3. COMMUNITY FACILITIES 



Total population added to the region under study becomes the basis for 

 the next step in the forecasting process: determining the potential demand 

 for public and private community facilities. 1 The location, design, 

 construction and operation of community facilities can affect fish and 

 wildlife and their habitats. Facilities may, for example, require 

 substantial land areas; their construction may require grading or other land 

 alterations; they may produce runoff. Among the facilities that may have 

 such effects are: housing, public utilities and services, transportation, 

 schools, recreation and commercial establishments. These six are discussed 

 in this section. Other facilities such as police and fire stations and 

 medical and social service may also cause environmental effects, although 

 they do so less frequently or on a smaller scale than the foregoing 

 facilities. 



Planning agencies for the locality, state, or region likely already 

 have detailed analyses of facility needs or are preparing them. Even in 

 the absence of such analyses, invaluable information and standards may be 

 obtained from these agencies. These contacts, as well as the information 

 they can make available, should help in understanding the planning process 

 used by public agencies, applicants, and others. Of course that process is 

 often concerned with many impacts besides those that affect living resources 

 and their habitats; many of these broader impacts are deliberately omitted 

 from this discussion. 



3.1 HOUSING 



Assessing housing demand is difficult because of the interplay between 

 housing demand and supply. In simple terms, housing demand is a function of 

 the individual household's income (ability to pay for housing), the total 

 number of units demanded by these households, and the price required for 

 each unit of housing. 



Additional variables also play a significant role in this demand- 

 supply interplay, including: family size and stage in the family cycle 

 (that is, number and age of children); the local vacancy rate; the condition 

 and nature of existing housing; the capabilities of the housing construction 

 industry in the area; and the loan criteria used by local lending 

 institutions. 



Family size and stage in the family cycle are important indications 

 of the type of housing required for households moving into the community. 



x This discussion considers only facilities needed to serve added population. 

 It does not include the facility needs of industry. 



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