Consensus Do’s, Don’ts for Developers

Do:

* Put a community relations expert and a government relations expert on your development team before buying or optioning the land.

* Work as a team with your architect, community relations expert and government relations expert to establish trust in the proposed project.

* Aim for quality design that is responsive to the neighborhood.

* Research community attitudes and assess the political realities before you design your project.

* Roll up your sleeves; meet, listen and get to know the people who live and do business around your project site.

* Assemble a list of all key players--friends and adversaries--and figure out how to deal with them.

* Trust your neighbors and always tell them the truth. Only make commitments you’re willing to keep. Negotiate in good faith.

* At community meetings, have sandwiches and cookies on hand. Keep people’s blood sugar up.

And, most important:

* Get it in writing. Have negotiations with community groups put on paper and have them signed by all parties to the agreement.

Don’t:

* Wait until you’ve alienated the community before you call in a community relations expert.

* Spring plans for a high-rise on a neighborhood on the eve of the first public hearing.

* Hire cheap consultants and go all out to cut costs.

* Play your consultants off each other. Second guess them to ensure disharmony so they will work harder.

* Send your Jaguar-driving lawyer in his Brooks Brothers suit with his portable cellular phone to represent you at neighborhood meetings.

* Ignore opponents of the project and pray they won’t show up at public meetings.

* Have a hidden agenda. Refuse to reveal the true density you have in mind for the project.

* Fall short in the hospitality department, thinking you have better things to do. Real men do serve tea and cookies.

* Promise neighborhood groups everything they want, thinking you’ll simply renege after their support helps you get your building permit.

* Give short shrift to the details of an agreement with community groups, thinking it will all come out in the wash.