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bjbjLULU Hello my name is Brian Linnekens and I am the president of Global Innovation
Development. One of the most important aspects of any real estate development project is
its impact and interaction with the environment. An analysis of the environmental aspects of
a project can be as simple as a basic evaluation of how the existing environment will affect
the project - things like existing toxins in the soil or the level of the water table.
The environment review can also be significantly more broad including an evaluation of how
the proposed project will impact the environment around the site. This second type of evaluation
has increased in importance over the years, and these days, most significant projects
will require some type of environmental impact review. This review will cover topics like
traffic, sound transmission, blockage of views, the projection of light and casting of shadows,
elimination of green areas, the increases load on city services like trash, water and
power, and many, many others. These environmental reviews can range from a simple Environmental
Impact Statement (or EIS) all the way up to a full scale Environmental Impact Report (or
EIR). An EIS is basically a statement of the assumed impacts of the project, and is usually
combined with a Negative Declaration, that is a statement (or declaration) that the project
will not pose a significant impact on the environment. On the other hand, in connection
with larger or more controversial projects, a full scale EIR will likely be required.
This EIR will study the project from virtually every angle. It will investigate the impacts
of the development on virtually every aspect of the surrounding neighborhood and community
and will suggest certain mitigation measures to attempt to offset these environmental impacts.
The environmental study of a project can be a very long and contentious process. Typically,
the developer seeks to minimize the perceived impact of the project in order to avoid costly
mitigation measures, whereas the city officials and public advocates generally seek to amplify
the perceived impact of the project in order to extract additional mitigation measures
or concessions from the developer as a condition of approval of the project. As such, the environmental
process requires significant diplomacy by the developer, and can vary from location
to location depending upon local customs, regulations and citizen involvement. The selection
of the environmental consultant is critical to the environmental review. Probably one
of the most important aspects of the consultant selection is to make sure to select a consultant
who can approach the project impartially. Having an impartial consultant will typically
result in a fair evaluation of the project and its impacts on the community and will
usually result in reasonable suggested mitigation measures which are acceptable to both the
development team and the community. In many cases, in order to ensure the selection of
an impartial environmental consultant, the City officials may require that the consultant
is selected from a pre-approved list provided by the City. And in certain cases, the City
itself may select the consultant. Once the environmental engineer completes its review
he or she will produce a draft report which is circulated to the public for review and
comment. Once the comment period is closed, then the consultant must prepare a final EIR
which includes the consultant s and developer s responses to any comments that were received
during the comment period. This final EIR will also include proposed mitigation measures
to help offset the impacts of the project. Typically, the regulating body (like the Planning
Commission, or City Council) will include the EIR in their factual findings and will
then include some or all of the suggested mitigation measures in their conditions of
approval for the project. This will ensure that the developer actually follows the mitigation
measures suggested by the report. In my estimation, environmental considerations will only continue
to become more and more important in real estate development, so any young developer
is advised to become an environmental expert. The field is so wide open to interpretation
that a skilled developer can guide the process in a way that will help ensure that the environmental
obligations of the project to not become overly burdensome. Good luck and have a great day.
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