Balancing Growth and Capacity
Infrastructure Adequacy, Data Needs, and the Role of Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances (APFOs) in Urban Planning
Communities across the nation are under mounting pressure to accommodate rapid population growth, meet evolving mobility expectations, and maintain the infrastructure systems residents rely on each and every day.
Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances (APFOs) were created to ensure development only moves forward when infrastructure is ready to support it. Yet, when these ordinances rely on outdated, fragmented, or incomplete data, they can unintentionally block the very projects that would advance housing availability and affordability when and where it’s needed most.
In this whitepaper, we take a comprehensive look at how jurisdictions can modernize APFOs to ensure that they serve as catalysts, not barriers, to smart, balanced, and sustainable growth.
A Path Toward Smarter, Data-Driven Planning
Balancing Growth and Capacity provides an in-depth exploration of the current challenges facing APFO implementation and the real-world implications of misaligned infrastructure assessments.
Drawing on WGI’s extensive experience partnering with communities across the nation, this paper reveals how forward-thinking jurisdictions are transforming APFOs into strategic planning tools and examines policy reforms and governance strategies that embed transparency, coordination, and flexibility into the APFO process.
By integrating real-time infrastructure and land-use data, aligning policy with housing goals, and fostering interagency collaboration, communities can better target capital investments, guide responsible growth, and deliver the necessary infrastructure.
Planning Smarter Together
Infrastructure adequacy and housing growth aren’t competing priorities – they’re interconnected goals, and this essential resource offers planners, policymakers, and development professionals practical strategies to advance and balance infrastructure adequacy with housing production.
By embracing modern data capabilities and forward-looking policy design, communities can move beyond outdated constraints toward a planning framework that is both responsive and sustainable.
Download our whitepaper today to see how WGI’s Urban & Community Planning team can help your jurisdiction bridge the gap between infrastructure capacity and the housing your community needs!