ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the evolution of development exaction policy leading to increasingly widespread use of system development charges. System development charges (SDCs) are one-time charges paid by new development to finance the construction of public facilities needed to serve it. SDCs represent a major departure from past local government facility financing policies. System improvements are capital improvements to the system that are designed to provide service to the community at large, in contrast to project improvements. The US Department of Commerce's model planning and zoning enabling acts, written in the late 1920s, are the genesis of modern land use regulation. Prior to the model acts, developers often demanded and received from cities street, water, sewer, and drainage facilities to each part of their development. Sometimes, land dedicated by development was in the wrong place, too small, or not otherwise appropriate to satisfy the purpose of the exaction to provide land for parks and schools.
