Sustainable Land Development Today - November/December 2007 - (Page 17) essential that the rest of the team understands this. Profit is not necessarily bad. In fact, it is only evil if a development project is ONLY conducted for profit without regard to the societal and environmental impacts. It must be understood that unless the architect or engineer is a self-employed business owner, his job and/or task for a development project involves virtually no personal risk. The developer, on the other hand, assumes and often embraces risks. These may, and often do, include personal financial risks that put his personal, family, and business assets on the line – thus also risking personal, family, and business relationships. The Purpose of the Meeting Most developers hate meetings – especially if they are paying an hourly rate for the professionals to attend! Typically, the developer is already carrying the cost of the land and the entitlements and knows that additional up- front costs for site design and installation of infrastructure (roads, water, sewer) will also mount before any positive cash flow begins. He wants to get started with the process, not conduct a meeting. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending upon your point of view, municipal, regulatory, and community approval of the project still awaits. Team meetings open all channels of communication. When a project’s vision and ideas are shared at the beginning, it allows for a collaborative approach to design and implementation. With the varying degrees of technical, experience, expertise and community participation, enhancements are often suggested that will improve the project. Secondly, the team meeting is a gateway to significant project savings. With virtually every key stakeholder and/or member of the design and construction team hearing the same information, the opportunities for clearer instructions and understanding of the project results in less errors and re-design. All concerns that may arise from team members and- community opposition will likely be addressed. The reality is that others at the meeting will be familiar with the typical points of opposition. The value of being able to address valid concerns at an early stage like this cannot be minimized. Nothing slows down a development like negative media exposure or comments made to local elected government officials. Another one of the biggest advantages to having this diverse group of individuals together is that they will each provide proper balance to the project while there are sill opportunities to make adjustments without a large expense. One of the most effective ways to receive project approval is to have a balanced approach to the needs of the local community (people), environmental considerations (planet), and economic growth (prosperity and profit). Not surprisingly, that balance of people, planet, and profit actually provides the vital framework of a sustainable project. SLDT Task Navigator for AutoCAD Civil 3D from Eagle Point Speed adoption of AutoCAD Civil 3D and enforce standards Reduce the time it takes new employees to become productive Replace conventional training methods with re-useable searchable instructions right on screen Seamlessly integrated within AutoCAD Civil 3D, the Task Navigator for Civil 3D provides defined workflows with editable step-by-step instructions that embed the right Civil 3D commands to use at the right time, allowing you to quickly create your deliverables. Learn more about this solution as well as our technical support and training for AutoCAD Civil 3D by calling 1-800-678-6565 or visiting http://www.eaglepoint.com/tnc3d. 4131 Westmark Drive • Dubuque, IA 52002 800-678-6565 sales@eaglepoint.com http://www.eaglepoint.com ® ® Circle 123 • or www.LandDevelopmentToday.com/adinfo www.SLDTonline.com 17 http://www.eaglepoint.com http://www.eaglepoint.com/tnc3d http://www.eaglepoint.com http://www.LandDevelopmentToday.com/adinfo http://www.SLDTonline.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.