Zoning Impact Studies
Other pages on this site focus on how zoning can impact communities. Some of those impacts can be tenant displacement, environment, water, traffic, taxes, loss of existing affordable housing, loss of historic homes, etc.
We can talk about theoretical impacts. But how do we quantify the expected [and worst case!] scenarios of a zoning proposal? or to look back on a zoning change and see if it was good or not.
There are, as you can imagine, an enormous number and types of impact studies.
Impact studies can be focused on a specific topic, like taxes, traffic, or tenant risk. Or it can be a wide ranging study that examines expected impacts of a wide variety of impacts. Impact studies can be free [done with knowledgable volunteers] or can be very expensive.
This page will focus on "quick and dirty" impact studies, that we can do ourselves, while referencing more accurate and detailed studies as examples/models.
This page is focused on Acton, Massachusetts. But the info and examples can be applied to any town.
This page will links to specific types of impact studies with examples.
COME BACK SOON! we will fill out this impact study info starting in late
May of 2024