It doesn’t matter if your company wants to build a huge multistory building, an affordable housing project or a tiny house community, winning over the neighbors can become a stumbling block.
There’s often a long to-do list that construction executives need to accomplish before breaking ground, from gathering the right permits to hiring the right crew.
An equally important box to check is building community buy-in. Any industry veteran will tell you: It’s far easier and more cost-effective to fully understand and build consensus with a community before the work begins, rather than attempting to do so after the cranes and backhoes arrive on site. Indeed, working to foster buy-in early is an excellent way to understand and address some of the biggest challenges developers face when engaging with a new community.
FIRST, LET’S LOOK AT THOSE BIG CHALLENGES.
Often, a community feels that a project fails to address their needs, like more affordable housing or more green space. A community may also feel that a project doesn’t reflect the historical or social context around it, like a modern high-rise in an enclave of Victorian homes, or a luxury apartment building in a working-class neighborhood. And of course, there is often anxiety about what a project might bring with it—higher rents, traffic jams, clogged parking lots, noise or gentrification.
All this community opposition can manifest as more than resentment and strained planning board meetings. It can evolve into legal action against developers, work stoppages and other major obstacles.
THE BENEFITS OF GARNERING COMMUNITY BUY-IN ARE CLEAR. BUT HOW DO YOU DO IT EFFECTIVELY?
To begin, developers should be confident and clear about how their project will benefit the community. Draw on past projects that actively supported their communities as evidence of your expertise.
Related Articles:
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- NIMBY Opposition Forces Tiny House Community To Move
- Homeless Advocate Working To Win Over Philadelphia Board To Allow Tiny Houses
Transparency is also key. At planning board meetings, community forums and other events, address any and all questions in a straightforward and candid fashion. Issues that will most impact the community—like construction times, noise, street closures and proximity to schools—should be answered early and head-on. In fact, the entire community engagement process itself should be transparent: Communicate early and often about how, when and where neighbors can learn more and ask questions.
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Gary Fleisher is Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source. Email at [email protected]
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