Sustainable Land Development Today - April 2008 - (Page 6) OUR VOICE There Ought to be a Law This has been a popular knee-jerk reaction to spur government action to address many issues. Laws and their bureaucratic brethren—regulations— take varying forms, from those that are punitive in nature to those that seek to be an encouraging guide for the betterment of civilization. Too often they are the former when their best application is the latter. To advance the cause of sustainable land development, there needs to be a similar call put forth: regulatory reform by a public/private partnership made up of citizens and our industry. Navigating a sea of regulations in today’s entitlement process is one of the greatest impediments to our fast-changing industry. It consumes development professionals’ two most precious commodities—time and money—and can prevent, rather than encourage, the sustainable practices so critical to the survival of our civilization. Often rooted in the tried-and-true methods of the past, laws and regulations written to cover all contingencies effectively stave off new innovations that can vastly improve our human condition. As in all else, there are those who would do away with all regulations, leaving it up to benevolent decisionmakers to do the right thing for people and planet. But those who over-emphasize the profit side doom that belief to failure. Utopia cuts both ways. Hence the need for laws and regulations! But for them to be positively effective, and in themselves sustainable, they should be balanced. They should not only take into consideration the needs of people and the environment but also the financial incentive of the industry without which projects wouldn’t be built. A tragic condition evolves when regulations, by sapping away time and money and requiring outmoded techniques, result in unsustainable projects. As we have seen in the marketplace, consumers are more environmentally conscious today. This is creating evergrowing support for sustainable concepts. We need to fan that spark of awareness into flames of action to bring on fair regulation of our industry. Developers and all stakeholders in our industry need to pragmatically and consistently market the benefits to all such approaches. A constant and unrelenting dose of innovative solutions and their successful applications need to be showcased to people all over the country to build upon the foundation of support for sustainability. Working with that public support can lead to the kind of flexible, guidance-oriented regulation that will advance the cause of sustainability, not hinder it. Right now, it is an uphill climb. Threats abound from skeptics and those who oppose the concepts to those who will seek to jump on the sustainability bandwagon for the profit motive alone, without truly implementing its concepts. Both will give cause for policy makers to maintain the status quo or bring on new and more onerous regulatory limitations. For that reason, there can’t be one call from an interest group, but a repetitive chorus from the pubic and the industry, calling for the advancement of a cause in partnership with government that seeks to responsibly balance the needs of people, planet and profit across a level playing field. The survival and quality of life of future generations is held in the balance. SLDT Rob Kundert, Senior Editor Send us your 2¢! We welcome your opinion Reader responses to articles in Sustainable Land Development Today are encouraged and may be sent via mail or email (Editor@SLDTonline.com), or online through SLDTonline.com. Mailing address: Sustainable Land Development Today, Attention: Editor, 275 East 10th St. Suite 201, Dubuque, IA 52001 The mission of Sustainable Land Development Today is to be the leading forum for the exchange of ideas to advance the principles of sustainability--balancing the needs of people, planet and profit. In fulfilling that role, divergent beliefs and perspectives will at times result in debate which we believe will produce the solutions required to address the ever-changing challenges of the industry into the future. 6 April 2008 Sustainable Land Development Today http://SLDTonline.com
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