Building Community Consensus For Real Estate Development Projects: Some Ideas
BATTLECALL GUEST EXPERT: Robert J. Abalos, Esq.,
InvestingInLand.com
Building community consensus for any new real estate development project is
always a frequent worry for the developer. Horror stories abound concerning
worthwhile and financially profitable projects ultimately blocked by fanatical
opposition from community groups and local activists and these tales of
capitalist woe are swapped between real estate developers much like fish tales
amongst anglers. After all, developers not only have their reputations at stake
on building projects, it's usually large sums of money as well. Why should
non-property owners, renters, even those with extreme political agendas just
barely related to a proposed project block necessary and viable development at
the expense of the property owner, their neighbors, and the community as a
whole?
The simple truth really is that nearly all real estate development takes
place with no community opposition. Only projects that will change the character
of a community or impose a large or perceived burden on an area face vocal and
legal challenges. The successful land investor and developer buys land where
development is occurring and is expected, with a public infrastructure and
commitment to it already intact. But this is not often possible. Indeed,
sometimes the fortunes of the marketplace and changing political sentiments
bring controversy to land that was deemed safe for development just a short time
ago. This is very true after November elections where "anti-growth" candidates
run on platforms supported by community groups and are subsequently energized by
victories at the polls. It quite often comes down to making a broad political
point somewhere rather than a legitimate land development question on one
specific parcel of land in particular.
Building Community Consensus The Easy Way
When facing a difficult rezoning or other public approval challenge, there
are three steps to building community consensus for a development project. They
are, simply put:
- Measure community attitudes towards a project
- Educate the community about your project
- Build support in the community for your project
I will address each of these points in turn.
Measuring Community Support for Development
The first task in determining community support or resistance to a project
(think of it really as "negative support") is measuring what exactly is the
sentiment in an neighborhood, county, or limited geographic area towards a
particular project.
There are two common mistakes made by developers here all the time.
The first is assuming that the most vocal and vociferous community groups
actually speak for the community as a whole. There was a popular term during the
Nixon Administration called "The Silent Majority" and it implies that it is the
politically active minority on a position that makes the most noise. Turning
this around, it means that most people will want something but not just stand up
and fight for it. This is EXTREMELY true in communities where opposition to
projects is on ideological grounds rather than actual problems with a particular
project. A recent example from my area concerns the development of a Wal-Mart
store in Ashland, Virginia where poll after survey after analysis concluded that
the community as a whole wanted the project for a variety of reasons (jobs, low
price shopping, faster drive times to existing Wal-Marts where they already
shopped, an increased tax base for the town, etc.) but a very loud and
determined minority opposition without broad public support blocked the project
for years.
Survey not just the area as a whole to be affected by a project but the
actual neighbors and residents for what they think. Listen to the objections of
organized groups but realize they have a distinct agenda usually broader than
any one specific project's concerns. Their issues may not be the same as the
community's issues, and quite often you will learn they are in no way similar at
all.
The other common mistake in judging community opinions on a project is to
assume what they are without conducting an actual statistical analysis.
Developers love their projects (sometimes merely for just all they money they
will make) and their bias is in that direction. I love my project and you will
love it too. Developers see a tired and rundown community and want to make it
shiny and new, but sometimes the local residents like it the way it is. This was
the mistake of urban renewal in the 1960s and led to the wholesale destruction
of many communities all across America such as Scollay Square and the West End
in Boston for the sake of poorly planned development that uprooted and decimated
thriving neighborhoods that just looked "tired." Not all communities want a new
shopping center or strip mall even when all facts and figures suggest they
really should want it. This fact is very true where an area is made up of more
renters than occupied property owners. Those who rent care about immediate
disruptions caused by development such as traffic jams and loud noise while
property owners think more of long-term benefits like property appreciation and
higher rental rates through gentrification and neighborhood improvements. New
development often brings higher rents on residential and commercial properties,
meaning existing lessees have a reason to fight improvements.
An accurate measure of what a community actually is thinking is ESSENTIAL
prior to any major development project. Of course it is difficult to
psychoanalyze an entire neighborhood or county but statisticians and survey
professionals due an excellent job of gathering evidence, something that will
come in very handy later in the process when building support for a project.
Educating The Community
What the developer needs to combat most is disinformation from community
groups who THINK they know what a project will cause to an area and rumors and
misinformation bred by ignorance about a developer's specific project.
Both require extensive educational campaigns targeted at all those who would
be impacted by a project. This includes neighbors, those who drive by a building
lot, people who would shop there, and all others.
This is one area where expense should not be spared. A website can be set up
as a one-stop source of information on a project containing artist renderings
("A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words"), plans, statistics and more. A FAQ
("Frequently Asked Question") page is extremely helpful on the more common
project concerns. Local media advertising is crucial, so are community "Get To
Know Us" nights that can be hosted at local venues where people can actually see
the human faces behind development projects. Nature abhors a vacuum so
information should flood a community on a project, detailing not only what the
project is but what it is not, and especially stressing all the benefits which
prior community surveys have determined neighbors find essential in any planned
development.
One crucial element of community education is NOT to disparage or attack
project critics. In a shouting war between community groups and developers,
projects nearly always lose. Attacks on the integrity, intelligence, or motives
of opponents is a poor and losing strategy. If their concerns cannot be
addressed through project modifications and they cannot be "won over" by
physical changes, then their logical arguments must be overwhelmed by facts,
statistics, and evidence. Sometimes these groups deliberately attempt to provoke
developers into name calling shouting matches, knowing that such efforts lead to
mudslinging fights that dampen community support for not just particular
developments but actual individual developers. Win over opposing groups by
addressing their concerns or beating their arguments, but not insulting or
attacking them as people.
Build Support In The Community For Your Project
There is the old joke that goes:
"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."
The same is true of building community support for a project. It is one
voter, one neighbor, and one group at a time.
Do not think of a community as one large mass of people. It is really more a
group of many people each with common concerns. When you address each specific
concern, you win converts to your cause one at at time. Elderly residents, for
example, may want a new shopping center so they can buy necessities without a
long drive, in fact, many may not have cars. Local property owners may not care
about drive times but want new shopping opportunities to offer renters in their
properties. Each subset of desire that was measured in the community survey
described above comes into play here. Some can be attracted to your project
based on the tax base increase turning a vacant strip of land into a new mall
will provide. Others are concerned about jobs and appeals based on projected new
employment opportunities will win converts. Appeals to community pride work on
some, even notions of how many construction and real estate management jobs a
project will create work on others. Find the needs of each member or group of
members in a community and stress those during your advertising and other
promotional efforts. Think like a politician who wants to win votes one
handshake at a time.
Building Community Consensus
The key to making a community want your project is to convince them they
already really do want it, they just don't know it. Your project is the answer
to their prayers, the solution to their problems, the answer they have been
looking for.
They want new jobs, new stores or apartments, easier shopping access, or
whatever else now and your project will be precisely what meets that need.
It is obvious to say that no project survives its first draft intact. Meeting
individual, group, and government concerns is part of the development process.
Being open to all sorts of modifications wins over converts by convincing people
you care more about their needs than your financial ones. But you can only
stretch these changes so far. Sometimes proposed alterations make viable
projects guaranteed money losers. The goal is not to buy off opposition but to
accommodate it to the extent that allowing your project, despite its flaws, is
preferable to no project at all. Extreme ideological groups, often the ones that
get the most headlines due to their outrageous rhetoric and public stunts, often
are never satisfied no matter what a developer does but the strategy then is to
push them to the fringe and make them appear to the broader community to be
obstructionists and not protectors of actual public interest but actually
proponents of their own political agendas.
NEVER EVER attempt to buy off dissenters with cash
payments. This is attempted all the time by greedy neighbors
interested in shaking down a wealthy developer or desperate builders anxious to
minimize public dissent. Such conduct is dumb, it is illegal, and if the word
gets out that you are spreading around cash to get public approval, your project
is doomed regardless of its merits. Also know that sometimes people will take
the cash and still trash the project.
The bottom line is if you build what the public wants, they will support you
building it. Often they reject what they THINK you want to build, instead of
supporting what you actually propose to construct. Knowing what a community
wants and how exactly to provide it is the key to successful real estate
development. This is the type of easy development I advocate. Why work on
difficult projects when easy and just as profitable ones are all around too?
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