LAND LESSONS- New to Land Entitlements? Here is a little advice.

“Bureaucracy is the epoxy that greases the wheels of progress.”- James Boren 
 
Why does it take two, three or five years to obtain all the necessary entitlements required to build a residential subdivision or commercial development in Maryland? 
 
Appreciate that more than 20 separate government agencies including planning, public works, parks & recreation, natural resources all need to give comments and sign off on your plans.  
 
What one agency wants; another agency rejects. An example often cited is when the fire department wants a T-turnaround after public works approved a cul-de-sac at the end of a street.  
 
There are written regulations that developers must satisfy, but there are unwritten requirements too. The unwritten rules cover everything from making contributions to community associations, or the volunteer fire department in return for winning community support, to hiring the right political or community consultants to demonstrate to your advocates or adversaries that you are taking the proper steps to develop the project.  
 
Nothing is more challenging than neighbors. Many of these folks are members of “Citizens Who Do Not Want Anything Built Anywhere by Anybody, but Especially by You.”  
 
Opposition to development comes in six arguments. Be prepared with well-researched answers regarding schools, traffic, stormwater, destroying animal habits, police/EMS response times, and “those people.”  
 

 
The most important advice is to hire the right consultants! 

 
Land use attorney -Make sure you hire the best active in that specific county. Most counties have two to five good or even great land use attorneys; limit your selection to these firms. You need someone who understands local politics and has a great rapport with the planners and politicians in that county or town. Your attorney needs to get the mayor, planner, or councilperson on the phone and achieve workable solutions when your project is bogged down in bureaucratic quicksand. Stay local. 
 
Civil engineer – Hire the best local active in that county. For the same reason you want local legal counsel, you want a local civil engineer. For example – You need a civil engineer who knows that that even though the regulations say a swale can be used for stormwater management, the county’s reviewer hates swales and always finds a way to deny them. There is no sense wasting time on a plan that will not get approved.   
 

Traffic Engineers – Hire a great one.  
 
Get to know the local Politicians – Earn their trust and respect. Always do the right thing and keep your word when you make promises to the community or those who represent them.