On a per dwelling unit basis, the cost for infrastructure in the Sustainable Alternative Option is less than one fifth the cost of infrastructure per dwelling unit in the Status Quo Plan, amounting to a difference of over $19,000 per dwelling unit.  The savings come from reducing road widths, from allowing gravel lanes, from the shorter distances between utility hookups, from the instances were there are multiple units on a lot using the same hookups, and from placing utility lines on poles in the lane.

The average cost per dwelling unit in the Status Quo option is $90,000 more than the average cost per Sustainable Alternative option dwelling unit.  Some of this difference is due to the slightly smaller size of the average Sustainable Alternative option home.  Most of the saving comes from dramatically lower land and infrastructure cost component of the dwelling unit production price.  Despite the land efficiency of the Sustainable Alternative option, every dwelling unit still includes at least a small terrace or back yard, and in some cases a back yard comparable to those found in the Status Quo development.

Finally, an important consideration for the City is the relationship between the value of its homes and the future cost of replacing the infrastructure that serves them.  The higher the relative value of the homes to the replacement cost of the infrastructure the better.  We assume that the total cost to build is a roughly accurate gauge of future tax assessment value.  Consequently the value of the Sustainable Alternative option is roughly three times that of the Status Quo option per unit of infrastructure.  This suggests that the Sustainable Alternative option will require only one third the public expenditure for infrastructure replacement (per unit building value) as would the Status Quo option.  Our computations do not consider the effect of the two alternative proposals on off-site infrastructure; however, most assessments of this question support the common sense conclusion that a tighter community pattern requires lower per capita expenditures for roads, storm drains, utility trunk lines, and sanitary systems than in more sprawling communities.

Quantity Comparisons		The Status Quo Development	The Sustainable Alternative Development
Site Size	hectares	4.27	5.6
	acres	10.5	14
Total Dwelling Units		41	248
Gross Density	d.u./ha	9.6	44.3
	d.u./acre	3.9	17.7
Floor Area Ratio	net (lots only)	0.3	1.3
	gross (lots and right of ways)	0.2	0.7
Average Unit Size	sq.m.	214	195
	sq.ft.	2300(1)	2090(2)
Average Utility Run	m./d.u.	13.8	4.5
	ft./d.u.	45.3	14.8
Pavement	sq.m./d.u.	229	63
	sq.ft./d.u.	2463.7	667.8
Site Permeability (%)		50	49
Land Cost (3)
per dwelling unit		$76,820.00	$16,935.00
per interior square metre		$359.00	$108.00
per interior square foot		$33.40	$10.00
Building Cost (4)
per dwelling unit		$138, 000.00	$126,000.00
Infrastructure Cost
Roadworks		$218,894.20	$252,059.63
Boulevarde Landscaping		$30,000.00	$48,897.64
Storm Sewer		$205,820.00	n/a
Water Mains		$113,705.00	$191,627.44
Water Tie-ins and Connections		$18,177.00	$58,521.07
Sanitary Sewers		$135,255.00	$260,384.55
Sanitary Tie-ins and Connections		$5,000.00	$16,097.00
Street Lighting		$44,000	$71,716.54
Lot Grading and/or swales		$24,450	$24,450
Hydro / Telephone Installation (buried services)		$54,000.00	n/a
Asphalt Overlay		$24,553.00	$28,270.97
Boulevarde Tree Planting		$20,000.00	$35,598.42
Utilities		$54,000.00	$105,716.40
Walkways and Emergency Access		$12,500.00	n/a
Walkway Landscaping		$4,000.00	n/a
Total Infrastructure Cost	entire site	$964,354.00	$1,093,340.00
	per dwelling unit	$23,520.83	$4,408.63
	per interior sq. m.	$109.90	$28.10
	per interior sq.ft.	$10.20	$2.61
Total Cost per Dwelling Unit
land + construction + infrastructure (5)		$238,340.00	$147,343.00
Notes: 1 Includes only two habitable floors 2 Includes four occupiable floors 3 Assumes $300,000/acre for raw land 4 Assumes $60.00/sq.ft. Construction costs for building 5 Does not include DCCs, developer profit, carrying costs, permit, fees, Realtor fees, etc.