Sustainable Land Development Today - November/December 2007 - (Page 15) BUSINESS MANAGEMENT Meeting of the Minds New development complexities demand new approaches for success. By Greg Yoko Even though every land development project is unique and all have a variety of hurdles to overcome, the land development process is no longer welldefined or relatively simple , as in the past. Today, projects have become increasingly complex due predominantly to increasing regulations and a more engaged public. That complexity results in more individuals being involved in almost every phase of a more specialized process, each of whom brings a wider range of personalities, technical knowledge, and opinions to the table. Today, meeting zoning codes often represent just one hurdle to receiving permits. The typical development project must fulfill requirements for stormwater management, erosion and sediment control, and receive permission and/or permits from a municipal body that often requires the meeting of one or more environmental, smart growth, new urbanist, green building, and/or sustainability initiatives…not to mention public and community support. To accomplish all of these additional challenges in the process, in an efficient and cost-effective manner, the process had to change. For many, that change has been difficult. it is best to get everyone in a room before the project has even been designed. This has many benefits, particularly from a total cost standpoint to the developer. By developing and achieving broad stakeholder buy-in of a comprehensive project vision before moving forward with project design, it is amazing how many problems can be avoided before they arise. their engineer. When I suggested that all they needed to do was to require a site visit by the engineer as a part of the job, they claimed that none of the engineers they knew would do that. I eventually found out that the developer had low-balled each of the engineering firms before selecting one – so the firms had eliminated the site visits as a portion of the contract. Thus, the developer actually created the problem for himself and it cost him dearly as some cut and fill work, as well as road cuts, where made in the wrong place and had to be redone. The benefits of selecting project team members that philosophically support your vision and that you will actually like to work with are tremendous. Checking references and conducting interviews is a critically important part of the process. You are likely about to spend millions of dollars on your project. Finding the right members for your project team are perhaps the most important decisions you will make. Selecting the Right Project Team One of the early changes that benefits development efforts is how developers select project team members. Selecting engineers, landscape architects, architects, etc. by the lowest bid is often a recipe for trouble. In many instances, you get what you pay for and project costs end up be higher in the end. On numerous occasions I have had developers complain to me that they could not get their engineer to come to the site before the property was platted or during stakeout. They said that some errors were made during the process, but they were not caught because the engineer did not make a site visit. When the mistakes were eventually noticed, the costs to make corrections were substantial. I confirmed with the developers that they had been responsible for hiring The Starting Line-up A good starting point of stakeholders for the initial gathering will likely include others beyond those you are paying to be there, such as: • • • • • • • The Developer Construction Manager(s) Project Engineer(s) Landscape Architect(s) General Contractor Primary sub-contractors Municipal official representative (city planning, council, commission) • Permitting authority • Neighborhood/community group(s) • Financial Stakeholder(s) Gaining Critical Buy-in Most of the added complexity is a result of more people representing different stakeholders and bringing a variety of agendas to the table, whether or not the developer asks for them. Dealing with these agendas after projects are designed and proposed often delays entitlements and creates financing problems. Since time delays get very expensive, one of the best proven strategies is bringing all of the stakeholders together for one or more meetings at the outset of the project. In fact, Myers-Briggs Temperament Indicator (MBTI) MBTI profiles show personality preferences on four scales Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I) Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N) Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F) Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P) www.SLDTonline.com 15 http://www.SLDTonline.com
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