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The decennial census may seem like just a bureaucratic exercise conducted by statisticians for various government reports that get put on shelves to collect dust. The U.S. Census Bureau's work, though, has far-reaching impacts that directly affect developers and landowners. Over the next three months, an opportunity exists that only occurs every ten years to participate in the census process and potentially achieve benefits for developers and landowners.
Government programs at the federal, state, regional and local level rely on census data about population, housing, land use, transportation, and economic sectors. Examples include political redistricting, highway planning, and tax programs. Most recently, Opportunity Zones were created based on census tracts meeting certain eligibility criteria.
As the 2020 census approaches, the Census Bureau undertakes a formal process for designating and adjusting boundaries of census designated places, census tracts, and other geographic areas. The Census Bureau adopted final designation criteria in November and subsequently sent notice letters to local governments in mid to late January. Upon receiving the notice letter, local governments have up to 120 days to provide input to the Census Bureau on the designations through the Participant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP). The Census Bureau strongly encourages local governments to convene a PSAP stakeholders group comprised of organizations and individuals that utilize census data on a regular basis. Landowners and developers should take advantage of this opportunity and consider seeking representation on stakeholders groups to affect the outcome of these designations. Once finalized, these designations cannot be changed until 2029.
Here are just a few examples of potential opportunities related to census designations that could potentially impact your existing or future development:
- Census Tract boundaries are often used to determine whether a property owner or investor qualifies for economic development programs, as recently occurred with Opportunity Zones;
- Designation as either urbanized or rural affects qualification for certain tax credits, grant programs and other government benefits, while also often impacting local government land use and zoning;
- New criteria allow designation of Census Tracts based exclusively on employment centers in certain situations, which will potentially impact traffic modeling for the project; and
- Large scale, mixed-use communities in unincorporated areas may qualify as a Census Designated Place, which has many potential benefits including the community name on maps and possibly on highway signage.
Our Land Development and Environmental Group, particularly our in-house planners and GIS Director, can assist landowners and developers in evaluating potential opportunities and benefits as applied to their properties.
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