HDMT Development Checklist
Background
In March of 2007, the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) released the Healthy Development Measurement Tool (www.TheHDMT.org) -- a comprehensive evaluation metric to consider health needs in urban development plans and projects. SFDPH staff subsequently applied the HDMT to a number of land use plans in San Francisco. SFDPH created this “development checklist” format of the HDMT to facilitate more routine and easy applications of the HDMT to development projects by community organizations, developers and other stakeholders.
Using the HDMT or the development checklist is strictly voluntary. While the checklist helps stakeholders evaluate specific attributes of development plans and projects, the priority and adequacy of development targets within the checklist should be considered in light of specific neighborhood needs and conditions. The HDMT website provides extensive indicator data for San Francisco to assess baseline neighborhood conditions.
Similar to the organization of the HDMT website, this development checklist is organized by Element, Community Health Objective, and Community Health Indicator. Development targets are associated with indicators and objectives, and represent actions that, if taken, would correspond to achievement or improvement of the community health objective and indicator. Where appropriate, regulatory standards are provided to highlight minimum legal requirements in San Francisco as related to a specific development target.
The HDMT and the development checklist undergo revision at least once annually. The current Version 3.02 (January 2010) replaced version 3.01 (September 2009) and all prior versions (Version 2.01, April 2008; Version 1.01, November 2007). Future minor revisions to the checklist will be noted as Version 3.03, 3.04, etc. Future major revisions will be noted as Version 4.01. The version number is noted in the bottom left corner of the checklist. For an archive of Development Checklists, click here.
Using the Checklist
To use the checklist, review each development target and check the appropriate box to indicate whether the development project meets the target. Categories of response include:
- Yes, development target met - this is checked when a project clearly meets a development target.
- No, development target not met - this is checked when a project does not meet a development target, either by not discussing the development target issue or because the project's specifications clearly do not meet the development target.
- Insufficient information to evaluate the project - this is checked when the project does not provide sufficient information to evaluate the development target. Generally, this column is checked if a project mentions an issue, but does not provide specific details regarding implementation. If a project does not discuss an issue at all, this would not be the correct column to check.
- Not applicable to the project ("N/A") - this is checked when a development target is not applicable or not relevant to the specific project being evaluated. For example, the development target focuses on green businesses, but the project under evaluation is residential only, with no commercial development being included.
- Relevant Information - briefly describe how/where the plan or project addresses the development target or how a policy/action in the plan or project could be improved to meet the development target. If not applicable, explain why.
Click here to view a flowchart of how to apply the HDMT Development Checklist.
Caveats
Please note that several development targets have not been finalized and are under revision. Users of the HDMT Development Checklist should also be aware of several limitations and caveats:
- The checklist is primarily geared towards assessing large-scale residential or mixed-use residential development projects. Development targets that are applicable to other kinds of projects (e.g., commercial, institutional) are so noted.
- While the HDMT may be applied to development at all scales, not all criteria may be applicable to a specific project. For example, some targets are applicable to a limited class of projects (e.g., schools, health facilities).
- Available information on a project may not permit specific evaluation of the target, particularly where the target is a specific numerical goal.
- The checklist does not include development targets for all indicators in the HDMT. In instances where indicators cannot be improved upon by clear and direct development actions, we states "no identified development target".
- This checklist is not a new form of environmental regulation or a set of enforceable standards. Similar to LEED-ND, the checklist encourages voluntary efforts to improve development.
Click here to download a copy of the HDMT Development Checklist.