For those of you who don’t know, our office is located in Melbourne, Brevard County Florida. 

This is the exact location where Tropical Storm Fay decided to take a bit of a rest and dump massive amounts of rain down onto the homes and businesses in this area.

Tropical Storm Fay was an extremely rare occurence.  The rainwater that was seen in some areas most likely will not be seen again in my lifetime.  And even though, this was such a major event, the majority of homes in the area were not damaged by the storm.

In fact, I have only heard of one location where new subdivisions received flooding damage.  And the rumor is this was caused by a blocked culvert from an offsite canal and not from poor design of the stormwater system in the subdivisions.

So, how does this impact your future developments?

Well, common sense would tell you it shouldn’t.  But reality often doesn’t involve common sense.

Do not be surprised when government agencies create new requirements and stricter design parameters for your developments in the future.  Cities, Counties and Water Management Districts will use Fay as an opportunity to put more restrictions on development.

This will most likely result in larger stormwater treatment areas for your real estate developments.  Meaning your land will have less developable area. 

Less developable area means less profits. 

So if you are purchasing land in the near future in Florida, be aware of any new stormwater requirements that you may need to meet.  

You may want to offer less for that property.   

This implementation of new requirements is not restricted to Florida.  Practically every location has natural weather conditions that can create drastic changes in property development requirements. 

Most likely these are issued through the building code, but as in the case of Tropical Storm Fay, these requirements will be felt in the site design.

 

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We get emails of development questions nearly everyday here at PropertyDevelopmentSource.com.

The questions come from all over the country, and it is clear after having read so many of them, that many of these questions are actually stopping potential development projects dead in there tracks.

Many people are simply stuck, unable to take the next step because they lack the information they need to take action.

That’s a big deal. And so we do our best to get these people the answers they need. But as much as we try to answer them, it has become obvious that many of the questions are the same. So we put together a report that covers the TOP 6 questions we received.

The result is:

 

“The Big 6:

Answers to Developer’s Top

Questions that Hinder Success”

This extensive report gives detailed, from the trenches, answers
  to questions like;

• How do I get good cost estimates for evaluating potential
    projects?
• How do I get financing for my project?
• How do I hire the right team for my project and how do I
    manage them
• What percentage profit should a project provide to make it
    worth doing?
• What development fee should I charge my partners or investors?
• And finally, how do I get a reasonably accurate feasibility study without
    spending thousands on consultants and reports?

And we don’t stop there. After putting together the report, we realized that unless we include the tools you need to properly answer these questions, the report is incomplete.

So we included valuable spreadsheets and checklists to help you keep making progress and taking action.

If any of these questions, or something similar is stalling your real estate development plans, please check out THE BIG 6, here

 

THE BIG 6: Answers to Developer’s Top Questions the Hinder Success

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Property development in the past was traditionally regulated by local cities and counties. Today more than ever, land developers need to focus their attentions and be aware of the numerous federal and state laws which protect wetlands, endangered species, forests and water resources when they are contemplating a development project.   Developers must be aware that from the very beginning of the project, the process will involve obtaining land use and environmental approvals in order to successfully develop the site in an effective manner. These land development changes are here to stay. 

 What Factors Have Influenced Changes:

1. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been instrumental in creating a variety of federal and state related approvals and more restrictions that have resulted in significant costs to developers who must make the appropriate changes to comply with wetlands mitigation requirements.     
2. New endangered species lists and critical habitat designations are creating more government regulations and approvals.  Agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries now have more mitigation authority over land development projects.
3. Water issues and land development are being dramatically impacted.  For instance, today all levels of government are now involved with endangered species protection and public water allocations caused by severe droughts and water shortages in certain parts of the country.  Water quantity and quality are now part of the land use decision process.

 
Many municipalities have adopted water setback ordinances for bodies of water such as streams. There are numerous forest protection acts, erosion prevention laws and other legislation that have popped up over the last decade that are increasing laws and regulations affecting development projects. Federal agencies are issuing large fines against business entities and filing criminal actions against private individuals for violation of environmental laws.  In turn, private citizens are filing lawsuits against the federal and state governments to modify regulations affecting development projects.

Natural resources are influencing how the development project will go forward or in some cases whether the project will go forward at all.   Developers must understand this natural resource permitting process and how it affects their project before they begin any permitting process.  The following are recommendations to understanding the process:

1. Prepare in the very initial development process by identifying early any natural resource or environmental permits that may be needed by using your legal and technical development team’s resources and relying on their advice.  Plan ways to avoid the natural permit process and be prepared to spend a considerable amount of time and money.
2. Consider changing your project so that it will not have a significant impact on wetlands or endangered species.  If this is not possible, focus on what special permits you will need and start the application process as soon as possible so that you are able to plan accordingly.  Conducting species surveys is a good way to find out if there are endangered species that will be affected by the development of the site. 
3. Identify water issues.  Make sure that you have sufficient water rights and water supply. Obtain all storm water permits and meet waste discharge requirements by applying for these permits early on.  Also investigate whether nearby water sources have restriction issues and have a plan to deal with and solve those issues.
4. Research and investigate local government regulations, setback provisions, water and erosion law and regulations and forest regulations.

By investigating and addressing these issues at the beginning of the project, you will be more successful in obtaining any required natural resource permits and successfully completing your project.