Residential Development and Growth, Is there an end in sight?
By: Rhonda Hurst
As you have seen in recent years, the DFW area is BOOMING and more and more housing is popping up all over the Metroplex. I am sure you are wondering, where are all the people coming from, how long will this continue, and what does this mean for civil engineers? I recently had the opportunity to discuss these issues with Jody Reese and Ted Wilson, Principals of Residential Strategies, Inc. RSI is a leader in assisting builders, lot developers and lenders in getting a thorough understanding of the new home industry and market.

Where are all these people coming from?
According to RSI nearly 40% of homes being purchased in the DFW area are by people relocating to the area. Major corporations have made their headquarters here and technological boom has created entirely new careers. These factors have affected the large jump in the employment growth in all fields. The companies move in, the subdivisions are built, the stores follow, etc., creating a snowball effect of new jobs. Another large percentage of the new home buyers are existing area residents that are buying their "move-up" home. The "move-up" home is generally a larger home with more custom features. The average age of this population is 46 years, well established in their careers and their children are finishing college.

Why are so many people buying new homes?
The new home market is driven by employment, consumer confidence, resale availability and mortgage rates. In the past few years, consumer confidence has been at an all time high due to the high employment rates. There are not enough people leaving the area to provide enough resale property to fill the demand and despite the mortgage rates slowly inching up, the rates are still historically low. All these factors lead more people to purchase homes.

How does the rapidly growing population affect civil engineers?
The most noticeable effect from the growth is the new traffic problems created. This creates a need for traffic studies, design and construction of new roads and repairing and expanding existing roads. Farmland is now being zoned to handle the new subdivisions. This requires working directly with municipalities and feasibility studies on the land. The new subdivisions require studies on the adequacy of existing water and sewer services, design of new lines and facilities and rehabbing old systems. Even the expanding retail industry needs engineers to design their new commercial sites.

Where will the developments go when the land surrounding the Dallas area is developed?
The developments are making their way to Allen, McKinney, Frisco and beyond. According to RSI’s careful and thorough market research, the new home industry will keep increasing until at least 2007 and then the industry will begin to level out. Some reports show the DFW area growing for the entire century. Who knows, maybe we will be expanding to Oklahoma before too long.

ASCE National News
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) announced today that its chief operating officer, Henry J. "Hank" Hatch, will retire effective April 30, 2000.   Hatch, a well-known leader in the design and construction industry and a former chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, joined the ASCE staff to help the Society fulfill its strategic goal of maximizing member involvement. He has devoted much of his attention to planning for the Society's 150th anniversary.

Temporary Repeal Of Gas Tax
The Senate on Tuesday, April 11 voted to block further consideration of a
bill (S. 2285) related to the federal excise tax on gasoline. The bill
would have temporarily repealed, until January 1, 2001, the 4.3 cents per
gallon increase that Congress approved in 1993, or if the average national
price of regular gasoline were at least $2.00, it would have repealed the
entire 18.4 cents per gallon federal excise tax. The Senators voted 56 to
43 to prevent "cloture," consequently killing the bill.

On April 6, the Senate voted 66-34 to pass a "Sense of the Senate" amendment to the fiscal year 2001 budget resolution that struck the budget's
assumption that the gas tax would be repealed.

ASCE opposed the repeal bill because gas tax revenues are directly deposited into the Highway Trust Fund under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and any cut in those taxes could reduce highway funding to all states. The 4.3 cents tax on gasoline and diesel fuel generates $7.2 billion annually for the Highway Trust Fund while the same tax on aviation fuel provides about $700 million per year for the Aviation Trust Fund.
Under TEA-21, all highway programs are decreased proportionately if tax
revenues fall short. Though the 18.4 cents per gallon, and the inclusive
4.3 cents per gallon increase in 1993, is labeled as a tax, it is really a
user fee - it helps to ensure that highway users pay for highway programs
and air travelers pay for airport infrastructure.

ASCE's Key Contacts who contacted their Senators to oppose the repeal bill
and urge the protection of highway trust funds deserve a big thanks and a
hearty round of applause.

Background for the Gas Tax Repeal
Several Members of Congress had introduced bills to address the current rise in gas prices by cutting a 4.3-cent federal tax on gasoline. They are instead attacking essential transportation trust funds. Since the gas tax revenues are directly deposited into the Highway Trust Fund under the Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21), any cut in those taxes would reduce highway funding to all states ($1.41B for Texas). If the gas tax were cut, the only guarantee would be that highway program funding would be cut - there would be no guarantee that consumer gas prices would decrease. Transportation programs are in danger if Congress repeals the gas tax!

ASCE had earlier contacted the Members through its Key Contact group to seek help from their Senators and Representatives and tell them that they should OPPOSE REPEAL of the 4.3-cent gas tax and consider the following facts:

1. Gasoline prices are determined by supply and demand, not 4.3-cents worth of federal tax. If the 4.3-cent reduction were actually passed on to the consumer the wholesale level, the average motorist driving 12,000 miles per year at 20 miles per gallon would only keep about $26 a year.

2. However, lives could be lost due to unsafe highway conditions because the nation wasn't able to properly invest in highway improvement and safety programs. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, about 12,000 people die each year because of unsafe highway conditions. The needs of American roads are significant. The American Society of Civil Engineers, in its 1998 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, gave our nation's roads a "D-" grade, and estimated that it will cost $263 billion to eliminate the backlog of needs and maintain repair levels. Another $94 billion is needed for modest improvement -- a $357 billion total.

Airport Construction Funding (AIR-21) Passage
  The US Senate has passed (with a vote of 82-17) the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill (H.R. 1000) known as AIR-21. The House of Representatives is expected to pass the final
legislation on Tuesday. President Clinton is expected to sign the bill when he receives it.

The final conference report authorizes $40 billion over the next three years for the FAA, of which $33 billion would be guaranteed from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. The bill compels lawmakers to spend on aviation each year all the
annual Airport and Airway Trust Fund receipts and interest. A stipulation in the report would allow any legislator to raise a point of order against an appropriations bill that did not fully fund capital improvement programs for aviation.

ASCE supports spending all funds in the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and providing general funds for FAA operations
so that all the Trust Fund money is used for its intended purpose - capital improvements to the nation's airports.

The legislation also included a provision to allow airports to increase the Passenger Facility Charge from $3 to $4.50 per flight segment, which is expected to raise approximately $700 million per year for safety, security, noise mitigation, and capacity projects that are not funded through other programs. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater noted that the
report includes the funding levels that the Administration requested for general FAA operations and said that the department plans to work closely with congressional appropriators to ensure that they allocate the authorized funding level.

Water Infrastructure Report
Members of the Congressional Water Infrastructure Caucus held a press
conference on Wednesday, April 12 to announce the release of a report on
funding needs for the nation's water and wastewater infrastructure. Caucus
leaders Reps. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Robert Borski (D-PA) and Michael
Bilirakis (R-FL) also said they plan to spend the next couple of years
drafting landmark legislation authorizing billions of dollars for water and
wastewater infrastructure improvements across the nation.

The report, "Clean & Safe Water for the 21st Century: A Renewed Commitment to Water and Wastewater Infrastructure," states that the nation's 54,000 drinking water systems and 16,000 wastewater systems face staggering infrastructure funding needs of nearly $1 trillion over the next 20 years and shortfall of a half of a trillion dollars. Although America's drinking
water and wastewater systems spend $23 billion per year for infrastructure,
they face an annual shortfall of another $23 billion to replace aging facilities and comply with existing and future federal water regulations.

"Clean & Safe Water for the 21st Century" is available on ASCE's website at
http://www.asce.org/govnpub/grweekly/waterinfrastructurenetwork.html.

The report was developed under the auspices of the Water Infrastructure
Network (WIN). WIN is a coalition of wastewater treatment and drinking
water providers, environmental engineers, contractors, and municipal
organizations, including ASCE, that highlights the dramatically increasing
"gap" between our nation's water infrastructure needs and the federal
government's financial commitment to safe and clean water. WIN is calling
on the federal government to significantly enhance its role in financing the
nation's clean and safe water infrastructure.

Monthly Attendance Records
At the monthly Branch meetings, an attendance record card is handed out and is to be completed by all attendees in order to fulfill Branch recording requirements to ASCE, to track number and membership type of attendees and to identify and recognize guest and potential new Members. The card has just been redesigned and printed for easier completion. All relevant membership grades have been shown. According to ASCE, Life designation is used in conjunction with one of the five grades. If you would like to be recognized as Life Member, Fellow, or Honorary Member, please write in on the card. The card has room for potential members’ address. Many attendees are not a member and do not want or cannot become a member. We welcome them to the meetings. They may check the "Frequent Visitor" box on the card and they will not be contacted to join. So please take a few minutes and complete our "Attendance Record" card that are now printed on gold cardstock and will also be referred to as "Gold Card".

Important Dates:   April 31, 2000-Members are placed in dues arrears for non payment of 2000 dues and publications are suspended.