20210728 11074700 1.0 ISO 19139 Metadata Implementation Specification GML3.2 FALSE sitescomm_2020_12_02 002 33863.744300 330836.972500 777536.057300 959742.803100 1 0.000 Projected GCS_North_American_1983 Linear Unit: Meter (1.000000) NAD_1983_StatePlane_Massachusetts_Mainland_FIPS_2001 <ProjectedCoordinateSystem xsi:type='typens:ProjectedCoordinateSystem' xmlns:xsi='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance' xmlns:xs='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema' xmlns:typens='http://www.esri.com/schemas/ArcGIS/10.7'><WKT>PROJCS["NAD_1983_StatePlane_Massachusetts_Mainland_FIPS_2001",GEOGCS["GCS_North_American_1983",DATUM["D_North_American_1983",SPHEROID["GRS_1980",6378137.0,298.257222101]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0.0],UNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]],PROJECTION["Lambert_Conformal_Conic"],PARAMETER["False_Easting",200000.0],PARAMETER["False_Northing",750000.0],PARAMETER["Central_Meridian",-71.5],PARAMETER["Standard_Parallel_1",41.71666666666667],PARAMETER["Standard_Parallel_2",42.68333333333333],PARAMETER["Latitude_Of_Origin",41.0],UNIT["Meter",1.0],AUTHORITY["EPSG",26986]]</WKT><XOrigin>-36530900</XOrigin><YOrigin>-28803200</YOrigin><XYScale>10000</XYScale><ZOrigin>-100000</ZOrigin><ZScale>10000</ZScale><MOrigin>-100000</MOrigin><MScale>10000</MScale><XYTolerance>0.001</XYTolerance><ZTolerance>0.001</ZTolerance><MTolerance>0.001</MTolerance><HighPrecision>true</HighPrecision><WKID>26986</WKID><LatestWKID>26986</LatestWKID></ProjectedCoordinateSystem> 20201202 11470800 20201202 11470800 150000000 5000 ItemDescription Version 6.2 (Build 9200) ; Esri ArcGIS 10.7.1.11595 Massachusetts Land Parcel Database Data Services Metropolitan Area planning Council 60 Temple Place Boston MA 02111 DataServices@mapc.org US 617-933-0700 M-F 9-5PM EST Data Services 2015-06-01T00:00:00 2016-02-12T00:00:00 2016-02-12T00:00:00 1 -73.533318 -69.898590 42.888310 41.230537 Massachusetts statewide Last updated: May 2019. The Massachusetts Land Parcel Database is a statewide atlas of more than 2.1 million land parcel boundaries and associated tax assessor data. Due to the large size of the statewide layer (ma_parcels_poly), it is also available for distribution split into 3 distinct layers. The Metro Boston region (ma_parcels_metrofuture) covers 164 municipalities in the Greater Boston area. The Southeast region (ma_parcels_southeast) covers 40 municipalities along the South Coast, Cape Cod, and Islands. The remaining 147 municipalities are in the Central and Western region (ma_parcels_west) that covers west of I-495. Working from digital parcel and assessor records created and/or standardized by MassGIS (the Commonwealth’s Office of Geographic Information), MAPC compiled data previously available only on a town-by-town basis in each of the state’s 351 municipalities. In addition, we calculated additional statistics about each parcel, including floor area ratio, assessed value per area, impervious surface, and other indicators. This dataset is a unique resource for planners, researchers, advocates, and taxpayers interested in land use, urban form, development opportunities, and tax assessment across the state. We also hope that its availability and use will encourage municipalities to maintain and update their parcel boundary and assessment information and to submit those updates to MassGIS so that the dataset will remain current over time. Below we describe the key features of the dataset, the methods used by MAPC to summarize assessors’ data, and the land use statistics we calculated. Additional details can be found in a technical appendix with a description of the process and snippets of relevant python code. <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV>Summarizing Assessors Records While most land parcels are owned by a single entity and assessed accordingly, there are other parcels with multiple ownership interests and separate tax assessment records. Condominiums are the most typical example—the land is held in common and each unit is assessed and taxed based on its value and share of the commonly held assets. In these cases, one parcel will have multiple associated assessor records. The “many-to-one” relation between assessor records and lot boundaries makes it difficult to map or analyze parcel characteristics directly from the assessor data. To overcome this difficulty, MAPC summarized selected assessor’s fields for each parcel by summing the totals, finding the range, or choosing the value of one selected record. Specific methods used for each field are outlined in the table below. Some key fields are discussed here, including MAPC-calculated fields. Assessed Values and Last Sale Date/Price Four value fields are included in the standard assessors extract: building value, land value, other value (improvements such as swimming pools), and total value. We summed the values from the assessor records associated with each parcel. It should be noted that condominiums generally have no land value associated with individual unit records—all the value is contained within the building value for each unit. As a result, statistics utilizing land value should exclude condominium parcels. The assessor data also provides the last sale date and last sale price where it is known (the presence of this data varies widely across municipalities.) Where there were multiple assessor records for a parcel, we selected the record with the most recent sale date and use that record to populate the last sale date and last sale price for that parcel. Data are current as of the Fiscal Year indicated, and have not been adjusted for inflation. Municipalities reassess all property every three years, so the year of assessment may precede the fiscal year. Use Codes and Building Attributes Each assessor record includes a numeric land use code (LUC) indicating the principle use of the property. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue publishes the official list of standard 3-digit classification codes3 for use by municipal assessors. There are two challenges when attempting to summarize land use codes from the assessors extract: first, where there are multiple assessors records associated with a parcel, each could have a different LUC, and LUC values cannot simply be totaled or averaged to yield a useful summary. Second, many assessors use nonstandard codes, either a 4 digit code or a 3 digit combination not included in the DOR standard; further, the description provided in assessors data means that the same nonstandard code may indicate different land uses in two different municipalities. To account for more than one use code is associated with a single parcel, MAPC selected both the minimum and maximum values for the LUC in each parcel. (For parcels with a single assessor record, these will be identical.) For non-standard codes MAPC applied a two-step standardization process: First, trimed four digit codes to three. Then, we matched nonstandard codes to a standard code using a manually created look-up table. The minimum and maximum values for both the “native” and standardized codes are provided in the parcel database. The “native” codes may be more useful for analysis within a given municipality, but the standard codes are essential for analyzing land uses across municipal boundaries. Both building area and residential area values from the assessor records are summed for each parcel. Our review of records from various municipalities suggests that these fields are not consistently defined or measured by each assessor. In some cases, only one or the other field is filled in; in other cases there are values for both fields, which could be equivalent to gross and finished building area. Given this uncertainty, MAPC recommends that the most useful comparative statistic would be to take the larger of the two values (usually Building Area) and treat it as gross floor area. For the year built field, MAPC chose the most recent date. Massachusetts Land Parcel Database-SummaryUnits Unit counts from assessor records are often absent, and/or may be unreliable. We sum the values in the “Reported Units” field but also developed our “best estimate” of unit count by analyzing two other data points: the number of assessor records reported for each parcels, and the land use code. For example, where the use code is 102 (condominiums), we estimate units based on a count of assessor records. If the unit count is absent or inconsistent with the land use code, we use the low end of the range for land use code unit count as the estimated units. Floor Area Ratio Floor Area Ratio (FAR) is a measure of building density. FAR is estimated using three of assessors’ data set attributes: building area, residential area, and total lot area. To resolve inconsistent definitions of floor area, we use the larger of either building area or residential area and divide by total lot area in square feet. Values over 40 (the FAR of the densest parcel observed in Downtown Boston) were assumed to be erroneous and were removed from the final dataset. Land Cover MAPC calculated two aspects of land cover for parcels: percent of the lot covered by a building (rooftops), and percent of the lot that is impervious but not covered by a building structure (paved area.) MAPC used MassGIS's impervious surface layer (2005) and Building Structures layer (2017) for the land cover estimates. These two estimates were combined to yield a total lot coverage estimate. Some parcels will have rooftops but no paved area if the development post-dated 2005 when the impervious surface data was collected. Value metrics In order to have a meaningful basis for comparing the assessed values of properties across Massachusetts towns, the values are normalized by calculating the total value per acre, building value per square foot of floor area, and land value per acre. We also estimate the ratio of building value to land value, to identify parcels with relatively high value improvements and those that may be underbuilt relative to their land value. Land value per acre, building value per square feet of floor area, and improvement/land value ratio are not calculated for condos where all value is treated as building value and land values are null. Maintenance MAPC plans to maintain this database with updates published by MassGIS, with data collected through our planning activities, and with spot corrections of erroneous or misleading data as necessary. MassGIS will be vigorously encouraging communities to maintain their standardized digital assessor parcel mapping in compliance with Level 3 of the digital parcel standard. Maintaining Level 3 compliant data may be no more expensive than maintaining other forms of parcel mapping. The Department of Revenue’s Bureau of Local Assessment may soon recommend that assessors maintain their mapping in compliance with Level 3 of the standard. MassGIS has assembled information and resources6 for municipalities interested in maintaining standardized parcel mapping. </DIV></DIV></DIV> MassGIS' Level 3 Assessors’ Parcel Mapping data set is the primary source of information used for compiling the Massachusetts Land Parcel Database. MassGIS produced the following products for each city and town: 1) spatial data with parcel boundaries meeting the Level 3 specifications of the MassGIS Digital Parcel Standard2, and 2) a table containing a standard extract of 25 elements from the tax assessor database. Data for each municipality must be downloaded as a separate database or shapefile. Since the City of Boston is not included in the MassGIS Level 3 parcel initiative, we requested and received parcel boundaries and assessors data directly from City of Boston staff for FY 2017. The Tax Assessor fields compiled here—including valuation, use, floor area, and more— date from Fiscal Year 2010 to FY 2019, depending on when MassGIS received and processed the data, or subsequent updates by MassGIS or MAPC. We used the most current Level 3 parcels datasets available. parcels, assessors, land use parcelsmassachusettsboundariesassessor File Geodatabase Feature Class 0.000 dataset EPSG 2.1(3.0.1) 0 Simple FALSE 0 TRUE FALSE Massachusetts Land Parcel Database Feature Class 0 a statewide atlas of more than 2.1 million land parcel boundaries and associated tax assessor MassGIS; MAPC OBJECTID OBJECTID OID 4 0 0 Internal feature number. Esri Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. Shape Shape Geometry 0 0 0 Feature geometry. Esri Coordinates defining the features. Join_Count Join_Count Integer 4 0 0 TARGET_FID TARGET_FID Integer 4 0 0 Join_Count_1 Join_Count Integer 4 0 0 TARGET_FID_1 TARGET_FID Integer 4 0 0 Id Id Integer 4 0 0 site_oid site_oid Integer 4 0 0 area_acres area_acres Double 8 0 0 AREA_parcel AREA_parcel Double 8 0 0 disttosewerft disttosewerft Double 8 0 0 jobs45mintr jobs45mintr Integer 4 0 0 jobs30mincar jobs30mincar Integer 4 0 0 pctnonautocmt pctnonautocmt Double 8 0 0 transit_typ transit_typ String 255 0 0 station station String 255 0 0 busstop busstop String 255 0 0 walkscore walkscore Double 8 0 0 pub_ind pub_ind Double 8 0 0 ch21e_p ch21e_p Double 8 0 0 aulsite_p aulsite_p Double 8 0 0 fz100_p fz100_p Double 8 0 0 fz500_p fz500_p Double 8 0 0 wetland100_p wetland100_p Double 8 0 0 excluded_p excluded_p Double 8 0 0 z2wpa_p z2wpa_p Double 8 0 0 autodealer autodealer String 255 0 0 openspace_p openspace_p Double 8 0 0 highway highway String 255 0 0 muni_id Municipal ID SmallInteger 2 0 0 municipal Municipality String 21 0 0 type_id Community Type ID SmallInteger 2 0 0 subtype_id Community Subtype ID SmallInteger 2 0 0 commtype Community Type String 30 0 0 subtype Community Subtype String 50 0 0 area_ac area_ac Double 8 0 0 muni muni String 18 0 0 land_value land_value Double 8 0 0 bldg_value bldg_value Double 8 0 0 othr_value othr_value Double 8 0 0 total_valu total_valu Double 8 0 0 sqm_imperv sqm_imperv Double 8 0 0 sqm_bldg sqm_bldg Double 8 0 0 sqm_pave sqm_pave Double 8 0 0 Shape_Length Shape_Length Double 8 0 0 Length of feature in internal units. Esri Positive real numbers that are automatically generated. Shape_Area Shape_Area Double 8 0 0 Area of feature in internal units squared. 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