» Monthly Archives: September 2010
Third party rights of appeal: a NIMBY charter that may not last in UK
By Nick Keable, Vice President - UK Operations, The Saint Consulting Group In February, the then opposition Conservative Party launched its discussion paper on how the UK planning (permitting and zoning) system should be reorganised, Open Source Planning. Almost all of its proposals had been trailed very heavily in the media ...
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It’s about the politics, not the project, when neighbors hold sway
By Chris Hopkins, Senior Vice President, Aggregates and Mining, The Saint Consulting Group See what happens when you leave land use decisions to politicians, as an asphalt company in Virginia found. In this example from Insidenova.com, the applicant’s land was zoned correctly. The application had the recommendation of the planning commission and the county planning ...
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Voices: Wal-Mart plays the victim – comment from Dirt Diggers Digest
Some commentators are asking questions about the real intent of Wal-Mart as the grocery retail giant asks courts to compel its opponents to disclose who is paying their legal bills in various environmental lawsuits challenging the company's expansion. Phil Mattera, writing in Dirt Diggers Digest, suggests: "This could be the first step in an effort ...
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Political due diligence: essential step for airport expansion projects
By Jesse McKnightExecutive Vice President, The Saint Consulting Group (Editor’s note: this article on airport expansion explains the key role political due diligence plays in identifying and preparing for big issues facing controversial projects across all property sectors) The biggest mistake airport operators — or developers of any potentially controversial project — make is launching ...
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Are we compromising national security with roadblocks to new mining?
By Christopher Hopkins
Senior Vice President, Aggregates and Mining, The Saint Consulting Group
Numerous arguments are made for and against mining. Public debate typically focuses on mining’s impacts on the environment, the economy, the landscape, home values and impacts on communities. Virtually ignored, however, is how the decline in mining in the United States affects national security.
When ...
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Saint case studies to help developers find and rally latent support
By Nick KeableVice President, UK Operations, The Saint Consulting GroupSo often developers find themselves drowned out at public hearings by opponents who object to wind farms blotting a landscape, trucks raising dust and traffic dangers and many other reasons why some people oppose development.Take wind farms, for example. The Saint Index has established public support ...
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Missouri doctors seek end run around certificate of need in small projects
By Jay Vincent,
Senior Vice President - Business Development, The Saint Consulting Group
A recent end run by a physician medical group in Missouri has hospital companies concerned about how that state's Health Facilities regulations will protect their market through the certificate of need (CON) process moving forward. Patients First Health Care recently won a ...
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Cape Wind is shining example of how your project is never safe
By Jay Vincent
Senior Vice President - Business Development, The Saint Consulting Group
Sarah Green with the Harvard Business Review wrote in April that she was, “surprised that in Massachusetts, the local populace has opposed the Cape Wind project for so long. In a state known for its high-tech sector, I would expect a massive technical undertaking ...
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NIMBY Supporters Stall Commercial Development – Saint Index in MBA NewsLink
Support for new hometown commercial projects increased nearly 10 percent from 2009, but vocal homeowners still resist development in their own communities, MBA NewsLink reported about the latest US Saint Index survey.
While nearly three-quarters of adults opposed new commercial properties in their communities, 70 percent said they supported development based on current economic needs, reporter Michael Murray ...
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Saint UK vice president speaks at ULI European Trends conference
UK residential developers face difficult times ahead because the Coalition Government has removed housing targets, Nick Keable, vice president of UK operations for The Saint Consulting Group, said at a Urban Land Institute Conference on European Trends in London earlier this summer. Keable also predicted unsettling times for the UK property industry because of the ...
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