Economic Development

Question 1

What are the 3 core activities in Economic Development?

Answer 1

1. Business recruitment and attraction
2. Business retention and expansion
3. Enterprise and small business development

Question 2

What are four types of recruitment incentives for businesses?

Answer 2

1. reduced taxes/tax rebates
2. free or below market value land
3. access to technology and training
4. grants based on factors such as number of jobs created

Question 3

Name 4 tools of retention and expansion.

Answer 3

1. assist in creation of new markets
2. improved technology/training
3. facilitating moves to new locations; help obtaining government approval
4. land or expansion of land for landlocked businesses

Question 4

What is an Industrial Revenue Bond?

Answer 4

a loan to a company to build or buy a facility, land or equipment

Question 5

Describe the Revolving Loan Fund

Answer 5

loans are made and repaid

Question 6

What are Enterprise Zones?

Answer 6

economically distressed areas targeted for improvement

Question 7

What is an Empowerment Zone?

Answer 7

Economically distressed rural and urban zones; designated by the USDA and HUD

Question 8

Describe Business Incubator Programs

Answer 8

Support business startups by providing services such as inexpensive or free office space, tech assistance, admin support, marketing assistance, and access to capital

Question 9

What is the SBA?

Answer 9

Small Business Administration; agency of Federal government that assists and protects interests of small businesses, has loan programs

Question 10

What is a micro loan?

Answer 10

Small short term loans for small businesses, usually startups

Question 11

What are Venture Capital Funds?

Answer 11

funds made available to invest in potentially highly profitable business ventures or considerable risk to the investor

Question 12

Name 4 Economic Development Organizations

Answer 12

Downtown Development Authorities (DDAs), Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), Community Development Corporations (CDC), Merchant Association/Chamber of Commerce

Question 13

What is a Brownfield?

Answer 13

a property present of hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminent

Question 14

What is a Greenfield?

Answer 14

undeveloped land in a city or rural area used for agricultural or landscape design, or left to evolve naturally

Question 15

What is a Greyfield?

Answer 15

an economically obsolete, outdated, failing or underused real estate or land

Question 16

What is Capitalization?

Answer 16

in finance, the sum of a corporation’s stock, long-term debt, and retained earnings

Question 17

What is Clawback?

Answer 17

a clawback provision is a special contract and clause included in some governmental economic development contracts by which money already paid to grantees for guaranteed economic development outcomes must be paid back under certain conditions where the guarantees are not met

Question 18

What is the Multiplier Effect?

Answer 18

local multiplier effect refers to the spillover effect the presence of a particular type of job has on additional local economic activity

Question 19

What is Threshold Population?

Answer 19

The minimum number of people necessary before a particular good, service, or infrastructure can be provided to an area

Question 20

What is the population project technique that allocates a projected population
expansion to subregional areas called?

Answer 20

A) demographic approach
B) input-output approach
C) shift-share approach
D) marketing approach

The correct answer is C)
The shift-share technique allocates a portion of the projected expansion to subregions or
population centers based on the center’s present share of the total population. For
example, the population of metropolitan New York may be expected to increase by 8
percent. Brooklyn and Queens may have 10 and 12 percent of the total population,

Question 21

Location quotient equals which of the following?

Answer 21

A) the ratio of total local employment of an industry to that industry nationally
B) the ratio of total national employment of an industry to that industry locally
C) the ratio of total number of local industries to that industry nationally
D) the ratio of total number of national industries to that industry locally

The correct answer is A)
Location quotients are used to determine the ratio of total local employment of a specific
industry to that of the industry on a national basis.

Question 22

If an industry has a location quotient of 3.00, which of the following statements
apply? This industry…

Answer 22

A) exports employment
B) imports employment
C) exports employment, but imports more than it exports
D) none of the above

The correct answer is A)
An industry is an exporter of employment if it has a location quotient greater than 1.00.

Question 23

Which of the following has the largest FAR?

Answer 23

(A) One acre 20-story building on a 4-acre lot
(B) A 4-story building entirely covering a 1⁄4 acre lot
(C) One acre 12-story building on a 2-acre lot
(D) A 2-story building entirely covering 1⁄2 acre lot

The correct answer is (C)
FAR = floor area ratio = building area / lot area. The FARs for (A) = 5 [20 acres of building/4 acre lot]; (B)
= 4 [4 story bldg. on 1⁄4 acre/ 1⁄4 acre]; (C) = 6 [12 acres of building/2 acre lot]; (D) = 2 [2 story bldg. on 1⁄2
acre / 1⁄2 acre].

Question 24

A 1.4 acre parcel has been developed with a three story office building, a parking area and a
storm water retention area. Assuming each floor of the office building is 10,000 gsf, the parking area
contains 480 spaces and the retention area is capable of handling a 25-year storm, the FAR is
approximately equal to which of the following?

Answer 24

A) 0.5
B) 2.0
C) 0.4
D) 1.0

The correct answer is A)
FAR (floor area ratio) = building floor area sf / parcel sf. The 3-story building has a total of 30,000 square
feet. The overall 1.4 acre site contains 60,984 square feet (1.4 acres x 43,560 sf/acre = 60,984 sf). For
this site, the FAR is equivalent to 30,000 sf / 60,984 sf = 0.492 or approximately 0.5.

Question 25

Rochester’s downtown CBD allows a maximum base FAR of 15. The CBD allows bonus FARs of 2
for affordable housing, and 3 for historic preservation. If the developer is approved to include
affordable housing and historic preservation, then the resulting maximum FAR will be:

Answer 25

(A) 15
(B) 17
(C) 18
(D) 20

The correct answer is “D“
Through the land use regulatory technique known as “incentive zoning” or “bonus zoning,” cities may
grant private real estate developers the right to alternatives to strict zoning restrictions (for example,
those relating to height, bulk or density regulation) in return for voluntary agreements to provide
specified urban design features, such as plazas, atriums, parks, social facilities, or to provide publicly
desired development, such as affordable housing or historic preservation. For Floor Area Ratios (FAR),
the bonuses are typically provided in addition to the maximum base FAR (even where for additional
residential development).

Question 26

A 62,390 sf lot contains a 22,321 sf drainage area, a 10,100 sf parking area and a
87,350 sf development. The resulting FAR is approximately:

Answer 26

(A) 0.7
(B) 0.9
(C) 1.4
(D) 1.9

The correct answer is “C”
FAR = Floor Area Ratio = building area/lot area = 87,350 sf/62,390 sf = 1.4

Question 27

A 2.5 acre downtown site is approved with a FAR of 6. Approximately how many stories of
building could be built on an acre of the site, if 60% of the site will be required for onsite stormwater
treatment, parking and landscaping systems?

Answer 27

(A) 6 stories
(B) 10 stories
(C) 15 stories
(D) 22 stories

The answer is (C)
A 2.5 acre site with an approved FAR of 6 will allow 653,400 square feet of building area (i.e. 2.5 acres x
43,560 sq. ft/acre x 6 = 653,400 square feet). This is equivalent to 15 stories on a one acre site (i.e.
653,400 square feet/43,560 square feet = 15). The amount of other required acreage is not needed for
the calculation.

Question 28

What is a Capital Improvement Plan?

Answer 28

The CIP is typically a five to seven year plan for planning and funding public facilities and infrastructure. It includes both the construction of new facilities and the rehabilitation or replacement of existing capital facilities.

Question 29

What is the Capitalization Rate formula?

Answer 29

The capitalization rate is the ratio of Net Operating Income (NOI) to property asset value. So, for example, if a property was listed for $1,000,000 and generated an NOI of $100,000, then the cap rate would be $100,000/$1,000,000, or 10%.