Sustainable Real
Estate Development - I
continue to work on my Agenda 21 analysis outlining the basis in which our real
estate development industry has changed over the past 20 years.
Did you hear the word
“sustainable” during any of the four past recessions? Did you hear the word “sustainable”
when interest rates were at 18% or when you had to wait in line for 1 gallon of
gas? Now, you hear “sustainable” at least once a day!
Private sector industry
professionals have been the visionaries, creators and entrepreneurs of development
trends – including sustainable development. Unfortunately government typically
swings the pendulum way beyond the practical and continues to compound
regulations with more unsustainable regulations.
Local governments
continuously change their local land use ordinances, zoning, and land
development codes restricting the use of land. When is the last time
your local government rolled back development regulations? The industry has moved from being a positive industry to projects
being approved by what you can’t do!
I will speak on
behalf of the industry – we are not against sustainable development if within
reason and practical. But, we are
working against the wave of sustainable land development regulations imposed
over the past 20 years. Definitions of sustainable development are:
United Nations:
National
Association of Home Builders:
"Balancing
the needs of people, planet, and profit"
International Council
for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)
Permission granted to
use the illustration by: International Council for Local Environmental
Initiatives (ICLEI)
I would like to
restate sustainability real estate development in another way:
Financial – create community
opportunities for industries, businesses, and job creators to enhance stability
and continuity.
Ecosystem – respect
the land form and achieve the highest and best use through creativity rather
than through negative land use regulations.
Society – the
community environment is composed of people where they live, work, play and
shop. People should dictate our development patterns through market forces and
not the environment.
Energy – use our own
natural resources to fuel our own needs and use practical cost effective approaches
to building and land design.
Infrastructure – local
governments must prioritize their tax dollars to maintain and create basic infrastructure
i.e. water, sewer, drainage, and roads necessary for community growth
My definition of a sustainable
real estate development project is simple:
“A sustainable real estate
development project is a Town within a Town”
Should we develop our own definition of
sustainability when our industry has been slowly dismantled by government
forces over the past 20 years?
What is your definition of a sustainable
real estate development project?
You comments and opinions are encouraged –
for or against the above.
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