PARK FINANCING 



481 



not be confiscatory nor exceed the benefit to be derived. Distance from 

 the proposed improvement is divided into zones approximately a block 

 as shown in Plate 238. But as shown in 

 Plate 239, assessments are graded grad- 

 ually from one zone to another, where a 

 zone line occurs in the interior of a block. 

 Condemnation commissioners determine 

 how assessments shall vary from one zone 

 to another. Plate 240 illustrates this: it 

 may be noted that property in the second 



PLATE 238 



TYPICAL ZONING PLAN OF ASSESSMENT 

 FOR NEIGHBORHOOD PLAYGROUND 



zone is shown as receiving almost as much 

 benefit as that in the first, while in the 

 third and fourth zones benefits decrease 

 rapidly, and in the outer zones an added 

 distance of a few feet makes little differ- 

 ence in benefits. 



The "assessment unit" is in Minne- 

 apolis a tract having one foot frontage on 

 a street 60 feet or more in width, and 

 comprises an area of 1 25 square feet. Plate 



241 illustrates the effect of lot depth on 



assessment, and it should be noted that the number of assessment units, 

 in a lot 200 feet deep is not twice the number in a lot 100 feet deep. The 

 calculation of assessment units in lots of irregular area is by regarding the 

 frontage. Plate 242 is a mathematical computation of factors frontage 

 and depth, and gives the number of units in a tract, frontage and depth 

 being specified. The actual assessment levied is the product of the unit 

 assessment as determined from Plate 240 and the number of units as deter- 

 mined from Plate 242. To illustrate: here is a certain lot lying in the fifth 

 zone, whose unit assessment is $i. It is 40 x 126 feet; therefore by Plate 



242 it contains 40 units and its total assessment is $40. 



4. Special Assessments and General Bond Issues Combined. 



There are certain types of properties in a park system which are of 

 general benefit to a community and also of special benefit to property 

 immediately surrounding them. The most outstanding of these types of 

 properties are boulevards and parkways, and sometimes large parks. While 

 the acquisition and improvement of these properties are often financed from 

 general bond issues entirely, in some cities the double benefit is recognized 

 and a method of financing adopted combining both the district assessment 

 and the general bond issue plans. 



