Ken Acks to Present "A Web-Based Land Use Benefit Cost Optimization Tool" at Benefit-Cost Conference

NEW YORK - March 5, 2018 - PRLog -- Kenneth Acks, CEO of the Cost-Benefit Group, LLC and Editor of Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News will present "A Web-Based Land Use Benefit Cost Optimization Tool" at the Annual Conference of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis in Washington, DC to be held from March 14-16, 2018.  The talk will discuss a more efficient way to optimize the use and density of scarce land, presenting software under development that can help communities, governments, developers, and others improve decisionmaking.  Current zoning regulations and other restrictions can result in high housing costs, lower mobility, inequality, delays, sprawl and unjust dispersion of pollution and other undesirable impacts.

The Society is an international group improving the theory and application of benefit-cost analysis. The conference features experts from Harvard, Cornell, Penn, Chicago, and Berkeley; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Health and Human Services (HHS), the NIH, FDA, Department of Transportation, Small Business Administration (SBA), Forest Service, Department of Labor OSHA, USDA and Congressional Budget Office (CBO); and from Germany, France, UK, Spain, Italy, India, Netherlands, Australia, Chile, Iran, Sudan, Uruguay, Cote d'Ivoire and Canada.

Registration and conference information and the agenda is at
https://benefitcostanalysis.org/2018-annual-conference.  More info is at www.costbenefitgroup.com

Abstract:

Currently, zoning and political power dictate land uses and density. This often results in suboptimal outcomes. Negative effects possibly include high housing costs arising from reduced supply and burdensome expenses, lower mobility, inequality, delays, inferior resilience to natural disasters, sprawl, pollution, and unjust dispersion of negative externalities.

Zoning regulations can play a major role in where and how we live and work, and in the strength of economies. They can determine the size of our homes, what they look like, and where they can be located. Current land use regulations often are too static and difficult to change - many industrial and agricultural parcels are better suited to be improved with more dense residential structures, but can only be developed to their "highest and best use" with great difficulty. Most parcels within a particular zone may be well suited to the restriction placed upon uses in a zone, but some  may not be and thus remain vacant or used suboptimally. Zoning maps often force the same restrictions upon a large number of contiguous parcels with differing comparative advantages.

Liberals, notably Jason Furman (2015), Orzag and Furman (2015) and Joseph Stiglitz (2015) and conservatives, including the Cato Institute, David Brooks (2017) and Edward Glaeser (2002, 2006 ...) have criticized these regulations.

This paper will discuss the magnitudes of the welfare costs generated by flaws in current land use regulations, and then present a web-based model designed to begin providing superior alternatives by utilizing the tools of benefit-cost analysis. Advances in BCA and new geo-locational data sources facilitated model development.

The model compares the benefits and costs of eight alternative uses in four medium density urban/suburban locations. Three 60,000 square foot (SF) sites with 30,000 SF building footprints are analyzed for development with (1) 24 2-story 2,500 SF single family homes, (2) 20 3-story 4,500 SF 2-family homes, (3) a 10-story 250 unit apartment building containing 300,000 SF, (4) a 1-story neighborhood retail shopping center containing 30,000 SF, (5) 10-story 300,000 SF office building (6) 10-story 300,000 SF mixed-use retail/office/apartment building, (7) a 1-story industrial building containing 30,000 SF and (8) a 50,000 SF park with several recreational options.

Benefits are represented by estimated rents, revenues, consumer surpluses and shadow benefits generated. Costs include construction and other development costs and negative externalities. Benefits and costs are affected by neighboring uses and the proposed project. Environmental impacts of land use can include habitat loss, reduction in biodiversity, increased flooding, reduced water quality from impervious surfaces, & air pollution from heating, cooling, increased driving, and congestion. The environmental impacts can result in health impacts including reduced life expectancy, respiratory infections, ...  In addition, health effects arising from increased driving attendant to sprawl include respiratory diseases and cancers, traffic fatalities, and obesity which increases disease risks. The algorithm maximizes the total value derived from a parcel, which is primarily represented by private value and accrues to the owners and users (possibly renters), but also is a function of how it influences surrounding parcels and people (social value). We find existing processes often don't maximize value.
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Mr. Acks has also been selected as a discussant in the "Disastrous CBA" Session on how cost-benefit analyses can be used to mitigate disasters.

This will be the 7th  time Mr. Acks was invited to present work or chair a session at this prestigious conference. In the past he presented "Economic Rents and Cost-Benefit Analysis-Issues Metrics and Application to Health and Energy Policy", "The Costs and Benefits of Recycling in New York City"; "A Dynamic Analysis of the Costs and Benefits of a Smart Growth/Sprawl Reduction Program in 1988, 2008 and 2013", "The Costs and Benefits of 1000 Green Roofs in New York City" and "The Costs and Benefits of a Green Mixed-Use Brownfield Redevelopment Project in NY". He also chaired two sessions for the Society, and has given presentations on "The Social Cost of Carbon" before the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce Environment Committee; "The Economic Impact of Environmental Liabilities on Real Estate Values" before the Auditing Roundtable; on Green Roofs for US Society for Ecological Economics  and "Environmental Values" at a Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs colloquium; and given guest lectures at Columbia University, Pratt Institute and Brooklyn College. The talks have drawn upon 35 years of expertise in Environmental Economics and Real Estate Valuation during which time he has produced studies of more than 950 projects worth over $4.5 billion in 140 counties and 28 states.