Capital Improvement Plan

View Capital Improvement Plan Documents

View the FY 2023 - FY 2028 Capital Improvement Plan online or download the PDF.

 View All Past Capital Improvement Plans

About the Capital Improvement Plan

The Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) serves as the City’s multi-year planning instrument used to identify needs and financing sources for public infrastructure improvements. The purpose of a CIP is to facilitate the orderly planning of infrastructure improvements; to maintain, preserve, and protect the City’s existing infrastructure system; and to provide for the acquisition or scheduled replacement of equipment to ensure the efficient delivery of services that the community desires. The goal is to use the CIP as a tool to implement the City’s various Master Plans, goals, objectives, policies and to assist in the City’s financial planning.

The CIP plays an important role by providing the link between planning and budgeting for capital expenditures. The CIP process occurs prior to the budget process as the CIP will be used to develop the capital portion of the budget. Approval of the CIP by the Planning Commission does not signify final approval or funding of any project contained within the plan. Rather, by approving a CIP, the Planning Commission acknowledges that they agree that the projects present a reasonable interpretation of the upcoming needs / wants for the City. The projects contained in the first year of the plan will be requested in next year’s department requested budget and potentially advance to the adopted budget.

The CIP document includes several areas of projects: street improvements, water & sewer improvements, city parks and facilities improvements, information technology, and vehicles / equipment / other. An aggregate spreadsheet listing the summary of projects with cost projections is positioned in the document after the project descriptions. Near the end of document the project application forms are included to provide the Commission with an idea as to how the draft CIP was developed. A project location map is soon to follow.

During the upcoming year, it is recommended that the administration and Planning Commission members work together to better define and develop Royal Oak’s CIP process for next year. CIP topics to discuss could include the following: monetary threshold for submitting projects, a project raters group, reporting for related operating costs / savings, modifications to the application forms, and needs assessment scoring. It is anticipated that next year’s draft CIP document will be delivered to the Planning Commission by January, for better alignment with the budget process.

Preparation of CIP is performed under the authority of the Michigan Planning Enabling Act (Act 33 of 2008) which repealed and replaced the Municipal Planning Commission Act (PA 285 of 1931). A public hearing on the draft Capital Improvement Plan was conducted on February 14, 2012. The adopted CIP will assist the administration during the budget development process. The Planning Commission’s assistance throughout this process is greatly appreciated.