CHIP FAQs - Eligible Costs

Improvements may include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Utilities, such as power distribution and transmission lines and conduit, telecommunications lines and conduit, telecommunications towers, digital infrastructure, and power or telecommunications equipment; drinking water, wastewater, and storm water, infrastructure including: water sources; green and gray stormwater practices; distribution/collection and conveyance piping and pump stations; and treatment systems, facilities, and regulatory required pertinent equipment.
• Thermal energy networks, waste heat recovery, and community-scale geothermal.
• Transportation improvements such as publicly accessible roads, streets, bridges, parking lots, facilities, garages, and structures, multimodal facilities, public transit stop equipment and amenities, street and sidewalk lighting, roundabouts, crosswalks and/or other pedestrian crossing treatments, traffic calming features, sidewalks, streetscapes, way-finding signs and kiosks; traffic signals, medians, turn lanes, and property acquired or used for right of way such as hiking and biking trails,  pathways to facilitate multimodal transportation, bicycle and pedestrian lanes, paths, and bridges, street furnishings.
• Site preparation for development or redevelopment including acquisition, demolition, environmental remediation of contaminated property, and mitigation of a flood-prone area.
• “Soft costs” such as consulting, design, architects, engineering, accounting, legal, project management, associated application fees, or other professional services directly related to the implementation and construction of eligible site improvements.

No, CHIP does not include a proportionality component. Eligible improvements under CHIP are not required to be prorated to the housing development’s use of the infrastructure. However, a de-facto proration will be applied based on the potential increment the site could generate. The maximum that site could contribute to the improvement is the amount of new tax revenue the housing development will generate over the increment retention period. The critical piece is that the applicant must demonstrate the improvement is necessary to enable the CHIP housing development, regardless of how many other homes/businesses the improvement may support.

(Answer provided by VEPC staff)

Yes. However, these costs may only be paid with the municipal tax increment.

Yes

Yes.

No. These spaces are outside the Legislative intent of CHIP.

No. A developer and housing development plan is required to prove housing benefit.