Economic Impacts of Parks, Rivers, Trails and Greenways

California State Parks are the mid and north Bay Area equivalent of a greenbelt. Therefore,it may be realistic to assume that a small increase in property values throughout the BayArea can be attributed to these parks, although quantification would be difficult withoutconducting a complex statistical analysis similar to the Boulder study.Often neglected in the literature is an inclusion of the opportunity cost of lost tax revenuefrom use of land for parks. To guarantee the integrity of the study, therefore, it may benecessary to subtract the total tax revenue that might be expected if the land used for theparks was instead used for development.OutcomesThe effects of GGNRA on real property values and therefore property tax revenue shouldbe able to be estimated in one dollar figure as discussed above. Assessed property valuesand sales prices are widely available.3.8.11 Green InfrastructureConservation of waterways, trails, open space and greenways helps local governments andother public agencies to avoid costs for public services such as roads and sewers andmitigate hazards and pollution. This is particularly true in the Bay Area where publicservice costs are high, air pollution is a major concern, and hazards related to earthquakesare likely.Academics have highlighted the cost savings associated with the low level of publicservices demanded by parks as well as the cost savings from hazard and pollution control.In November 2002 the American Farmland Trust compiled 95 studies from 22 states andfound that open space costs $0.36 per dollar raised on average as compared to costs of$1.16 per dollar raised for residential space. Another November 2002 study by AmericanForests estimated that the city of San Antonio, Texas saves $70 million annually from treecover through reduced storm water management, air pollution and energy use.Summary of ActionsPublic costs saved through decreased public services are significant and fairly easy toquantify. Two basic approaches can be taken to quantifying these cost savings. The first isto itemize all public services and complete the following steps:1. Estimate the unit cost of storm water management. For example, installation ofstorm water management capacity was estimated to cost $2 per cubic foot ofcapacity in the San Antonio study. Officials from local water and sewer boards nearGGNRA should be able to provide similar estimates that take local factors intoaccount.2. Estimate the storm water management capacity that does not need to be added (incubic feet) as a result of natural areas in GGNRA. Sewer and water board officialswill have estimates of cubic foot capacity needed per acre of land that can bemultiplied by the total acreage of GGNRA (excluding developed areas of the park140