Land Development Government Regulations

Land Development Government Regulations – I believe real estate development is the most highly regulated job generating manufacturing industry in the country at all levels of government. Do you agree?

My blog series on how the land development industry has changed over the past for decades includes an overview and posts on land acquisition, land design, and stakeholders. This blog post on land development regulations will take several weeks of analysis. Over the past forty years, government intervention in the real estate development industry has been astounding. Government regulations and the impact on the real estate development industry can only be addressed by posting subsequent multiple discussions.

I could easily spend a week telling “war stories” and that would generate more war stories from readers but it would not be productive …….. it would be fun however to illustrate through true experiences how government has affected and changed our industry. And the change has NOT been for the better or for the betterment of the people.

Honestly, regulatory changes in our industry have been slow, methodical, and transformational. We, including me, would shake our heads at new ordinances, regulations, policies, etc. and maybe we even fought to no avail. We believe that it is easier and faster to have a negotiated settlement than a legal settlement. So we have negotiated the best compromise and we move forward with our projects on a project by project basis and with each municipality.

I could also spend a week on land development infrastructure standards and how these government regulations have changed our design approach – over time.  Or, another week on how zoning ordinances have expanded in scope from establishing only bulk requirements to outlining architectural forms, materials and massing for compliance.

Unfortunately, we rarely investigate where the root of any change comes from and under what pretense.

Over the past four decades, it is clear government regulations never get rolled back, rescinded, or changed simply because land development lacks a voice. What we do know is that federal regulations take a while to affect local development practices while local regulations have a more immediate impact.

In the 70’s & ‘80’s government planners started to be more active in regulating how their communities would develop. As I indicated in an early post, the Clean Water Act amendments changed the real estate industry through government regulation in the ‘70’s.

In the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s, we experienced a significant recession resetting the real estate development industry but not the role of government.

The 1990’s was the era of regulation at all levels of government.

I will concentrate on the regulations that were formulated during the ‘90’s which have and will continue to have a profound impact on the real estate development industry.

2000 – 2010 the real estate roller coaster did not stop regulatory oversight but embolden governments and their staff to further regulate the industry.

2013 and beyond - the industry as a whole will be affected as the momentum shifts from minority rights to minority rule.  Also, regulatory staffs are emboldened to act beyond the framework of ordinances and leverage community hot buttons into the approval process. This has been a standard practice for years but the local political will sets the path of resistance in the future.

Have we lost our forum to stand up for our industry? Is there anyone left standing? Our problem is our industry is fragmented and what works in one community may not function well in another. The real estate industry is under the umbrella of many trade associations but not the main focus of any. Thus, I established the Real Estate Development eAssociation on LinkedIn as the voice of the industry.

In the ‘90’s, there were four distinct regulatory and philosophical movements that altered our industry even more so than the 1972 Clean Water Act amendments:

1. Smart Growth Principles

2. International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)

3. The President's Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD)

4. UN’s Agenda 21

I am sure other State or local initiatives have significantly altered our real estate development industry and set it on a path of total control by government. Please comment by adding your specific industry changing issue(s) and I will include it on the list.