» Monthly Archives: February 2009
Conflicts of Interest in the Zoning Process: When is it a Disqualifying Event?
By Jeffrey Gould, Vice President and General Counsel, The Saint Consulting Group A recent posting on Law of the Land blog discussed the question of a planning board member's personal relationship with an engineering firm creating a prohibited conflict of interest. Conflicts of interest usually arise when a member of a zoning agency has a ...
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Nuggets of insight into American views on landfills, nuclear power — Saint Index
By Steve Shepherd,
Vice President for Communications, The Saint Consulting Group
Most Americans would rather have nuclear power plant built in their community than a landfill, a casino, or even a quarry.
A landfill is the most reviled type of proposed development when it comes to a person’s hometown, followed closely by a casino, the 2009 Saint Index ...
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Developers promising tax revenue: no sure win over NIMBYs in hard times
By Bryan Mills New England Divisional Manager, The Saint Consulting Group A bad economy gives communities more incentive to approve commercial development projects (for the tax rolls). Right? Diversifying the local tax base, so goes the argument, shifts the burden from homeowners to business -- a win-win for local politicians and residents. Right? Most ...
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Economy May Be Easing NIMBY-ism: Saint Consulting
February 23, 2009 Commercial Property News
The prospect of nearby commercial development still raises the hackles of many Americans, but the economic crisis is also causing people to look more kindly on building in their communities, concludes an annual survey conducted by the Saint Consulting Group.
Opposition to development remains remarkably consistent throughout all regions of the ...
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UK survey suggests NIMBY activism has grown with more public consultation
By Nick Keable
Vice President, UK Operations, The Saint Consulting Group
In March each year at MIPIM, which is the largest European property conference, we launch the UK Saint Index. This is an annual analysis of UK voters’ attitudes to property development. The numbers are still being analysed, but a couple of interesting findings are ...
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Thousands of miles of transmission lines pose problems for Obama energy plan
Earlier this month, Ben Kelahan, Saint Consulting's senior vice president for energy, drew attention in The Saint Report to opposition to transmission lines that might block President Obama's vision of a new power grid for America.
Peter Slevin and Steven Mufson have just published in The Washington Post a broad look at the dueling interest ...
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Kentucky, other states taking lead to lift moratorium on nuclear plant construction
By Ben Kelahan
Senior Vice President for Energy, The Saint Consulting Group
In 2008, there were 13 states that adopted regulations or enacted legislation supporting nuclear plant construction. Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin all considered legislation to repeal moratoria on new nuclear construction last year.
Several states are considering the possibility of allowing the addition of nuclear to ...
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Forbes reports on Saint Consulting and ‘Nimby Wars’
“Small groups are getting smarter about keeping big projects at bay. Thanks to Saint Consulting, corporations are wising up, too.”
—Forbes magazine, February 16 edition
The latest edition of Forbes magazine features an article about The Saint Consulting Group.
The profile reports that Saint has made a specialty of helping U.S. corporate clients win zoning battles, ...
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Far-reaching California law to battle greenhouse gases to reshape development
Last month The Saint Report published Jesse McKnight's look at California's struggle to cut greenhouse gas emissions -- California finds the devil in the detail -- and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's to lead the US and the world in its aggressive fight against global warming. Jesse, who is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ...
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Recession very damaging to aggregates, mineral, precious mineral industries
By Chris Hopkins
Senior Vice President for Aggregates and Mining, The Saint Consulting Group
The current recession has been extremely damaging to the aggregate stone industry. The larger publicly traded companies have lost 30 percent to 60 percent of share value in the past year. The lack of new home starts, declining market for retail space, frozen ...
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