Master Plan - City of Troy

CITY OF TROY MASTER PLANInfrastructure:The Assets and Care of the CityAcritical component to Troy’s qualityof life is the quality of its municipalservices. Excellent water, efficientstorm and sanitary sewer facilities, and wellmaintainedroads are elements that haveprovided the foundation for Troy’s success.For a community of Troy’s population andconsiderable size, providing these services is avast undertaking.Infrastructure, such as water and sewerlines, plays a significant role in what can bedeveloped where, and must be planned inconcert with land use to ensure that the City’scapacity matches the City’s vision for itself. Inother words, planning for highly intensive usesis fruitless if the municipal services in the areaare unable to support those uses. The converseis also true; planning for low-density uses inan area where desirable land has ready accessto excellent sewer and water service is notpractical. Fortunately for Troy, the City has acomprehensive system that allows a great dealof flexibility.“A civilization’s rise and fall is linked to itsability to feed and shelter its people anddefend itself. These capabilities dependon infrastructure - the underlying, oftenhidden foundation of a society’s wealthand quality of life. A society that neglectsits infrastructure loses the ability totransport people and food, provide cleanair and water, control disease, and conductcommerce.”United States National Science Foundation, 1995With this in mind, this Chapter will describesignificant opportunities and issues relatedto physical infrastructure and discuss theCity’s efforts to maintain them. Integral to thediscussion of infrastructure is adherence tothree key principles: investment, coordination,and innovation. The investment portion of thisChapter will provide an overview of the scopeof the City’s services and briefly describe howservices are currently provided. Coordinationwill emphasize the importance of planning forinfrastructure improvements and address therelationship between land use developmentand infrastructure. The coordination sectionwill also describe how the City can play a rolein regional smart growth based on the strengthof its infrastructure. The innovation sectionwill identify and reference concepts to improvecurrent practices with sustainability in mind,and will describe regional initiatives to improvewater quality and stormwater management. ThisChapter will focus only on the physical assetsof the City, and will not discuss the City’s publicservices, such as fire and police protection.CHAPTER 6: INFRASTRUCTURE55