: Seven stories

(Six stories of office over the lobby and tenant amenity space on
- Parking structures include parking on roof.

Enviro & Equity Director

the ground floor)

Design Guidelines
- Total square feet: 120,000
Low-Rise Office 1A/1B
- Parking type: Five-level parking deck
- Footprint: 15,000 square feet
- Parking spaces: 240
- Height: Three stories
NOTE: Parking shapes may be used interchangeably
- Total square feet: 45,000

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
- Parking type: Three-level parking deck

- Parking spaces: 90

NOTE: 1A and 1B parking shapes may be used

interchangeably

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
BUILDING ICON PARKING A
OR PARKING B
(BLUE) (BLACK) (BLACK)

BUILDING 1A ICON (BLUE) PARKING 1A ICON (BLACK)

OR
Mid-Rise Office 2 (Mixed Use)

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
- Footprint: 20,000 square feet

- Height: Seven stories

BUILDING 1B ICON (BLUE) PARKING 1B ICON (BLACK) (Six stories of office over retail, lobby, and tenant amenity space
on the ground floor)

- Parking type: Underground

Low-Rise Office 2

New Buildings & Open Space

- Parking spaces: 255 total
- Footprint: 20,000 square feet
(240 for office/15 for retail)

Site Planner
- Height: Three stories

- Total square feet: 60,000

- Parking type: Three-level parking deck

- Parking spaces: 120

City Council Presentation

BUILDING TOOLS

NOTE: Parking shapes may be used interchangeably

BUILDING ICON (BLUE WITH ONE

RED FULL HEIGHT SQUARE AT BASE)

OR
Land Use Chart

BUILDING ICON (BLUE) PARKING A (BLACK) PARKING B (BLACK)

Glossary

47 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
New Retail
BUILDING TOOLS

Financial Model Overview

Overview Supermarket

RFP
- All retail uses are red. - Footprint: 40,000 square feet

- All surface and structured parking is black. - Height: One story

- Total square feet: 40,000

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
- Parking spaces: 160 total (115 on the roof of the market
Neighborhood Retail 1 plus 30 surface spaces)

- Footprint: 5,000 square feet

- Height: One story

- Units per building: 2–3 BUILDING ICON

History of Elmwood
(RED)

Financial Analyst
- Parking type: 5,000 square feet of surface parking
- Parking spaces: 15

BUILDING ICON 10,000 SF PARKING

(RED) (30 SPACES)

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
PARKING ICON
(BLACK)
Q-Mart
- Footprint: 80,000 square feet

- Height: One story

Neighborhood Retail 2

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
- Total square feet: 80,000
- Footprint: 10,000 square feet - Parking type: Six-level parking deck
- Height: One story - Parking spaces: 320
- Units per building: 4–6 NOTE: Parking shapes may be used interchangeably

- Parking type: 10,000 square feet of surface parking

New Buildings & Open Space

- Parking spaces: 30

Site Planner
BUILDING ICON BUILDING ICON
(RED) (RED)
City Council Presentation

BUILDING TOOLS

PARKING ICON
(BLACK)

OR

PARKING A PARKING B
(BLACK) (BLACK)
Land Use Chart
Glossary

48 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
New Residential Buildings
BUILDING TOOLS

Financial Model Overview

Overview Townhouses

RFP
- All residential buildings are yellow. - Footprint: 10,000 square feet

- Each building includes all required parking in the black - Height: Three stories
block at the base of the building or underground (as noted). - Units per building: 8

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
- Parking type: Each unit has a two-car garage
Luxury Condo 1
- Footprint: 20,000 square feet BUILDING ICON
(YELLOW OVER HALF-HEIGHT BLOCKS;
- Height: 10 stories BLACK SIDE FOR GARAGES AND YELLOW
(Eight-story residential tower over a parking base that SIDE FOR FRONT DOORS)

includes a lobby)

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
- Units per building: 56

- Parking type: Two-level parking at base of building Podium Apartments 1

- Parking spaces: 84 - Footprint: 20,000 square feet

- Height: Five stories

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
- Units per building: 60

- Parking type: One level at base of building

BUILDING ICON - Parking spaces: 51

(YELLOW OVER BLACK
FULL-HEIGHT BLOCKS)

Neighborhood Liaison
BUILDING ICON

Existing Buildings
(YELLOW OVER BLACK
FULL-HEIGHT BLOCKS)
Luxury Condo 2 (Mixed Use)
- Footprint: 20,000 square feet

- Height: 10 stories (Eight-story residential tower over retail Podium Apartments 2 (Mixed Use)

New Buildings & Open Space

and condo amenity space on two base levels)
- Footprint: 20,000 square feet
- Units per building: 56

Site Planner
- Height: Five stories
- Retail: 5,000 SF
- Units per building: 60
- Parking type: Underground
- Retail: 5,000 SF
- Parking spaces: 99 total (84 for residential/15 for retail)
- Parking type: Underground
City Council Presentation

BUILDING TOOLS

- Parking spaces: 66 total (51 for residential/15 for retail)

BUILDING ICON BUILDING ICON

(YELLOW OVER YELLOW AND (YELLOW OVER YELLOW AND
RED FULL-HEIGHT BLOCKS) RED FULL-HEIGHT BLOCKS)
Land Use Chart
Glossary

49 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
New Homeless Shelter
BUILDING TOOLS

Financial Model Overview

New Homeless Shelter

RFP
- Footprint: 20,000 square feet

- Height: 3 stories

Enviro & Equity Director

- Total square feet: 60,000

Design Guidelines
- Accommodation capacity: 120 beds

- Parking: None required

BUILDING ICON

History of Elmwood
(WHITE)

Financial Analyst

Site Plan & Context Map

Open Space

Marketing Director
BUILDING TOOLS

Parks/Plazas Skate Park

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
- Footprint: 5,000 square feet - Footprint: 10,000 square feet

BUILDING ICON
(GREEN) BUILDING ICON

New Buildings & Open Space

(GRAY)

Site Planner
Sports Courts
- Footprint: 10,000 square feet
City Council Presentation

BUILDING TOOLS

BUILDING ICON
(GRAY)
Land Use Chart
Glossary

50 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Land Use Comparison Chart
Annual Demand 3-Year Demand Developer Profit 10-Year Value to City Demand on City
USE City Subsidy # of Jobs Created*
(Units/SF) (Units/SF) (Per footprint used) (Per footprint used) Services
RESIDENTIAL
Townhouses - Market Rate 24 72 Low plus Very low 0 Moderate
Townhouses - Affordable NM* NM* Negative Negative 15% of construction costs Moderate
Podiums 1 - Market Rate 100 300 Average Average minus 5 Moderate
Podiums 1 - Affordable NM* NM* Negative Negative 15% of construction costs Moderate
Podiums 2 - Market Rate (Mixed use) 100 300 Average Average 22 Moderate

51 | UrbanPlan Handbook
Podiums 2 - Affordable (Mixed use) NM* NM* Negative Negative 15% of construction costs Moderate
Luxury Condos 1 35 105 High High 8 Moderate
Luxury Condos 2 (Mixed use) 35 105 Very High High plus 25 Moderate
RETAIL
Neighborhood Retail 1 22,000 66,000 Very low Low minus 17 Low to moderate
Neighborhood Retail 2 22,000 66,000 Very low Low minus 34 Low to moderate
Supermarket (with Pharmacy) 1 building in 3 years 1 building in 3 years Low plus Very Low 200 Low to moderate
Q-Mart 1 building in 3 years 1 building in 3 years Low Low plus (high sales taxes) 400 Low to moderate
OFFICE
Low-Rise Office 1A/1B 80,000 240,000 Average Low 130 Low to moderate
Low-Rise Office 2 80,000 240,000 Average Low 173 Low to moderate
Mid-Rise Office 1 70,000 210,000 High plus High 347 Low to moderate
Mid-Rise Office 2 (Mixed use) 70,000 210,000 Very High plus Very High plus 364 (347 + 17 retail) Low to moderate
EXISTING BUILDINGS
Phoenix Hotel
Rehab as 100% Office Included in Low-Rise Included in Low-Rise Average Average minus 173 Low to moderate
Office Office
Rehab as mix of Office/Retail/Market Rate Included in Low-Rise Included in Low-Rise Average (Value will Average (Revenue will go Any Affordable Housing gets Office: 1 job/350 SF Low to moderate
Residential Office/Retail/Podiums Office/Retail/Podiums go down if affordable down if affordable housing 15% of construction costs Retail: 1 job/300 SF Low to moderate
housing is added) is added) Residential: 0 Moderate
Rehab as Homeless Shelter NM* NM* Negative None 12 High
York Dry Goods
Rehab as 100% Office Included in Low-Rise Included in Low-Rise Average Low 139 Low to moderate
Office Office
Rehab as mix of Office/Retail/Market Rate Included in Low-Rise Included in Low-Rise Average (Value will Average (Revenue will go Any Affordable Housing gets Office: 1 job/350 SF Low to moderate to
Residential Office/Retail/Podiums Office/Retail/Podi- go down if affordable down if affordable housing 15% of construction costs Retail: 1 job/300 SF high varies w/mix
ums housing is added) is added) Residential: 0
Rehab with Community Facilities NM* NM* Negative Negative 15% of construction costs + city 1 job/700 SF Moderate to high
operating costs (none for rent-
free space)
Victorian Row (NOTE: Victorian Row has higher construction costs due to asbestos & structural issues)
Rehab as 100% Office Included in Low-Rise Included in Low-Rise Low plus Low minus 217 Low to moderate
Office Office
Rehab as mix of Office/Retail/ Included in Low-Rise Included in Low-Rise Low plus (Value will Low (Revenue will go down Any Affordable Housing gets Office: 1 job/350 SF Low to moderate to
Residential Office/Retail/Podiums Office/Retail/Podi- go down if affordable if affordable housing is 15% of construction costs Retail: 1 job/300 SF high varies w/mix
ums housing is added) added)
Rehab with Community Facilities NM* NM* Negative Negative 15% of construction costs + city 1 job/700 SF Moderate to high
operating costs (none for rent-
free space)
COMMUNITY USE
New Homeless Shelter NM* (120 beds for N/A N/A N/A 12 High
shelter)
OPEN SPACE
Parks & Plazas, Sports Courts, Skate Park NM* NM* Negative Negative 50% of construction cost + 1 job/5K High
operating costs 2 jobs/10K
* # of Jobs Created: Details can be found in Jobs tab in Financial Model NM* = Nonmarket, subsidized use. “Market demand” concept does not apply to use. N/A = Not available

Glossary City Council Presentation Site Planner Neighborhood Liaison Marketing Director Financial Analyst Enviro & Equity Director Financial Model Overview Neighborhood Letters

LAND USE CHART Building Tools New Buildings & Open Space Existing Buildings Site Plan & Context Map History of Elmwood Design Guidelines RFP About UrbanPlan
 About UrbanPlan RFP Design Guidelines History of Elmwood Site Plan & Context Map Existing Buildings New Buildings & Open Space Building Tools LAND USE CHART
Neighborhood Letters Financial Model Overview Enviro & Equity Director Financial Analyst Marketing Director Neighborhood Liaison Site Planner City Council Presentation Glossary

52 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 About UrbanPlan
NEIGHBORHOOD
LETTERS
!
Skate On

Financial Model Overview

RFP
Dear City Council Members:

Skate On! is a group of skateboarders who live and go to school in the neighborhood. We want the city

Enviro & Equity Director

to build a skate park on the Elmwood redevelopment site. Our official membership is 30 people, but the

Design Guidelines
number of skaters in Yorktown is in the hundreds. We range in age from 10 years old to our mid-20s.

For years, we have tried to skateboard anywhere we could—from the sidewalks in the city to the open plaza
in front of City Hall, and from the parking lot of the mall on the south side of town to the city streets. We have
been yelled at, nearly run over by cars and trucks, and sometimes even given tickets by the police. We have
been treated like criminals when, in fact, we are just trying to enjoy our favorite sport. In a last-ditch effort

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
to stay out of trouble and out of the way of both foot and car traffic, we discovered a place where we could
skate where no one would bother us. That’s the open foundation of the burned-down Franklin Academy on
the corner of 9th and Cherry.

This area is big enough—10,000 square feet—for us to get the necessary speed to make jumps and
runs; the low walls give us another area to skate or sit on. We have also been able to construct some
small quarter- and half-pipes to practice more pro-style moves. We are not bothering anybody and have

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
not broken any laws. Now we understand that you are planning to bulldoze our skateboard spot and are
preparing to put in a new building.

This letter serves as notice to City Council that we are a voice to be heard and reckoned with. If you are
planning to redo our neighborhood for the betterment of its citizens, we deserve a skate park. While we
have your attention, a teen center would be great during the winter when it’s too cold to shred.

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Sincerely,

The members of Skate On! and their families and friends:

New Buildings & Open Space

Site Planner
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

53 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 About UrbanPlan
NEIGHBORHOOD
LETTERS
Financial Model Overview
Yorktown City Council

RFP
1200 City Hall Plaza
Yorktown

Dear City Council Members:

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
proArts ProArts is an organization of artists and our supporters in Yorktown. We
know that without action by the City Council, 12 artists will be driven from
Supporting the
Arts and Artists their studios in Victorian Row when Elmwood is redeveloped.
of Yorktown
Just 10 years ago, there was plenty of affordable space for working artists,
but no more. We have been driven from every other part of town because

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
of rising rents. The Elmwood artists acknowledge that Victorian Row is not
safe for long-term studio space, but feel strongly that including rent-free
studio space in the new neighborhood demonstrates a commitment to
the arts. If the city agrees to build this space rent free, the artists agree to
conform to zoning regulations and use the space for work only. When you
consider the size of this project, 10,000 square feet—or 800-plus square

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
feet per artist—is very little to ask.

Should you include studio space, we commit to partnering with the

development team to paint murals in the alleyways behind Victorian Row.
Creative placemaking like this will draw residents and visitors to the new
Elwmood. A vibrant arts community is part of the reason people and

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
businesses have moved back to Yorktown.

Sincerely,

Trisha Yamamoto

New Buildings & Open Space

Site Planner
Trisha Yamamoto
President, proArts City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

54 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 About UrbanPlan
NEIGHBORHOOD
LETTERS
Financial Model Overview
Dear City Council Members:

RFP
JUSTICE
FOR The city has poured millions of dollars into the redevelopment of downtown
Yorktown over the past 20 years. Public officials speak with pride about the
ELMWOOD “remarkable success” of their revitalization efforts and the benefits to all
Coalition for Jobs residents of the city.

Enviro & Equity Director

& Housing This is not the reality for low-income Elmwood residents who lack high-quality

Design Guidelines
jobs, decent affordable housing, the most basic retail services (like groceries),
walkable access to parks and playgrounds, and adequate social services.
Our residents still feel the aftershocks of the highway project that demolished
buildings and displaced members of our community more than 50 years ago.
We say: Never again!
Justice for Elmwood was formed to ensure that our under-represented

History of Elmwood
voices are heard. We represent diverse cultural, economic, ethnic/racial

Financial Analyst
and religious backgrounds, and we demand that the redevelopment of the
Elmwood district bring social justice along with “revitalization”:
• Entry-level jobs which Elmwood residents can walk to or access via safe,
convenient public transportation;

• At least 15% affordable housing (including at least 40 units affordable to

very-low and low-income households), so that low-income families and

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
seniors are not priced out by the new development;

• Reasonably priced retail shops, including a full-service grocery with fresh

fruits and vegetables, a laundromat, and a drugstore, so that we do not
have to walk 45 minutes to meet our basic needs;

• Robust community service facilities, including a small business incubator

to spark new locally owned businesses, a drug treatment center for

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
those who need support, and a police substation that works closely with
community members to help make Elmwood safe.

We strongly support a Q-Mart located in Elmwood because of the large

number of entry-level jobs and affordable goods it will provide.

We ask for inclusion and an open line of communication with the

development team. If necessary, Justice for Elmwood will use the courts, the

New Buildings & Open Space

media, and all political means available to ensure that the people of our

Site Planner
neighborhood have access to opportunities to improve their quality of life.

Sincerely, City Council Presentation

Wilson H. Brown
Executive Director
Building Tools

Justice for Elmwood

Land Use Chart
Glossary

55 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 About UrbanPlan
NEIGHBORHOOD
LETTERS
Yorktown
Environmental
Coalition

Financial Model Overview

RFP
Dear City Council Members,

The Yorktown Environmental Coalition is a network of 100+ environmental advocates and several local
partners, such as Yorktown Bikeshare, who value the sustainable future of Yorktown. We are writing to
demand that you prioritize our community’s response to the climate crisis. The redevelopment of the

Enviro & Equity Director

Elmwood District is a critical opportunity for the city to make progress towards its promise to reduce

Design Guidelines
carbon emissions. The Yorktown Green Building Standard is an important first step since it will result
in energy-efficient buildings. But to ensure our children and our children’s children live in a healthy
environment, we need to do more than just reduce emissions. We need to create a healthy community
by concentrating new development near transit stations, encouraging walking and biking, creating green
spaces, and supporting local food access.

This should be done in partnership with minority communities and low-income residents who have

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
experienced historic exclusion from these decisions. We were concerned by a recent research study by
Yorktown University which showed that the air pollution from local vehicles and traffic on the highway
resulted in rising asthma rates and incidences of respiratory disease that disproportionately impacts
minority residents.

We must use this opportunity to create a model development for the entire city. We are asking that you:

Site Plan & Context Map

• Achieve or surpass the following metrics as part of the EcoDistrict plan: 40,000 square feet of open

Marketing Director
space and at least 75% Net Zero buildings.

• Encourage walking and transit use by reducing surface parking and locating new mixed-use
buildings near amenities like shops, community facilities, and the YART station.

• Support our partner Yorktown Bikeshare, which is seeking office and maintenance space as they
launch the city’s first bike sharing program. If you select a developer with space for our Bikeshare

Neighborhood Liaison
partners in York Dry Goods, the first docking station will be in Elmwood. We also ask you to support

Existing Buildings
bike safety by selecting a proposal with bike lanes on 9th Avenue.

• We ask that you not select a plan that includes a Q-Mart. We have strong concerns about the
environmental pollution from transporting goods over long distances and from all the cars driving
to and from the big-box store. A green roof is not enough!

• Prioritize access to locally produced food to combat food injustice and encourage health and

New Buildings & Open Space

wellbeing, by including the supermarket which sources from local farmers, as well as community

Site Planner
gardens and farmers markets as part of the programming for any parks.

We cannot afford to ignore our climate crisis any longer. We look forward to following along in the
development process and providing feedback. The consequences of not addressing the dual crises of
climate change and social inequity cannot be overstated.

Sincerely,
City Council Presentation

Maya Gorman
Building Tools

Maya Gorman
Chair, Yorktown Environmental Coalition
Land Use Chart
Glossary

56 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 About UrbanPlan
NEIGHBORHOOD
LETTERS
Financial Model Overview
GRACE
MEMORIAL

RFP
CHURCH

Yorktown City Council

1200 City Hall Plaza

Enviro & Equity Director

Yorktown

Design Guidelines
Dear City Council Members:
As you are well aware, Grace Memorial Church has been operating the homeless shelter
in the former Phoenix Hotel in Elmwood for several decades. The condition of this city-
owned building is not simply shameful; it is dangerous. It does not meet any fire or safety

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
codes or access standards for people with disabilities.
We recognize that the population we serve has less political power than other groups
in and around Elmwood, so we must raise our voices on their behalf. We have successfully
raised sufficient funds to build and operate a new shelter in a new building or in a renovated
Phoenix Hotel. We don’t have a strong preference about where the shelter is as long as it

Site Plan & Context Map

stays in Elmwood. We do not have funding to purchase land of our own, so we hope you will

Marketing Director
select a developer who can make our shelter a reality.
Whether the city chooses to renovate the Phoenix Hotel or build a new structure
somewhere else on the site is secondary to our concerns. Our congregation simply wants
to see a homeless shelter stay in the neighborhood. We believe this is a beneficial solution
for the city, the church, and our brothers and sisters who struggle to find adequate shelter.

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
We believe you will see the wisdom of this proposal and look forward to working with
you without the need for individual appeals from prominent members of our congregation
or media exposure of our proposal.
Sincerely,

New Buildings & Open Space

Site Planner
Reverend Charles E. Wellington, III
Pastor
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

57 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 About UrbanPlan
NEIGHBORHOOD
LETTERS
Yorktown University
Office of the President

Financial Model Overview

Dear City Council Members:

RFP
As the new president of Yorktown University, one of my goals is to make the university
a more engaged community member and accessible, affordable resource for Yorktown’s
residents and workers. I believe that your commitment to revitalize the Elmwood District
creates an opportunity for both of us.

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
I propose to pilot a Yorktown University Extension site in your new project. The classes will
provide value to residents and workers alike, help introduce “the new Elmwood” to all of
Yorktown, and cause longtime residents to be proud again. The initial course offerings will
focus on three areas:
1. Professional Development: Courses for those who want to improve their business skills
to enhance their career advancement and opportunities.

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
2. Entrepreneurship: Courses in the basics of starting and running any type of business –
working in tandem with the small business incubator proposed in the old York Dry Goods
building.
3. Lifelong Learning: Suggested by several of our faculty who live in the Elmwood
neighborhood, these courses would offer intellectual and cultural enrichment to adults
of all ages. Courses could include music, art, and film appreciation; literature; creative

Site Plan & Context Map

writing; photography; foreign languages; state and local history; information technology

Marketing Director
offerings; etc.
I am sure you can envision the additional benefits and vitality this would bring to the project.
I dare say your developer candidates will see them as well. Most courses would be offered
during the evenings and on weekends, providing a reason for workers to stay after work
and enjoy your new shops, restaurants, coffee bars, and pubs. The Extension site will give
existing residents one more reason to stay in the neighborhood on evenings and weekends.

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Imagine the convenience of this resource for residents or prospective residents with young
families, or to senior citizens who may be disinclined to leave their neighborhood for such
enrichments because of physical or financial constraints. In addition, these classes will enable
people to engage with fellow residents who they might never have otherwise encountered—
young and old, working and retired, techie and poet.
We have received a generous alumni grant to cover the costs of classroom buildout and

New Buildings & Open Space

faculty compensation for five years. However, we need the city or its developer to provide
15,000 square feet of rent-free classroom space. My staff and I look forward to working with
Site Planner
you to realize this great opportunity.

Sincerely,

Juanita Hardy
City Council Presentation

Building Tools

Juanita Hardy
President, Yorktown University
Land Use Chart
Glossary

58 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 About UrbanPlan
NEIGHBORHOOD
LETTERS
The Old Urbanists
ELMWOOD’S WISDOM ALLIANCE

Financial Model Overview

Dear City Council Members:

RFP
We’re still here and we want to stay! We comprise over 200 households—many of us
live in the same homes in which we were born more than 75 years ago. Most of us are
living on fixed incomes now.

We’re pleased that new folks have purchased homes in our neighborhood over the

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
past 10 or so years. We believe the new residents are clinging to a Disneyland image
of Elmwood that never existed. Read the history of this place and point to a time that
Elmwood actually was everything these folks fantasize it was. And even if Elmwood
did look like their Disney village, replicating what it looked like doesn’t mean we’d
replicate benefits that made this place wonderfully livable for so many people.

We’ve lived long enough to know and accept that everything changes. We know that

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
living neighborhoods are organic things that evolve and transform with the economic,
technological, and cultural realities of the time. Actually, we like museums; we just
aren’t interested in—and can’t afford—to live in one.

We share the city’s goal of cross-generational interaction. Bet somebody got paid a
bundle to come up with that term—we used to call that living in the neighborhood!
We are also grateful that you want to help us “age in place” so we can share our lives

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
and experience with our multigenerational neighbors. But we need a little help from
you. We need the Q-Mart. It may not be like the old days shopping at Tony Aducci’s
butcher shop or Jane Kataoka’s produce market, but it seems to us that shops like
that can survive only in affluent neighborhoods these days. At our age, we deal in
reality. Q-Mart will finally give us one, easily accessible, affordable place to buy
virtually EVERYTHING we need, including our prescription drugs. Some of us like the

Neighborhood Liaison
idea of getting one of their part-time jobs where you can pick up a little money for

Existing Buildings
saying hello to the folks who come in to shop. Traffic? Your public works team surely
can figure out how to put a few traffic barriers up by Grace Church to keep the cars
away from our houses.

We don’t have the financial clout of the Neighborhood Alliance to press our case, but
we ALWAYS vote, pay our taxes, and have been loyal to this neighborhood for longer

New Buildings & Open Space

than anyone else. Besides, where else are you going to find the old people for that

Site Planner
cross-generational interaction if we go off to senior-living homes? By the way, we
understand old people are cute these days. Our grandchildren promised to produce a
video of us advocating our case that will go viral on YouTube.

Respectfully,
City Council Presentation

Building Tools

Noriko Watanabe and Tyler Cameron

Co-Presidents, The Old Urbanists
Land Use Chart
Glossary

59 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 About UrbanPlan
NEIGHBORHOOD
LETTERS
Financial Model Overview

RFP
Dear City Council Members:

The Elmwood Neighborhood Alliance speaks for more than 400 homeowners in the Elmwood District.
We are eager for the return of the vibrant community that we have only heard about—the small town

Enviro & Equity Director

in the middle of a big city—a place where the neighborhood worked and shopped; where the children

Design Guidelines
played in clean, safe parks; and where residents and community leaders congregated.

Few symbols of that past have survived. Those that have must be preserved. The historic York Dry
Goods Building is an architectural treasure, and while the Phoenix Hotel and the buildings of Victorian
Row are not as significant, they symbolize the historic character of our vibrant town center—9th Avenue.
These structures must lead the rebirth of the Elmwood District.

History of Elmwood
We are concerned, however, that the city will instead try to solve all its social and economic ills on the

Financial Analyst
back of our small struggling neighborhood. Specifically: We reluctantly acknowledge the city’s request
for 10 percent affordable housing; however, we ask that you not select a proposal with more than 10
percent. We believe affordable housing will lower our property values even further while putting an
additional burden on our local schools.

The Homeless Shelter has contributed to panhandling and even some crime in the neighborhood;

Site Plan & Context Map

plus the shelter attracts new homeless people to the area—people who cannot be accommodated in

Marketing Director
the shelter. The shelter must be closed. Other more established Yorktown neighborhoods must now
shoulder this burden.

Please do not fill our neighborhood with large-scale, eight-, and 10-story buildings in order to fill up city
coffers, attracting hundreds of people, traffic, and noise. We do not want to hear about the benefits of
density and we do not want to hear about an EcoDistrict. Isn’t this just the latest sustainability fad?

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Likewise, we will not let the city’s scramble for revenues result in a massive and ugly Q-Mart in our
neighborhood. The Q-Mart will bring nightmarish traffic and large numbers of people from outside the
neighborhood seven days a week, destroying Elmwood’s character.

We will continue to vigorously support the city’s redevelopment efforts as long as they reflect and
preserve the qualities that once made Elmwood Yorktown’s best neighborhood: distinctive, human-scale
buildings; shops and businesses that served the needs of our residents; quiet residential streets; parks,

New Buildings & Open Space

playgrounds, and civic spaces. We property-tax-paying and voting homeowners in Elmwood will be

Site Planner
equally vigorous in preventing any development that further damages our neighborhood.

Cordially,
City Council Presentation

Building Tools

Judith Abelson
President, Elmwood Neighborhood Alliance
Land Use Chart
Glossary

60 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Financial Model Overview

FINANCIAL MODEL
OVERVIEW
Read-Me-First Notes Program Basics

RFP
The Financial Model is easy to use even if you have no Read this section of the handbook carefully to learn where
experience with spreadsheets — as long as you follow the and how to input data, how to find and use cell drop-down
instructions in this section. The Financial Analyst will use the menus, and which worksheets show information and results.

Enviro & Equity Director

Financial Model in Excel or in Google Sheets. - Where and how to input data;

Design Guidelines
Important Instructions: - Where to find and use cell drop-down menus;
If using Excel: - How and why to use any “in-cell” red triangle notes; and
- Before you start using the financial model, save a blank - Which cells show information and results.
copy to your desktop. This will ensure that you have a
properly functioning program available if any issues arise. Input Worksheets

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
Save each scenario you test. These cream-colored tabs are the only worksheets where
- If you are sharing your assigned laptop with students you will type in or select any information:
in another class, create a folder on your project laptop - Block Builder worksheet; and
or cloud storage with the name of your team. Save a
- Use Allocation worksheet.
blank copy of the program and all of your development
Input Cell (Cream Color)

Site Plan & Context Map

scenarios in that folder.

Marketing Director
- Make sure to name each scenario you try with a name - Only the Block Builder and Use Allocation worksheets
that will help you identify what you were testing, i.e., Model require input. Teams will only enter data into cream-
with Q-Mart, Model with shelter, Model 1.0, etc. colored cells in those two worksheets.

- When you click on the cell, if you see a gray arrow to the
If using Google Sheets:
right of the box, click on it and select the input for the cell

Neighborhood Liaison
- When you open up the link to the Financial Model in from the drop-down box.

Existing Buildings
Google Sheets for the first time, save a new copy to your
cloud storage or other secure online storage site. Save General Information Cells
a copy of this original blank Financial Model each time - These cells provide general information about the project
you test a new development scenario. If you don’t do this, parameters and progress.
then you will write over your current version of the Sheets
- Some General Information cells are fixed. Others

New Buildings & Open Space

Financial Model.
automatically make calculations based on what teams

Site Planner
- Make sure to name each scenario you try with a name enter into Input cells.
that will help you identify what you were testing, i.e.,
- These cells are locked because changes to these cells or
Model with Q-Mart, Model with shelter, Model 1.0, etc.
the program will produce invalid results.
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

61 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Block Builder Worksheet
FINANCIAL MODEL

FINANCIAL MODEL
OVERVIEW

RFP
2
1 3

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
4

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
5

Go to the Block Builder Worksheet to input your 4 Rehab or Demolish Buildings

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
team’s development decisions for all six blocks. In Blocks 2 and 4, you need to decide whether to keep (and
rehab) or demolish the Phoenix Hotel and Victorian Row.
1 Development Uses
First, click the cell for the Phoenix Hotel (cell D22), then click
The first column provides the list of all the types of uses on the gray arrow to the right, and choose either Rehab or
available for development, including new buildings, the reuse Demolish from the drop-down menu. You will do the same
of existing buildings, and open space. for Victorian Row in cell F24.

New Buildings & Open Space

2 Development Decisions by Block 5 Footprint Used

Site Planner
You need to input your development decisions for each block If you build more (or less) than can fit in a block, you will get
by clicking in the cell of the “use” you want in each block. a number in the Overbuilt/Underbuilt row under the block
Once you have a cell selected, click on it to choose from the that represents the square footage that you have overbuilt
drop-down menu the amount of that “use” you have included. (highlighted in orange), or underbuilt (highlighted in blue).
City Council Presentation

3 Building Information
Building Tools

You will find information about the number of units for

residential buildings and the square footage for the rest
of the uses, as well as the footprint (area covered on the
ground) of each of the choices.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

62 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Use Allocation Worksheet
FINANCIAL MODEL

FINANCIAL MODEL
OVERVIEW

RFP
1

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
Go to the Use Allocation Worksheet team selected 15 percent affordable townhomes,16 percent
podium apartments, and 15 percent of the housing in the
This is the second—and only other—worksheet into which you
rehabbed buildings.
will input your team’s development decisions. You will input
decisions about three elements of your project: affordable 2 Net Zero Buildings
housing, net zero buildings, and the reuse of existing buildings. Teams will determine what percentage of new and renovated

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
buildings will be net zero energy buildings. This investment will
1 Affordable Housing Creation consist of construction of solar panels, or photovoltaic (PV)
Your team must decide together how much affordable arrays, on the roofs of all buildings (except the Q-Mart which
housing to create for each of the residential uses listed as has a green roof) and parking structures to generate electricity
“Product Types.” You, as the financial analyst, will enter that for the district. Any balance of electricity needed to operate
decision in the model by clicking on the cell of each of those the district will be purchased off-site from the Yorktown Wind

Site Plan & Context Map

three choices and manually typing the percentage that your Turbine Farm.

Marketing Director
team has decided to allocate. In the example above, this

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
2
3
4

New Buildings & Open Space

1. Phoenix Hotel Decisions 2 If you decide to put ground-floor retail in the Phoenix
Site Planner
Hotel, click the cream-colored cell located under Retail
If you have chosen to demolish the Phoenix Hotel in the
SF, click the gray arrow, and choose 5,000 SF, 10,000 SF,
Block Builder worksheet, you do not enter anything in the
or 15,000 SF.
cream-colored cells, but if you chose to rehab it, your team
must decide how to reuse it. 3 If you decide to build residential units on any of the
City Council Presentation

upper floors of the Phoenix Hotel, click the cell under

Building Tools

1 If your team wants to keep the homeless shelter in Residential Units for a specific floor, click the gray arrow,
this building, click on the cream-colored cell and select
and choose your options from the drop-down menu
“Shelter” from the drop-down menu. This use takes up
the entire building. If you choose “Mixed-Use” from the 4 The office square feet will be calculated automatically
drop-down menu, your team will need to make more and will be the remainder of the space not used for retail
decisions. or housing.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

63 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
1
2

FINANCIAL MODEL
3

OVERVIEW

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
4

2. York Dry Goods Decisions 3 Under subsidized Community SF and Rent-Free

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
Community SF, your team must decide which
1 If you decide to put ground-floor retail in York Dry Goods,
community facilities you would like to include in your
click the cream-colored cell located under Retail SF, click
development. Follow the same procedure of clicking
the gray arrow, and choose 5,000 SF or 10,000 SF.
the cells and selecting your choices from each cream-
2 If you decide to build residential units on any of colored cell in the drop-down menus.
the upper floors of the building, click the cell under
4 The office square feet will be calculated automatically

Site Plan & Context Map

Residential Units for a floor, click the gray arrow, and

Marketing Director
and will be the remainder of the space not used for
choose your options from the drop-down menu.
retail, housing, or community spaces.

Neighborhood Liaison
2

Existing Buildings
3

New Buildings & Open Space

3. Victorian Row Decisions 2 If you decide to build residential units on any of the upper

Site Planner
floors of Victorian Row, click the cell under Residential
If you have chosen to demolish Victorian Row in the Block
Units for a floor, click the gray arrow, and choose your
Builder worksheet, you do not enter anything in the cream-
options from the drop-down menu.
colored cells, but if you chose to rehab it, your team must
decide how to reuse it. 3 Under Rent-Free Community SF, your team must decide
City Council Presentation

whether to offer rent-free community spaces in Victorian

1 If you decide to put ground-floor retail in Victorian Row, Row. Follow the same procedure of clicking the cells and
Building Tools

click the cream-colored cell located under Retail SF, click

selecting your choices from each cream-colored cell in the
the gray arrow, and choose 5,000 SF, 10,000 SF, 15,000
drop-down menu.
SF, or 20,000 SF.
4 The office square feet will be calculated automatically
and will be the remainder of the space not used for
retail, housing, or community spaces.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

64 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 About UrbanPlan RFP Design Guidelines History of Elmwood Site Plan & Context Map Existing Buildings New Buildings & Open Space Building Tools Neighborhood
Land Use Chart
Letters
Land UseLetters
Neighborhood FINANCIAL MODEL Enviro & Equity Director Financial Analyst Marketing Director Neighborhood Liaison Site Planner City Council Presentation Glossary
Comparison Chart OVERVIEW

5
4
2
1

3
Construction Costs Worksheet
FINANCIAL MODEL

65 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Construction Costs Worksheet
FINANCIAL MODEL

FINANCIAL MODEL
OVERVIEW
Go to the Costs Worksheet 3 Total developer’s share of construction costs.

RFP
This worksheet shows the costs to the developer and the 4 Final city costs.
city based on your development decisions.
5 Costs of implementing net zero energy buildings
1 Total construction costs for each use you have chosen (solar panels on the roofs of buildings and off-site

Enviro & Equity Director

to build. renewables for any additional energy use from the

Design Guidelines
Yorktown Wind Turbine Farm). Teams do not need to
2 The city’s percentage share and dollar amount of these
pay additional fees to develop green buildings.
costs.

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
New Buildings & Open Space
Site Planner
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

66 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Market Worksheet
FINANCIAL MODEL

FINANCIAL MODEL
OVERVIEW

RFP
1 2 3 4 5

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Go to the Market Worksheet 4 Years Greater than 3 Years
This column lets you know if you have exceeded the demand
1 Total Units
in any category and how much time over the three years a
This column tracks the total units of each type of housing
“use” will be vacant (or not sold or leased) if surplus exists.
and square footage of all other uses your team has decided
That number will be highlighted in orange.
to build or place in your project.

New Buildings & Open Space

5 Note
2 Annual Absorption
Site Planner
Any losses for building more of any product type than the
This column displays the units or square feet of annual
market demands or can absorb—the Absorption Adjustment
absorption for each use (remember, you have three years to
(carrying costs)—are deducted as well.
sell/lease your project).

3 Years to Absorb
City Council Presentation

This column advises you how long it will take for each use to
Building Tools

be “absorbed,” that is, filled by a tenant or sold.

Land Use Chart
Glossary

67 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Value Worksheet
FINANCIAL MODEL

FINANCIAL MODEL
OVERVIEW
1 2 3 4 5

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
6 7

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
8
9

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Go to the Value Worksheet

This worksheet shows the costs to the developer and Calculating Developer Profit

New Buildings & Open Space

the city (subsidies) based on your team’s development
1 This cell shows the Market Value of each use chosen
decisions.

Site Planner
for the project (whatever you build – the quantity –
The Value Worksheet calculates the projected market value multiplied by its value – the price).
created by the uses you propose. Market values are different
2 The developer’s building cost is subtracted from the
from construction costs. Market values are a projection
market value.
of the value the developer can create by constructing or
City Council Presentation

rehabilitating a building, which is how the developer makes Any losses for building more of any product type than
3
Building Tools

profit. This value is realized when the developer sells each the market demands or can absorb—the Absorption
building or all the buildings. If market conditions change Adjustment (carrying costs)—are deducted as well.
for the worse, or if the original projections were flawed, the
actual market value at the time of sale will be below the 4 If the city is subsidizing any uses built in the project, that
value projection. It may even be lower than the developer’s amount is added to the developer profit for that use and
costs. In this case, the developer takes a loss. is added to the city’s costs.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

68 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Value Worksheet
FINANCIAL MODEL

FINANCIAL MODEL
OVERVIEW
1 2 3 4 5

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
6 7

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
8
9

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
5 Developer Profit 8 Developer Net Profit
The result is the developer profit that is realized when This number is the sum of the developer profit after all the
the developer sells the buildings. You can see that in this costs and subsidies have been subtracted or added to the

New Buildings & Open Space

case the developer profit from the Mid-Rise Office 2 is Market Value.
$15,358,000.

Site Planner
9 Developer Rate of Return
6 Total Market Value This is the developer net profit divided by the total costs.
This cell shows the total market value of the project.
The rate of return required for this project to attract the
capital to build it is 13.5 percent or greater. If the rate of return
7 Total Developer Profit
is below 13.5 percent, the developer would need to go back
City Council Presentation

This number is the sum of the developer profit for each of

to the Block Builder and/or Use Allocation worksheets and
Building Tools

the uses.
reconsider the choices made. In this example, the developer
is barely over the 13.5 percent required.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

69 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
City Revenue Worksheet
FINANCIAL MODEL

FINANCIAL MODEL
OVERVIEW
2

RFP
Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
1

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
1

Neighborhood Liaison
1

Existing Buildings
2
3

Go to the City Revenue Worksheet 2 City Net Revenue

New Buildings & Open Space

For a project to meet the city’s financial objectives, the net
This worksheet calculates the total tax revenues to the city
revenue must be equal to or greater than $9.5 million.
based on your development choices. It shows the costs and
Site Planner
revenues to the city over 10 years. 3 Homeless Shelter Relocation Fee
1 City Costs If the developers do not build a homeless shelter in the
The worksheet subtracts from the total revenue the city’s project, they need to pay the city $1 million toward a fund to
cost of the land and any other “city subsidies”—the amount relocate the shelter to another area of Yorktown.
City Council Presentation

the city has spent on the project. Remember, any numbers in

Note: The $10,731,000 city net revenue of this project would meet
Building Tools

parentheses indicate a cost or loss that is subtracted from

the city’s financial target, but if it was below $9.5 million, this
the total revenues, e.g., ($25,000,000).
developer would need to return to the Block Builder worksheet and/
or the Use Allocation worksheet to reconsider choices.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

70 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Jobs Worksheet
FINANCIAL MODEL

FINANCIAL MODEL
OVERVIEW

RFP
2

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
1

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
1

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
1

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
3

New Buildings & Open Space

Go to the Jobs Worksheet 2 Job Categories

Site Planner
The worksheet calculates how many jobs are created per
The Jobs Worksheet calculates a projection of the number
building in four job categories: part-time entry level, full-time
and types of jobs that could be produced by each use per
entry level, mid paying, and high paying. For example, the
square foot of space.
supermarket is projected to produce 70 part-time entry-level
1 Job Projections jobs, 120 full-time entry-level jobs, 9 mid-paying jobs, and
City Council Presentation

Each time you enter a use into the Block Builder worksheet one high-paying job.
Building Tools

and the Use Allocation worksheet, the program calculates

3 Total Jobs
the projections for the number of jobs created based
Here is where you find the total number of jobs created by
upon the ratios in the RFP. For example, the supermarket
the uses built by a development team. For example, the
generates 1 job per 200 SF ratio.
supermarket is projected to produce 200 jobs.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

71 | UrbanPlan Handbook
About UrbanPlan RFP Design Guidelines History of Elmwood Site Plan & Context Map Existing Buildings New Buildings & Open Space Building Tools Neighborhood Letters
Land Use Chart FINANCIAL MODEL Enviro & Equity Director Financial Analyst Marketing Director Neighborhood Liaison Site Planner City Council Presentation Glossary
OVERVIEW

This icon shows which elements are relevant

9
6
2

3
1

to the creation of an EcoDistrict.

7

8
4

5
12
Summary Worksheet

10

11
FINANCIAL MODEL

72 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Summary Worksheet
FINANCIAL MODEL

FINANCIAL MODEL
OVERVIEW

RFP
Go to the Summary Worksheet 8 Total Housing Summary
This box shows the summary of all the housing created in
The Summary Worksheet summarizes all the development
this development.
decisions that your team has made.
9 Jobs-to-Housing Ratio

Enviro & Equity Director

Right Column:

Design Guidelines
Finally, a jobs-to-housing ratio is created in the project. This
1 Developer Return Summary shows how many new jobs will exist for new households in
This box shows the impact of this team’s decisions on the the project.
market value of the project, developer profit, and rate of
return. Go to the Value worksheet to see details. Left Column:

2 City Revenue Summary 10 Footprint and Use Allocation Sheet

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
The City Revenue box shows tax revenues, costs, subsidies This box will inform a team if they have overbuilt any of
paid by the city, and net revenue over 10 years. Go to the City the blocks in the Block Builder worksheet and if they have
Revenue worksheet for details. provided more uses than fit in the space inside any of the
historic buildings in the Use Allocation worksheet.
3 City Fees
If the developer does not build or rehabilitate the homeless 11 Total Units and Square Feet Built for All Uses

Site Plan & Context Map

shelter, the $1 million fee to the city from the developer will

Marketing Director
In this column, you will see the list of uses that the
appear here. development team has built for this project, including
community facilities.
4 Open Space
This box shows which type of open spaces the developer 12 Years to Absorb
is choosing to create and what percentage of the land is This column shows how long it takes to sell or lease all the
dedicated to these uses. uses a development team has built in the project. Go to the

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Market worksheet to see details.
5 Net Zero Buildings
This box shows the percentage of buildings that will achieve
net zero through installation of solar panels on the roofs and
the purchase of any additional energy needs from off-site
renewables.

New Buildings & Open Space

6 Job Creation

Site Planner
The Job Creation box captures the number of hourly entry-
level, entry-level, mid-paying, and senior-paying jobs created,
as well as the job-to-housing ratio created in the project. Go
to the Jobs worksheet to see details.

7 Affordable Housing Creation

City Council Presentation

This box shows the percentage of affordable housing units

Building Tools

among all the residential units built. The residential unit total
includes the luxury condominiums.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

73 | UrbanPlan Handbook
About UrbanPlan RFP Design Guidelines History of Elmwood Site Plan & Context Map Existing Buildings New Buildings & Open Space Building Tools Neighborhood Letters
Land Use Chart Financial Model Overview Enviro & Equity Director Financial Analyst Marketing Director Neighborhood Liaison Site Planner City Council Presentation Glossary

74 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Environment & Equity Director
DEVELOPMENT TEAM ROLES

Financial Model Overview

Key Responsibilities Tips for Success

RFP
As Environment & Equity Director, you need to: Work with the Site Planner to incorporate creative
sustainable ideas to enhance your plan, such as bike lanes
• Read the RFP closely to understand the city’s
and green spaces (which improve air quality, support greater
sustainability goals and requirements.
biodiversity, and have positive impacts on mental and
• Help your team develop a vision for Elmwood that

ENVIRO & EQUITY

physical health).

Design Guidelines
DIRECTOR
considers equity, sustainability, and resilience. What does
Work with the Financial Analyst to determine the financial
a thriving, livable, equitable community look like to you?
impact of building net zero energy buildings and other
• Work with your team to complete the EcoDistrict decisions important for your EcoDistrict strategy. Be
worksheet so that you can demonstrate how your prepared to explain the tradeoffs you have made and
proposal will help the district become the city’s first how your plan fulfills your team’s sustainability goals and

History of Elmwood
EcoDistrict.

Financial Analyst
ultimately your vision for Elmwood.
• Evaluate the EcoDistrict impact of each building type.
Important points on the building’s EcoDistrict impact can
Be Prepared to Answer
be found on each building sheet. • Does this plan meet the city’s environment and equity
goals? If not, why?
• Consider how you will support the city’s plan for
• Did you commit to building net zero energy buildings?

Site Plan & Context Map

decarbonization by investing in net zero buildings.

Marketing Director
Why or why not? What will you have to give up in order
Essential Information
to achieve that?
You are the expert on sustainable development, so you must
• What is your vision for an Elmwood EcoDistrict? How
educate your team about short-term and long-term costs
will you measure success?
and benefits of incorporating sustainable practices. The City
Council wants to be recognized for its work to create a more • How have you defined sustainability and equity? How

Neighborhood Liaison
will Elmwood be resilient?

Existing Buildings
sustainable community, so it will consider this strongly when
selecting a developer. • What are the environmental and social benefits of your

The primary tool that the city will use to assess each proposal? Are there any shortcomings?

proposal is the EcoDistrict framework. Many developers and

local governments use EcoDistricts to evaluate development
Top Tips for Your Presentation

New Buildings & Open Space

proposals against three pillars: equity, climate protection, • Emphasize how your team’s choices best meet the city’s
and resilience. As Environment & Equity Director, it is your environment and equity goals.

Site Planner
role to strategize how you will demonstrate a commitment to
• Explain how your plan will achieve an EcoDistrict.
each pillar using the worksheet below.
• Prepare for questions about how your decisions will
Strategies to consider:
affect the stakeholder groups that have sent the city
1. Equity: types and overall percentage of affordable letters.
City Council Presentation

housing; inclusion of a homeless shelter; and types and

• Remember that some City Council members may
Building Tools

overall number of jobs created.

support environment and equity goals and other might
2. Resilience: amount of open space; and types of have different priorities and goals.
community uses in York Dry Goods.

3. Climate protection: net zero buildings, access to transit

as well as walking and cycling routes.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

75 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood
Comparison Chart

About UrbanPlan
Land UseLetters
EcoDistrict Worksheet

Financial Model Overview

Use this worksheet to frame and describe your team’s EcoDistrict proposal, identifying how your team’s plan for Elmwood

RFP
demonstrates a commitment to equity, resilience and climate protection. Refer back to the strategies you identified in the EED
Exercise as well as your team’s final financial model and site plan.

KEY DEFINITIONS:

ENVIRO & EQUITY

especially due to adverse events. Resilience means

Design Guidelines
DIRECTOR
An equitable community supports the people most preparing the community for social (i.e. a stay-at-home
vulnerable to change and includes all stakeholders. In an order), economic (i.e. a recession), and environmental (i.e. a
equitable city, people of different income levels can thrive; flood) shocks and stresses.
housing and jobs are available; senior citizens can age in Climate protection means taking responsibility for and
place; and there is support for local businesses and food addressing CO2 emissions. Communities can build a

History of Elmwood
producers.

Financial Analyst
pathway to carbon neutrality by investing in net zero energy
A resilient community ensures that all residents can (i.e. solar panels, paying for off-site renewables), green space,
withstand the shocks and stresses they encounter, local food production, and sustainable transit.

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
EcoDistrict Priorities Pillars Evidence
Identify at least 3 actions or decisions and Explain which pillar is addressed (equity, Provide supporting details from your
explain how they help your plan create an resilience, climate protection) and how. financial model and site plan (i.e. numbers
EcoDistrict. on housing, job creation, net zero energy
buildings, green space, transit, etc.).

#1

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
#2

New Buildings & Open Space

Site Planner

#3
City Council Presentation

Building Tools

If you have a Big Idea that you would like to propose, brainstorm that here.
Neighborhood
Land Use Chart
Glossary

76 | UrbanPlan Handbook
Letters
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Financial Analyst
DEVELOPMENT TEAM ROLES

Financial Model Overview

Key Responsibilities space, higher percentages of affordable housing, including

RFP
or not including the homeless shelter, building a Q-Mart
As Financial Analyst, you need to:
versus a supermarket or neither, and other key decisions.
• Read the RFP closely to understand the city’s financial You have a limited amount of land to work with, so you
requirements and goals for the development project; must discover which uses generate the most profit and

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
• Gain proficiency at manipulating and interpreting the tax revenues. Investors seek at least a 13.5 percent rate of
Financial Model; return, and the city wants to regain its investment plus at
least $9.5 million in tax revenue over 10 years. “Building up”
• Test varied development scenarios in the Financial
and selecting the uses that add the most tenants—that is,
Model to understand the impact of various tradeoffs
the highest density—will generate higher developer returns.
on the profitability of each scenario for your team, your
For example, a six-story office building can accommodate

FINANCIAL ANALYST
investors, and the city; and

History of Elmwood
twice as many workers as a comparable three-story
• Guide your team to a proposal that is profitable enough building with the same footprint. Therefore, the six-story
to attract the investor capital required to build your building is “denser.”
high-risk project and generate sufficient tax revenues to You must also educate your team about how the city
satisfy the city’s required ten year net revenue. will earn money on this project and which uses are most
valuable. The city expects to earn back its investment

Site Plan & Context Map

Essential Information

Marketing Director
through increased property tax revenue (based on a
Remind your team that investors establish target rates building’s value) and sales tax revenue (based on sales
of return for their money based on the degree of risk of goods and services). Retail stores pay both property
associated with each investment. Investors need incentives tax and sales tax, and a large discount store like Q-Mart
to put their capital to work in ventures that have higher risks generates more sales tax than a grocery store, because
of failure. That’s why high-risk opportunities like yours must most food sales are not taxed. Mid-rise office and luxury

Neighborhood Liaison
demonstrate the potential for higher rates of return than condos produce the highest property tax for their respective

Existing Buildings
the guaranteed interest rate in an insured savings account. uses, and affordable housing pays the lowest property
Investors will expect at least a 13.5 percent rate of return for taxes. When you build new housing, it requires all municipal
your project. services – police, fire protection, schools, parks, and social
You must educate your team about the relationship programs.
between risk and investor expectations, the potential

New Buildings & Open Space

profit of each land use, the financial impact of nonmarket Tips for Success

Site Planner
uses, and the impact of both market and nonmarket Work with your Marketing Director to track market demand
uses on city tax revenues. Drive your team to test bold and absorption rates for each product type. Remember that
scenarios including land uses and mixes that may seem while the market analysis is thorough, it is not a guarantee.
“unacceptable.” Test the impact of demolishing versus Markets can be volatile and uncertainty exists. You can
retaining existing buildings, different amounts of open choose to exceed the three-year absorption target for any
City Council Presentation

product type, but you also introduce more risk into your
Building Tools

NOTE: The rate of return is a percentage return on project.

investment. Simply put, it is the total profit divided by You must educate yourself about which city funds are
the total cost of development. For example, if the total available to the developer. The city will contribute to the
development cost is $50 million and the market value is $55
development of open space, affordable housing, and
million, you have earned a $5 million profit and a 10 percent
community facilities for the benefit of its residents through
return: ($55 million − $50 million)/$50 million = 10 percent.
both construction cost and tax subsidies.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

77 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Your team must address political and social forces, regulatory Top Tips for Your Presentation
and design considerations, and market demand. You need
• Inform the City Council of the financial returns your
your colleagues’ expertise to incorporate these issues into
proposal will generate.

Financial Model Overview

your plan. Profitability is a necessity but not a sufficient
condition to ensure that your plan will be selected or built. • Explain the economic tradeoffs your team made to
achieve its returns.

RFP
Your team’s Financial Model and Site Plan must align
perfectly, so work with your site planner to be sure you are • Prepare for questions about the financial impact
working from the same plan. Double-check your inputs each of changes to your proposal, such as increasing or
reducing density, changing the percentage of affordable
time you test a scenario.
housing, or adding more parks and open space.

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
• Persuade the Council that your solution is most
Be Prepared to Answer likely to attract the capital required and withstand
• Does this plan meet the financial goals for the the uncertainties associated with such a complex,
investors? And, for the city? long-term project while delivering important financial
• Why will your project be the most financially viable? benefits to the city. Remember, even though the city
states it will be satisfied with a $9.5 million return over
•

FINANCIAL ANALYST
Which land uses generate the most profit for the

History of Elmwood
10 years, when considering proposals of comparable
developer?
merit and risk, a City Council might be likely to select the
• Which land uses generate the most jobs and the highest proposal that projects higher tax revenues.
tax revenues?

• How have you mitigated risk? Are any uses overbuilt? If

so, how is that affecting the financial goals?

Site Plan & Context Map

•

Marketing Director
What construction cost subsidies are available?

• Why do the tax revenues you generated deliver the best

outcome for the city?

• Is your plan a long-term plan? If so, how?

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
New Buildings & Open Space
Site Planner
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

78 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Marketing Director
DEVELOPMENT TEAM ROLES

Financial Model Overview

Key Responsibilities Tips for Success

RFP
As Marketing Director, you need to: Work with the Site Planner to craft a Vision Statement that
• Closely read the RFP, paying particular attention to the can guide your decisions about the best mix of land uses.
Market Analysis section and Land Use Chart to analyze Think about each use, which customers you will sell that

Enviro & Equity Director

current market demand for housing, office, and retail product type to, and why they might be interested in leasing

Design Guidelines
space. This will inform how much space you can lease or buying it.
or sell within the three-year period. Consider the compatibility of adjacent uses. The land uses
• Understand needs and expectations of the individuals should be complementary, so if you are building housing
and companies that will lease or purchase that space – for families with young children, you will probably need to
your customers. include family-oriented retail and amenities, like playgrounds.

History of Elmwood
If you’re building retail, think about which locations will best

Financial Analyst
• Develop a list of target tenants that includes the types
attract retailers. Do they need to be near other retailers
of products and services that will best meet community
or apart from them? Which streets provide the highest
needs and fulfill your team’s vision for Elmwood while
visibility and pedestrian traffic? Some land uses may conflict.
also creating a thriving neighborhood.
Townhouse owners may not want to live next to a parking
• Familiarize yourself with the pros and cons of each land lot or busy retail strip, so consider which tenants will make

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Site Plan & Context Map

use and how a tenant or visitor might react to the mix “good neighbors.”
of uses and adjacencies of uses. You will find useful
information on the building sheets in the Existing and
New Buildings tabs. MINIMIZING RISK: Like every member of the development
team, one of your primary responsibilities is to identify

Essential Information and minimize risk. If you conduct the thorough and skillful
analysis described above, your project is more likely

Neighborhood Liaison
You are the expert on the market demand, so you must

Existing Buildings
have fully leased buildings at top market rent. However,
educate your team about which uses have high or low
a Marketing Director must always remember that
demand. How much demand is there for affordable
despite the thoroughness of a market analysis, it is not a
housing, compared with market-rate or luxury housing? How
guarantee. Markets can be volatile and uncertainty exists.
much retail space can you include in mixed-use buildings,
The further you drive demand to its limits – i.e., building
rehabbed buildings, and in freestanding shops? How much
three years’ worth of any product type – the more risk you

New Buildings & Open Space

low-rise office space can you expect to fill?
introduce into your project.

Site Planner
You must educate your team about absorption rates and the
risks of excess supply. If your team builds more of a product
than can be filled in the three-year absorption period, there will
be financial impacts to your bottom line, in the form of carrying Be Prepared to Answer
costs (paying back your constructions loans, paying utility • Do specific uses in your plan meet the city’s objectives
City Council Presentation

bills, etc.) while you are not generating rent. In addition, empty for attracting new residences, businesses, and retailers?
Building Tools

space might make vacancy rates rise, rental rates decline, and Do any of these uses conflict with the city’s objectives?
property values might fall – forcing you to cut prices. Consider
the impact of street-level retail vacancies compared with • Have you met the city’s requirements and goals

apartment or office vacancies and be prepared to explain the regarding affordable housing and sustainability? How

risks of exceeding the three-year period. will you market those features?
Land Use Chart
Glossary

79 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Top Tips for Your Presentation
NOTE: You will not be effective if you let your personal
• Explain how your team’s land uses embody your Vision
preferences color the advice you give your team. You
Statement, minimize risk, and create a mix of uses that

Financial Model Overview

must put yourself in the shoes of the users of your
buildings. For example, you may personally believe that meet market demand. If you oversupply any product,
a mid-rise office building is a good use for the Elmwood which is allowed, you will need to justify this decision

RFP
project. However, as Marketing Director, you must and explain how it might affect your project.
gather and analyze all the facts about the use and then
determine if placing it anywhere in your project will make • Bring the project to life, explaining how the people in
attracting office, retail, and residential tenants easier or Elmwood – both current community members and the

Enviro & Equity Director

more difficult. You must use the same process with each new residents and workers drawn by your development

Design Guidelines
use, whether it’s a homeless shelter, supermarket, or – will experience and engage with the new spaces on a
luxury condo. daily basis.

• Prepare for questions about the impact of your proposal

• What are the risks associated with the land uses and on the neighborhood’s affordability, sustainability, and
product placement your team has selected? livability.

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
• How does your proposed tenant mix ensure that your
office, retail, and residential prospects will thrive in the
new Elmwood? Will your proposed tenants include
established companies and retailers, or will you try to
attract new, locally owned businesses and shops?

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Site Plan & Context Map

• How will the adjacent buildings and tenants in those
buildings benefit each retailer?

• What is the demographic profile of the new residents

and workers who will become retail customers? Why are
these customers a good fit for the retail tenant?

Neighborhood Liaison
• Why will individuals and families want to buy or lease

Existing Buildings
the housing in your development? What is attractive
about it?

• How will you attract companies to lease office space in

your buildings? Which might prefer mixed-use buildings
versus buildings that solely contain office space?

New Buildings & Open Space

• How will you sell the EcoDistrict rating? What benefits

Site Planner
does this rating provide tenants, owners, and visitors?

• How will you market your team’s decision build net zero
energy buildings?
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

80 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Neighborhood Liaison
DEVELOPMENT TEAM ROLES

Financial Model Overview

Key Responsibilities It is important to understand that when a neighborhood group

RFP
states an opinion, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is true.
As Neighborhood Liaison, you need to:
These statements often come from fear about change. You
• Read the RFP closely to understand the city’s goals for can do research to find out if fears are backed up by reality,
the development project and the City Council’s criteria or if they are mostly emotional sentiments. You need to think

Enviro & Equity Director

for selecting the winning proposal. about how to work with each group and how to address their

Design Guidelines
fears in a respectful manner and be able to convince them
• Closely read the Neighborhood Letters from local
with good arguments that you are considering their requests
residents and community groups to understand the
when making decisions.
hopes and fears of stakeholders in the Elmwood
community. Suggest the best ways to incorporate some The Neighborhood Letters have a lot of information, and it is
or all of each group’s views into your plan. hard to extrapolate all the information they provide. Read the

History of Elmwood
letters several times to start grasping all the subtleties that

Financial Analyst
• Identify the priorities that matter most to the City
they are trying to communicate. For example, if the church is
Council and various community groups and ensure that
successful in raising money for a specific purpose, you can
your plan will both impress the elected officials and
conclude that the church has support from the community for
improve the well-being of people who live and work in
that particular cause even though you don’t know the size of
Elmwood.
the congregation.
• Keep in mind that the City Council faces conflicting

Site Plan & Context Map

Your team must address political and social forces, regulatory

Marketing Director
political, financial, and social pressures, and you
and design considerations, and market demand. Work with
will need to help your team navigate the city’s many
your colleagues to address these issues in your plan.
competing (and sometimes incompatible) demands.

Essential Information Tips for Success

Remember, you work for the private development team, not Work in partnership with the Site Planner and the

NEIGHBORHOOD LIAISON
the neighborhood groups. As Neighborhood Liaison, you Environment & Equity Director to create a plan that meets

Existing Buildings
must build relationships with a wide variety of community the aims of residents and stakeholders and creates
groups. A strong foundation of community support is maximum positive social outcomes.
essential to a project that will succeed in the long term.
In addition, unhappy groups can hold protests, generate Be Prepared to Answer
negative media coverage, and unseat council members. • Will the city’s goals be met in this proposal? Which goals

New Buildings & Open Space

It is critical to the city that our local residents’ voices should will not be met?
be heard. They are affected most directly by any new • Which community groups will support your plan, and

Site Planner
development in the Elmwood District, which gives residents which ones will be opposed?
a significant stake in what your team proposes and many are
• How does your team’s decision about building a
part of vocal neighborhood groups. Most residents want a
Q-Mart or grocery store align with City Council and
revitalized Elmwood. Unfortunately for the City Council and
neighborhood goals?
your team, these groups may not agree on the best way to
City Council Presentation

accomplish that goal. If the Council selects your team as the • How does your team’s decision about the homeless
Building Tools

developer for the Elmwood project, you will be able to meet shelter align with City Council and neighborhood goals?
personally with many neighborhood groups and individuals.
• How does your team’s decision about community use
However, in creating your proposal, the only information
facilities and open space align with City Council and
available to you is the letters from these most politically active
neighborhood goals?
segments.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

81 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 About UrbanPlan
Land Use Chart
Top Tips for Your Presentation
• How has your plan addressed stakeholder concerns?
How did you weigh the relative power/influence of

Financial Model Overview

different neighborhood groups?

• Explain how your plan reflects the city’s priorities and

RFP
how it respects the culture and history of Elmwood.

• Prepare for questions from a variety of City Council

members who may have different priorities and goals.
For example, some may favor luxury condos, while

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
others may be concerned about gentrification and lack
of affordable housing.

• Be prepared to explain why the tradeoffs in your

proposal will produce the best results for the city and its
citizens, even if they do not please everyone.

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
New Buildings & Open Space
Site Planner
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Neighborhood Letters
Glossary

82 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Site Planner
DEVELOPMENT TEAM ROLES

Financial Model Overview

RFP
Key Responsibilities
A NOTE ABOUT PERSONAL BIAS: You will not be
As Site Planner, you need to: effective if you let your personal preferences color
• Read the RFP closely to understand the city’s goals for the advice you give your team. For example, you may
the redevelopment site, the New Buildings and Existing personally believe that a homeless shelter or a grocery

Enviro & Equity Director

store is a good use. However, as Site Planner you must

Design Guidelines
Buildings, and the Design Guidelines. You need to be
first study the information about the use, visualize
an expert in the design of each building or amenity, its
the activities and behaviors it will generate, and then
size, and how it can be placed on the site.
determine if it enhances or detracts from the experience
• Gain proficiency in building the LEGO shapes and using you intend to create for all users.
the online Site Plan Builder.

History of Elmwood
• Craft a Vision Statement with your team that will guide

Financial Analyst
be compatible with each other. Take time to visualize the
your building selection and land use decisions in your
experience of everyone who will live, work, and play in the
physical plan. Imagine what life in the community will be
new Elmwood. Consider questions like: What makes a street
like at street level for people of all ages who live, work,
feel welcoming and lively? Where are the cars, and where
and play there.
are they going? Is there a natural focal point or public space?
• Test varied development scenarios – even within Where should stores and buildings be located in relation to

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
each block – so that you can evaluate impacts on your busy or quiet streets?
vision statement as well as costs and benefits of your
team’s decisions to all stakeholders, the city, and your Tips for Success
investors. You must educate your team about the impact of each
decision on the environment, walkability, traffic, obstruction
Essential Information of views, and the fabric of the community. You can find

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
You must become the expert on the existing site and the information on parking requirements and environmental
“why?” behind it. Where are the major intersections, transit impact in the New and Existing Buildings tabs.
lines, housing, retail, and community services? Where is the
Your team’s Financial Model and Site Plan must align
highway, and why is it there? What cultural and historical
perfectly, so work with your financial analyst to be sure you
resources exist in Elmwood, and who values them? What
are working from the same plan. Double-check the inputs
exists outside the development site, and how will it be
each time you build a scenario.

New Buildings & Open Space

affected by your plan? Who might be displaced by your

SITE PLANNER
plan, and how will your team prevent harm to the existing Be Prepared to Answer
community?
• Will this project create the environment, activities, and
Your team must develop a Vision Statement that will guide behaviors we claim?
your plan. Direct your team to the Developing Your Ideas
• Will it function smoothly and make Elmwood a desirable
for Elmwood section of “About UrbanPlan” and lead them
City Council Presentation

place for all users?

through the discussion questions. This will help you generate
Building Tools

your Vision Statement and answer key decisions about the • Have you considered the traffic flow?
look and feel of the neighborhood and the activities you
• How do the buildings you have chosen affect the views,
envision there.
light, or privacy of tenants in adjacent buildings? What
You will need to act as a set designer, behavioral scientist, is happening outside each building? How are people
and regulatory compliance expert. The buildings you getting to and from each building?
include should relate to their surrounding neighborhood and
Land Use Chart
Glossary

83 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
• Where could public amenities be placed to best serve Top Tips for Your Presentation
residents and encourage walkability or bikeability?
• Help the City Council members visualize the look and
• What will people be doing in and around each type of feel of the community.

Financial Model Overview

building or open space? How will these activities change
• Explain the benefits of your plan – how it meets the city
at different times of the day or week?

RFP
objectives and the needs and wants of its residents,
• How will your public spaces, parks and streets, be workers, and visitors.
designed and programmed? What does it feel like to be
• Prepare for questions about how your combination of
in the spaces?
buildings and open space creates the environment and

Enviro & Equity Director

• How will the design and features in your plan help activities described in your Vision Statement.

Design Guidelines
reduce pollution and congestion and create a
• Persuade the City Council that your solution is most
sustainable community?
likely to create a cohesive, livable, and sustainable
• Imagine you live or work in Elmwood – what would you community.
like to see as you walk around the streets or look out
your window? What would a typical day be like?

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
New Buildings & Open Space
SITE PLANNER
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

84 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
The Presentation

Financial Model Overview

Every team will believe that it has The Process

RFP
conducted the most comprehensive risk The City Council will select the winning proposal after
analysis, resulting in the most compelling hearing an oral presentation followed by a question-and-
answer period with each development team. As with all
vision, responsive proposal, and elegant
presentations before city councils, your firm has a limited

Enviro & Equity Director

physical plan. Yet only one will win

Design Guidelines
amount of time to speak.
the contract. Presentation quality and • Each team will have a total of 10 to 15 minutes for its
how each team member defends their presentation. (You will be notified about the amount of
decisions are usually the determining time at the beginning of the project.)

selection factors for the City Council when • Each team member must speak for a minimum of two

History of Elmwood
minutes from the perspective of their role.
evaluating several excellent proposals.

Financial Analyst
• As in actual developer presentations, the City Council
Your presentation must persuade the Council that your firm will stop you when your 10 to 15 minutes are up,
understands the Council’s objectives, respects its values, and regardless of where your team is in its presentation.
can produce the outcomes the Council is seeking. • Following your presentation, the Council will have 10 to 15
minutes for questions.

Site Plan & Context Map

The Council knows that the winning developer will have to

Marketing Director
meet with neighborhood residents, city leaders, lenders, The Importance of the Question-and-Answer Period
investors, and even the press several times before the The question-and-answer portion is as important as your
project is finally approved and built. The Council will want a presentation—perhaps more so. Through questioning your
developer that can cope with these challenges and keep the assertions and choices, the City Council learns the following:
project moving on time and on budget.
• How thoroughly each team member knows the facts of

Neighborhood Liaison
Council members will use every cue available to them during the case;

Existing Buildings
the developer presentations to determine which team will
• How comprehensively each team member understands
be the most professional, effective partner. Therefore, every
the needs, wants, and fears of the stakeholder groups:
aspect of your presentation and the actions of every member
City Council members, tenant prospects, investors, and
of your team will influence the Council’s decision – dress,
neighborhood interest groups; and
language, and demeanor as well as content.

New Buildings & Open Space

• How well each team member understands the impact,
The team that clearly articulates its vision, expressed
benefits, and drawbacks of each decision on the

Site Planner
powerfully through its physical plan; articulates the benefits
stakeholder groups.
of its proposal to the city, its residents, and neighborhood
interest groups; and can successfully communicate the
reasoning behind each decision will inspire confidence
among Council members.

This section explains the presentation process, presentation

PRESENTATION
CITY COUNCIL
Building Tools

package requirements, and developer selection criteria. It

also tells you what to expect from the City Council along with
tips on making a persuasive, professional presentation.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

85 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
The Presentation Package: Note: The City Council will not accept computer-aided
Required and Optional Content design animations, or videos.

Financial Model Overview

The City Council requires paper or electronic versions of
Presentation Packet:
your oral presentation and will refer to these materials during
Materials Specifications
deliberations. The City Council will not hear teams that do

RFP
not provide the required packet. For in-person presentations, you will need to print the packet.
If possible, print in color and either staple the pages or insert
Required Materials into a clear plastic report cover. The Council’s concern is
Your team will provide one packet for each City Council accuracy, compliance with requirements, and ease of use—

Enviro & Equity Director

member. You will be notified if it needs to be printed or not cosmetics. They will not ascribe any additional value to

Design Guidelines
provided electronically. Each packet must contain the packets using materials that are more expensive.
following documents in the order below:
Selection Criteria
1 Cover page with the name of your development firm
and photograph of your team with the name and role The Council will evaluate your team’s proposal based on the
of each member. criteria in the Developer Selection Criteria and Process in the

History of Elmwood
“RFP” section and in the Presentation Checklist found at the

Financial Analyst
2 Vision Statement.
end of this section. Review these documents to ensure that
3 Site Plan Builder graphic of the plan you are presenting your proposal addresses all the required issues.
and 3D view (can be replaced with photos of the LEGO site
plan if needed). Who Is Your City Council?
4 Financial Model worksheets in the following order: Your City Council will be composed of land use professionals

Site Plan & Context Map

- Summary sheet; who participate in actual presentations regularly; this will be

Marketing Director
- Use Allocation sheet; real for them. They will show you respect by treating you as
if you were a professional development firm.
- Market sheet; and
They will expect you to conduct yourself in a business-
- Value sheet.
like manner, demonstrating appropriate respect for the
5 Explanation of how the plan meets the city’s RFP goals. magnitude of these events and for the consequences of

Neighborhood Liaison
6 EcoDistrict strategies and metrics. failure to all stakeholders:

Existing Buildings
7 A “target tenant” list indicating the types of tenants you • City Council members are the elected representatives of
propose for each building – office, retail, residential, and the people of Yorktown.
community facilities – by block and square footage.
• City Council members will be committing millions
8 A description of how the requests and concerns of the of dollars of public funds—i.e., taxpayer dollars—the
neighborhood groups have been addressed.

New Buildings & Open Space

future of an entire neighborhood; and, perhaps, their
9 Streetmix view of 9th Avenue (if your educator shares this own political futures on the success of the Elmwood

Site Planner
tool, you should include image). redevelopment project.

Optional/Additional Materials • Your firm could lose up to $500,000 if you do not win
the contract. This is the amount of money a developer
Remember that the Council will not have time to read long
could have spent researching the information in
narrative sections. If your team wants to add additional
the UrbanPlan handbook plus the cost of building
material to your presentation package, include only those
PRESENTATION
CITY COUNCIL
Building Tools

a presentation model. In addition, spending your

elements that will quickly and clearly illustrate your vision
firm’s human and financial resources pursuing this
or further validate a claim you are making. For example, you
development opportunity instead of one in another
may wish to include photographs of specific buildings or
location has an “opportunity cost.”
streetscapes that reflect your vision for Elmwood.
Land Use Chart
Glossary

86 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Preparing a Persuasive Analyze
Oral Presentation As you discovered in developing your proposal, one
stakeholder’s benefit may be another stakeholder’s

Financial Model Overview

Speak in Benefits, Not Features
drawback. So to “speak in benefits” to the City Council, each
“Features” are the “what” of your proposal – what you built, member of your team must know what their stakeholder

RFP
how much you built, and where you placed it. A grocery group values. You will be able to communicate these values
store, townhouse, mid-rise office building, parking structure, if you can answer these questions:
park, etc., are all physical features. Features can also include
• What specific outcomes, opportunities, and
the following: office, residential, and retail tenant types,
environments are my stakeholders seeking?

Enviro & Equity Director

and community uses; investor and developer return; tax

Design Guidelines
revenues; and type and number of jobs. • Which features of our proposal deliver those outcomes
and how?
“Benefits” are the desirable outcomes (the opportunities,
activities, and environments) that your proposal’s features • What outcomes do my stakeholders fear?
deliver to a stakeholder group. The perceived benefits of any
• Which features contribute to those objectionable
product or service are what people really buy. Speaking in
outcomes or fears?
terms of benefits preempts a stakeholder’s question: “How

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
and why is this good for me?” • Can I make a fact-based argument that will mitigate or
eliminate the Council’s fears?
For example, in her presentation, Financial Analyst #1 says,
“We generated a 14.7 percent return to the developer and Don’t assume that the City Council members or any other
investors. We tested several scenarios and got higher and stakeholder group will understand the benefits of your
lower returns. We thought this worked best.” proposal unless you explain them. In fact, some may see

Site Plan & Context Map

only the drawbacks.

Marketing Director
Financial Analyst #2 says, “We generated a 14.7 percent
return to the developer and investors. This gives investors a For example, an office building brings a high volume of
greater incentive to invest with us on this high-risk venture. traffic to the neighborhood along with many new people
To the Council, this means we have a greater chance from outside the neighborhood. Building an office building
of attracting the capital to build the project than those may also bring higher-income workers, create shadows, and
proposals, with a similar risk profile, projecting a lower block views. It also brings new jobs for residents, weekday

Neighborhood Liaison
return. In addition, this higher rate of return provides a customers for the new local retailers, and tax revenues

Existing Buildings
cushion against unforeseen problems with the project. We that help the city provide and maintain parks, community
can lose some of our projected return and still be above 13.5 facilities, affordable housing, fire and police services, etc.
percent. This should give the Council additional confidence Environment & Equity Director, Marketing Director,
that this project will be built.” Neighborhood Liaison, Site Planner, Financial Analyst—each

Financial Analyst #1 speaks only about the feature—the 14.7 of you think of your stakeholder group. Given these facts,

New Buildings & Open Space

percent return. Financial Analyst #2 mentions the feature, which ones would persuade your stakeholder group(s) that
an office building benefits them?
Site Planner
then discusses whom it benefits and why.

Be Specific

Every development team will make the same general claims.

Details will bring your proposal to life.
PRESENTATION
CITY COUNCIL
Building Tools
Land Use Chart
Glossary

87 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Neighborhood Liaison Organize

How, specifically, do your team’s choices and tradeoffs 1 Begin your team’s presentation by having one member
accomplish the greatest number of the city’s goals and summarize the benefits your proposal will bring to the

Financial Model Overview

deliver benefits to each neighborhood group? How have you Elmwood District and Yorktown.
mitigated any objectionable outcomes? For example, if you
2 Next, have each team member explain how the details

RFP
built uses that bring high traffic to Elmwood, why won’t the
of your plan deliver those benefits to the team’s
Neighborhood Alliance object?
stakeholder groups.

Financial Analyst 3 Finally, wrap up your presentation with another brief

summary of the benefits to reinforce what the Council has

Enviro & Equity Director

How and why is your projected developer return the one

Design Guidelines
most likely to attract investors to this high-risk venture? just seen and heard.

How will your return allow your project to withstand the

Practice
uncertainties and risks associated with such a complex,
Practice your presentation individually and as a team. Your
long-term project? Why do the tax revenues you generated
two to three minutes and your team’s 10 to 15 minutes will
deliver the best outcome for the city?
fly by. Make sure each team member addresses the issues
Marketing Director

History of Elmwood
relevant to their role. Don’t waste precious time by repeating

Financial Analyst
How does your proposed tenant mix and product placement points relevant to other roles. Remember, regardless of
ensure that your office, retail, and residential prospects where your team is in its presentation, the City Council will
will thrive in the new Elmwood? If you claim that your retail stop you when the allotted time is up.
tenants will do well, what specifically have you built around
those tenants to ensure their positive performance? How City Council
Question-and-Answer Period

Site Plan & Context Map

will the adjacent buildings and tenants in those buildings

Marketing Director
benefit each retailer? What is the demographic profile of the Expect City Council members to be civil but demanding.
new residents and workers who will be their customers, and They will challenge your decisions and assertions. Your
why are those customers the most desirable for the retail presentation package, site plan, and oral presentation will
tenant? Why will your townhouse tenant prospects find the generate the questions they ask— not a predetermined
placement of your townhouses irresistible? question list.

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
Environment & Equity Director Each Council member may have a different view as to the
best redevelopment plan for the city, depending on their
How have you balanced the RFP goals that relate to
constituency and personal experience. Some Council
sustainability and equity? What strategies and metrics will
members may support uses such as luxury condos that
help you demonstrate that you have achieved an EcoDistrict
will increase property values in the entire Elmwood District,
(climate protection, equity, and resilience)? What tradeoffs
bringing in upper-income residents and higher tax revenues.

New Buildings & Open Space

did you need to make in order get some of the metrics
Others may be concerned that such uses will lead to
higher? What amount of net zero energy buildings did you

Site Planner
gentrification of the neighborhood, making it unaffordable for
include? What impact did that decision have on your rate of
seniors and residents of moderate means.
return?
Listen carefully: Make sure you understand the question. If
Site Planner
you need clarification, ask the Council member to restate or
Specifically, how does each building or open space you rephrase their question. Don’t be defensive. Respond with a
placed on 9th Avenue create the environment, activities, and fact-based analysis of the issue.
PRESENTATION
CITY COUNCIL
Building Tools

behaviors described in your Vision Statement? For example,

if your vision claims a busy street scene at 8:30 p.m. on
Wednesday, how do your product and placement choices
deliver on that claim?
Land Use Chart
Glossary

88 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Preparing for the Council’s Questions Resources

If you have followed the recommendations in the section • RFP: Developer Selection Criteria and Process
on Preparing a Persuasive Oral Presentation, you have • Presentation Checklist (see next page)

Financial Model Overview

completed the first stage of preparation.
• Financial Analyst: Financial Model Overview

RFP
The next step is anticipating the argument(s) against your
• Development Team Roles: Marketing Director, Financial
decisions. If you have objectively analyzed all the facts
Analyst, Neighborhood Liaison, Environment & Equity
associated with your decisions, you should be able to make
Director, Site Planner
the counterargument yourself.
• Review all homework assignments

Enviro & Equity Director

Each of you must understand the facts from the perspective

Design Guidelines
of your role: site planning (e.g., traffic, flow, vision); finance
or investor expectations; market demand and tenant
expectations; neighborhood interest groups’ wants and
fears; and competing city objectives. Having anticipated
such arguments, you can prepare for them. No challenge
from the Council will catch you off guard, and you are less

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
likely to respond defensively.

For example, if your team placed a grocery store in Block

3, each of you should have analyzed that decision from the
perspective of your role. What fact-based arguments could
be made against that placement? Site Planner? Marketing

Site Plan & Context Map

Director? Financial Analyst? Environment & Equity Director?

Marketing Director
Neighborhood Liaison?

Professional Appearance
and Demeanor
• Business attire is recommended for the City Council

Neighborhood Liaison
presentations. In other words, dress as you would

Existing Buildings
for an important occasion, such as a job interview or
professional setting.

• Introduce yourself to the Council when you rise to

make your presentation and explain what aspect of
the proposal you will discuss. For example, “My name

New Buildings & Open Space

is Jessica Lee, and I’m the Marketing Director. I’ll be

Site Planner
discussing the market aspects of our proposal.” You may
also want to make name tags for each team member.

• Speak clearly and make eye contact with Council

members.

• Although you may refer to notes, don’t read your

PRESENTATION

presentation. If you refer to notes frequently, the Council

CITY COUNCIL
Building Tools

may think you are unprepared and even assume that

someone else wrote your presentation for you.

• Be attentive while your teammates are making their

presentations. If you don’t care what they are saying, the
Council certainly won’t!
Land Use Chart
Glossary

89 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Presentation Checklist

Team Vision † We have demonstrated how we meet the

Financial Model Overview

requirements of an EcoDistrict
† Our vision statement is clearly articulated
† O
 ur plan meets the city’s minimum requirement of

RFP
† O
 ur proposed plan is consistent with our vision
10% affordable housing and provides:
statement
† ___% and ___ units of moderate-income housing
† Our plan is logical and consistent with the City’s
goals † ___% and ___ units of low-income housing

Enviro & Equity Director

† O
 ur plan addresses neighborhood concerns in an † ___% and ___ units of very low-income housing

Design Guidelines
effective, politically astute manner † O
 ur plan creates _______ part-time entry-level jobs,
_______ full-time, entry-level jobs, _______ mid-paying
Preparation jobs, and _______ high-paying jobs

† O
 ur team has submitted the City Council package † Our proposal creates a balance of new housing and
and any additional materials (for example, a jobs, with a jobs-to-housing ratio of _______

History of Elmwood
summary scoresheet) required in advance

Financial Analyst
† O
 ur plan promotes equity and demonstrates our
† O
 ur team has created a logical, coherent commitment to an inclusive community
presentation for City Council, explaining the benefits † O
 ur plan incorporates the history and culture of
of our plan and the “why” behind our decisions Elmwood, as well as the existing resources of the
† O
 ur team has prepared informative, visually surrounding community
compelling slides to accompany our presentation † O
 ur plan takes maximum advantage of public

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
transit access
Presentation
† Our plan meets all city parking requirements
† E
 ach member of our development team is
† O
 ur plan provides specific retail businesses (target
prepared to speak for their designated time, from
tenants) that will serve the needs of both existing
the perspective of their assigned role, and answer
and new residents and workers
questions from City Council

Neighborhood Liaison
† O
 ur plan provides key community facilities that will

Existing Buildings
† E
 ach member of our development team has
support the neighborhood
contributed to preparing informative, visually
compelling slides to accompany the presentation † O
 ur plan’s proposed uses are responsive to
market demand
† E
 ach member of our development team is prepared
to explain how issues of risk and uncertainty could † O
 ur plan’s proposed uses are compatible with
one another

New Buildings & Open Space

affect the project from their role’s perspective
† O
 ur plan offers an attractive, street-level mix of uses,

Site Planner
Key Data Points & Issues providing harmonious transitions between adjoining
† Our plan has a total market value of $ __________ structures and maximizing the use of open space

† Our plan’s rate of return for investors is $ __________ † O

 ur plan maximizes views from all areas of
residential buildings as well as maintaining privacy
† O
 ur plan’s return to the city over 10 years is
from adjacent buildings
$__________
PRESENTATION
CITY COUNCIL
Building Tools

† O
 ur plan preserves the following buildings:
__________________________________

† Our plan includes ________ SF of open space

† We allocated ________ % of buildings as net zero

buildings
Land Use Chart
Glossary

90 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Glossary

Financial Model Overview

Absorption rate Amenities Carbon neutrality
In real estate, the rate or projected rate at Those settings or improvements to a Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero

RFP
which a particular use will be completely property or neighborhood that increase the carbon dioxide emissions. This can be
rented or sold. For example, the Elmwood desirability or enjoyment of the residents— achieved by balancing emissions of carbon
market analysis projects that you can sell for example, parks, community centers, and dioxide with its removal or by eliminating
36 luxury condo units in one year. That is, sports fields. Amenities are not considered emissions from society.
the Elmwood District can absorb 36 luxury necessities.

Enviro & Equity Director

condo units per year. Climate protection

Design Guidelines
Blight Communities must take responsibility
Adequate public facilities A condition of property or the uses for most carbon dioxide emissions, the
A term often used in discussing a new of property in parts of a city, town, dominant greenhouse gas contributing to
development to describe whether existing or neighborhood that are considered climate change. Communities can build a
public facilities, such as roads, schools, detrimental to the physical, social, and/or pathway to carbon neutrality by investing
sewers, and water, are of a size and capacity economic well-being of a community. Blight in net zero energy tools (e.g., solar panels,

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
sufficient to serve the new development. can include abandoned buildings or those paying for off-site renewables, etc.) and
severely neglected by their owners, vacant green buildings.
Affordable housing lots full of rubble and garbage, or dangerous
Non-market-rate, i.e., subsidized housing and/or illegal uses. Community facilities
available only to citizens meeting certain Facilities that are provided for the benefit
A blighting influence is a factor that
legally defined criteria—primarily associated of the public and are tied to public-sector
contributes to the blight found in a property
with income. Because of the cost of capital services. Community facilities are not

Site Plan & Context Map

or in a neighborhood. However, blight has

Marketing Director
plus the high costs of land and construction always free to the public. The particular uses
also been used as a coded word to describe
in many areas, housing prices are higher that qualify as “community facilities” may
people rather than property. In this form, the
than lower-income individuals can afford differ from one jurisdiction to another.
designation of “blighted” has been used to
to pay. Therefore, a public and/or private
justify the destruction of entire communities
source must provide a subsidy to make Comprehensive plan
and displacement of its residents, often
housing “affordable” to this population. A general community plan that describes
marginalized people of color.

Neighborhood Liaison
land use patterns according to whether a

Existing Buildings
Eligibility for “affordable housing” varies
according to the area median income (AMI) given district or parcel will be devoted to
Building codes
of the community in question. Although residential, commercial, or industrial use.
Government-established construction
many think of very-low-income families as Such a plan also includes transportation,
standards that a building must meet, such
the only people eligible for such housing public facilities, and sometimes social
as structural requirements, plumbing
(families making 30 to 50 percent of AMI), services or redevelopment plans.
requirements, and electrical requirements.

New Buildings & Open Space

affordable housing may be available to
individuals or families making 50 to 80 Connectivity
Business district

Site Planner
percent or more of (low-income households) A measure of how easily accessible a
A downtown, a core of business
and 80 to 120 percent of AMI (moderate- neighborhood is—both to get to and move
development, or a central business district.
income households). around in. This measure is based on
Such an area can often mix different land
walkability and transit access.
In expensive regions, many office workers, uses—including residential, commercial,
teachers, firefighters, and police officers are and industrial—with certain entertainment
City Council Presentation

functions. Demand
eligible for such housing. Subsidized housing
The quantity of goods that consumers
Building Tools

for these higher-AMI groups is often referred

are willing and able to purchase at various
to as moderate (or workforce) housing. Carbon
prices during a given period of time. Along
Carbon dioxide (CO2) or other gaseous
For example, if the AMI in a community is with supply, demand is one of the two key
carbon compounds released into the
$100,000 per year, a family of four making determinants of price. In real estate, it is
atmosphere, associated with climate
$80,000 per year could be eligible. A family known as market demand and refers to
change.
making $40,000 per year, less than 50 the need for a use, such as housing, at a
percent of AMI, would easily meet the criteria.
Land Use Chart

particular price (see Supply).

GLOSSARY

91 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Demographics area’s risk associated with a project before Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
Statistical data usually referring to the beginning in an effort to maximize the A study conducted by specialists and
number, age, income, and socioeconomic chances of success. generally required by state or federal law to

Financial Model Overview

status of a population group. These be completed before a project can be built.
statistics help government and private EcoDistrict The study evaluates the project’s effect on
businesses anticipate what a community A new model of urban development to the environment and infrastructure.

RFP
will look like and what its needs will be in the empower just, sustainable, and resilient
future. For example, knowing the number neighborhoods. The EcoDistricts Equity
of families with children who live in or may certification guides city makers to take a Just and fair inclusion. An equitable society
move to an area helps determine whether collaborative, holistic, neighborhood-scale is one in which all people can participate

Enviro & Equity Director

new schools must be built. approach to community design to achieve and prosper. The goal of equity is to create

Design Guidelines
rigorous, meaningful performance outcomes conditions that allow all to reach their full
Density that matter to people and planet. To learn potential (Policylink).
In real estate, building bigger or taller more, visit www.ecodistricts.org/certified.
buildings on a given amount of land Footprint
increases the project’s density. For example, Economic development In building measurement, the outside
if your block measures 80,000 square feet, A term generally applied to the expansion of dimensions of a building describing

History of Elmwood
a one-story building covering only 20,000 a community’s property and sales tax base the amount of space it occupies on the

Financial Analyst
square feet of ground is less dense than a or the expansion of the number and quality ground. This figure is usually expressed
one-story building covering all 80,000 square of jobs through office, retail, and industrial in square feet of space. A one-story
feet. Similarly, a one-story building covering development. building measuring 50 feet by 20 feet has
20,000 square feet is less dense than a a 1,000-square-foot footprint. A 10-story
10-story building covering 20,000 square feet. Embodied carbon building of the same dimensions, although
The carbon footprint of a material, including a much larger building, has the same size

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Developer the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) footprint but more density.
An entrepreneur who is the leader of the released to create the product (extract,
development team. The developer is the refine, process, transport, and fabricate). Gentrification
inspirational leader of the team, providing It is typically measured in kilograms of The process by which existing residents
the overall vision for the project. The CO2e emission per kilogram of product or are forced out of their neighborhoods as
developer also coordinates the purchase of material. housing becomes less affordable and
land, design, project planning, financing, and

Neighborhood Liaison
amenities become more expensive. Many

Existing Buildings
construction of the entire project. Embodied energy cities today are faced with the challenge
Energy associated with the manufacturing of accommodating for growth (and new
“Developer” can also refer to the entire
of a product or service. Rehabilitating residents) while meeting the needs of existing
firm, e.g., “The ABC Corporation will be
existing properties can be critical to residents.
the developer of the Elmwood
promoting energy efficiency by preserving
Redevelopment project.”
the energy already represented by existing Growth management

New Buildings & Open Space

buildings rather than spending additional A process by which local governments attempt
Due diligence
energy for new construction.

Site Planner
The research and analysis done in to minimize the negative effects of rapid

preparation for a business transaction, development by controlling the timing, location,

Eminent domain amount, and density of new commercial
including the verification of all relevant
The power of a government or its agent to buildings, residences, and roads.
facts. In real estate projects, this
expropriate private property for public use,
includes all issues regarding the physical
with payment of just compensation to the Historic preservation
characteristics of the site and soil; market
City Council Presentation

owner of that property. The process of preserving part of a

demand for product types; community
Building Tools

values, politics, interest groups; government community, from an individual building or

Empty nesters part of a building to a whole neighborhood
regulatory environment; political leadership;
Adults, usually couples, whose children (including roadways and waterways),
competitive and complementary uses and
have grown up and left home. Such adults because of its historical importance.
amenities in surrounding areas, along with
no longer want to maintain houses in the
cost and availability of capital. The primary
suburbs; they move to urban areas to enjoy
objective of “due diligence” is to identify an
the cultural entertainment and civic activity.
Land Use Chart
GLOSSARY

92 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Infill/Infill development Market forces Neighborhood alliance or association
Development that takes place on vacant The economic factors affecting the price, A local community group often formed
or underused parcels within an area that demand, and availability of a commodity. to promote the community interest in a

Financial Model Overview

is already developed and has access to This is defined as the combined effect of specific area.
existing urban infrastructure and services. self-interested buyers and sellers on price
and quantity of the goods and services Net Zero Energy Building

RFP
Infrastructure offered in a market. In general, excess Net Zero Energy building is a building with
Public facilities within a community that demand causes prices and quantity of net zero energy consumption, meaning the
promote livability—including transportation supply to rise, and excess supply causes total amount of energy used by the building
(roads, bridges, public transit), utilities prices and quantity to fall. on an annual basis is equal to the amount of

Enviro & Equity Director

(water, sewage), communication systems renewable energy created on the site and/or

Design Guidelines
(broadband internet), and civic commons Market information in other renewable energy sources offsite.
(parks, plazas, recreational facilities). For a Data collected regarding all current conditions—
development project, it specifically refers to economic, social, and demographic—that affect NIMBY
the infrastructure needed on the site. the potential success of a project. NIMBY is an acronym for the phrase “Not In
My Back Yard.” It is a term used to describe
Market value
Jobs-to-Housing Ratio opposition by residents to a proposal for
The price of a property as determined by

History of Elmwood
A jobs-to-housing ratio of 10 means that new development close to them. Opposing

Financial Analyst
buyers and sellers in an open market – that
10 workers compete for every one home residents themselves are sometimes called
is, a market that is widely accessible to all
considered affordable to them. The greater Nimbies. NIMBY is also used to describe
investors or consumers. When calculating
the ratio, the higher the mismatch between people who advocate some proposal but
the Project Financial Performance, Market
workers and homes they can afford. oppose implementing it in a way that would
Value is represented by the number that
require any sacrifice on their part.
results from multiplying the price (value) of
Living wage

Site Plan & Context Map

each use built times the quantity of each use. Projects likely to be opposed include but

Marketing Director
The minimum income necessary for a worker
are not limited to tall buildings, affordable
to meet their basic needs, including housing,
Mitigate/mitigation housing, market-rate housing projects,
transport, food, and other necessities.
To make something less harmful, various retail uses, sports stadiums, and
unpleasant, or bad (see Toxics). transportation improvement schemes
Market economy (e.g., light rail, high-speed rail, new roads,
An economy in which scarce resources are Mixed-income highways, airports, seaports).
all (or nearly all) allocated by the interplay of

Neighborhood Liaison
Mixture in a single development of some

Existing Buildings
supply and demand in free markets, largely combination of low-, middle-, and upper- Nonmarket forces
unhampered by government rationing, price income residents and workers. The actions or regulations of government
fixing, or other coercive interference. This is outside the demands of the marketplace
the opposite of a centrally planned economy, Mixed-use development that determine or influence what is to
in which government decisions drive most A form of development that mixes different, be produced. For example, government
aspects of a country’s economic activity. usually compatible or mutually supportive, regulations may require access for

New Buildings & Open Space

land uses on a site. One example of mixed use individuals with disabilities to all buildings as
Although most developed nations today
includes residential, commercial, and retail.

Site Planner
could be classified as having mixed a “public good,” even though not all users of
economies, these nations are often said to the buildings require such access. Subsidies
Mortgage
have market economies because they allow or mandates for affordable housing are
A loan made to the owners of real
market forces to drive most of their activities, another example of nonmarket forces.
property—a house or office building, for
typically engaging in government intervention As a practical matter, nonregulatory and
example—where the property is the security
City Council Presentation

only to the extent that it is needed to nongovernmental actors such as politically

for repayment of the loan or debt.
provide stability. Debate exists among and
Building Tools

active individuals and interest groups can

within countries regarding the amount of generate nonmarket forces.
National Register of Historic Places
government intervention considered optimal
An official list of cultural resources worthy
for efficient economic operations.
of preservation; part of a federal program
administered by the National Park Service
designed to protect the nation’s historic,
architectural, and archaeological assets.
Land Use Chart
GLOSSARY

93 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
Nonprofit organization Public sector Risk/Business risk
An organization that exists for educational or The offices and responsibilities of A circumstance or factor that may have
charitable reasons, and from which its board government. In economic terms, the part of a negative impact on the viability or

Financial Model Overview

of directors (there are no owners) do not an economy in which goods and services profitability of a given company or project.
benefit financially. Nonprofit organizations are produced and/or (re)distributed by Business risk arises from external factors
have paid and volunteer staff. Employment government agencies. as well as factors within the company. In

RFP
taxes and federal and state workplace real estate, developers use “due diligence”
rules are generally no different from those Public works to uncover risk to eliminate, mitigate, share
imposed on for-profit organizations. Like Facilities run by public agencies to provide with other stakeholders, or price risk into the
for-profit organizations, nonprofits pay rent water, power, waste disposal, transportation, cost of the project. Doing so increases the

Enviro & Equity Director

and most of the same operating expenses and similar services to meet common social likelihood of a successful project. (See Due

Design Guidelines
associated with running a for-profit business. and economic objectives. Infrastructure diligence, Mitigate, and Stakeholders.)
is not labeled “public works” unless it is
Office building financed, constructed, and/or operated and Scarcity
A place used for the conduct of business maintained by the public sector. A condition that occurs because people’s
or a profession, as distinguished from wants and needs are unlimited, whereas the
residential buildings, retail space, industrial Rate of return resources to produce goods and services to

History of Elmwood
buildings, or recreational facilities. The gain or loss on an investment over a meet those wants and needs are limited.

Financial Analyst
specified period, expressed as a percentage
Opportunity cost increase over the initial investment cost. A Shortage
A benefit, profit, or value of something that rate of return measurement can be used to The condition in which the quantity
must be given up to acquire or achieve measure virtually any investment vehicle, demanded is greater than the quantity
something else. Since every resource (land, from real estate to bonds and stocks to fine supplied at a certain price.
money, time, etc.) can be put to alternative art, provided the asset is purchased at one

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
uses, every action, choice, or decision has an point in time and then produces cash flow at Site analysis
associated opportunity cost. some time in the future (see Yield). The study of a specific parcel of land (and
the surrounding area) to determine its
Ordinance Redevelopment suitability for a specific use.
A law or statute enacted by a city or county. Generally, the redesign or rehabilitation of
existing properties and improvement of Solar panels
Petition land in accordance with a city’s goals and A panel or series of panels designed to

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
A declaration signed by individuals and objectives. absorb the sun’s rays as a source of energy
presented to governments as evidence of for generating electricity or heating. When
popular support for an action or position. Resilience the sun shines onto a solar panel, energy
Ability to prepare and plan for, recover from, from the sunlight is absorbed by the
Private sector and more successfully adapt to adverse photovoltaic (PV) cells in the panel. This
The part of an economy in which goods and events (hurricanes, wildfire, and sea-level energy creates electrical charges that are

New Buildings & Open Space

services are produced and distributed by rise). This is becoming an increasingly moved to an inverter which converts the
individuals and organizations that are not important issue for all cities due to the solar energy into usable energy.

Site Planner
part of the government or state bureaucracy. effects of climate change.
Stakeholder
Property tax Retail space A party that has a direct or indirect interest
A government levy based on the market value Space in a building for selling merchandise in an enterprise or project. The primary
(as assessed by the county assessor’s office) and retail services. stakeholders in a typical business enterprise
City Council Presentation

of property, such as real estate. are its investors, employees, customers,

Building Tools

RFP (Request for Proposals) neighbors, and suppliers. In public/private

Property tax base A request from a government or private partnerships, additional stakeholders can
The collective value of real estate and entity asking developers to submit proposals include the community, government, and
other assets subject to property tax within for ways to develop a property. trade associations.
a community.
Land Use Chart
GLOSSARY

94 | UrbanPlan Handbook
 Neighborhood Letters

About UrbanPlan
A common challenge that arises with Urban renewal Zoning ordinance
having numerous stakeholders in an An outdated term used in the 1950s to the A legal document that spells out the
enterprise is that their various self-interests 1970s referring to the process by which requirements for each category of land use.
may not all be aligned. In fact, they may an urban neighborhood is redeveloped or Each use has a specific set of requirements

Financial Model Overview

be in conflict with one another. The most rehabilitated. However, urban renewal was regarding the amount of a site that can be
effective companies successfully manage often used to justify the razing of entire covered with buildings, how far the buildings

RFP
the self-interests and expectations of their neighborhoods for the “common good.” must be set back from the street, the heights
stakeholders. The residents of these neighborhoods, of the buildings, the amount of parking
often people of color, were forced to move required, and the amount of landscaping or
Subsidy elsewhere. open space required (see also Zoning map).
An economic benefit such as reduced taxes

Enviro & Equity Director

Design Guidelines
or direct financial contribution toward costs Water table
provided by a government to incentivize The level below which the ground is
a desired land use or activity. The basic completely saturated with water.
characteristic of all subsidies is to reduce
the market price of an item below its cost of Yield
production. The rate of return on an investment,
expressed as a percentage, e.g., a building

History of Elmwood
Financial Analyst
Supply purchased for $100, providing $10 in cash
The total amount of a good or service flow to its owner each year, provides a 10
available for sale at various prices; along percent yield.
with demand, supply is one of the two key
determinants of price (see Demand). Zoning map
A map that shows the existing use

Site Plan & Context Map

Marketing Director
Toxics classification for each parcel within a local
Harmful substances located on a property, jurisdiction (see also Zoning ordinance).
which may include asbestos, lead, and
chemical or oil residue. Developers must
test for toxic problems before purchasing
a piece of land, because cleanup can be
time-consuming and very expensive. All

Neighborhood Liaison

Existing Buildings
toxic problems must be addressed before
development can begin. This is known as
“remediation” or “mitigation.”

New Buildings & Open Space

Site Planner
City Council Presentation

Building Tools
Land Use Chart
GLOSSARY

95 | UrbanPlan Handbook