A Little Diplomacy Helps Avert Rezoning Wars

Long Island Business News
By: Stuart Markus
July 6, 2001

Not so long ago, developers who needed a rezoning to clear the way for a project quietly filed the paperwork, ran the required legal notices and hoped no opponents noticed. Then if opposition did surface, they'd fight it out before the zoning board or in the courts.

While some still hew to those old ways, a growing number of developers and their attorneys are reaching out to potential foes earlier in the development process. They've found that negotiating with opponents up front - rather than fighting them as soon as they raise their voices - makes for a cheaper and quicker approval process.

This trend is emerging as civic associations and community groups become increasingly effective at mounting organized, credible opposition to defend their quality of life and property values.

What used to be the "baby brigade" - moms with infants presenting emotional appeals but little else - now includes attorneys, architects and traffic engineers, according to Michael Sahn of the law firm Sahn & Ward.

Faced with the potential for such formidable foes, project proponents are finding it expedient - as well as good public relations in the truest sense - to meet with concerned citizens from the earliest stages of planning to gage their concerns, dispel rumors and even get their guidance. "In the last few years, it's become more and more prevalent," Sahn said.

"It's something that I've done since day one," said Jeffrey Forchelli of Forchelli, Curto, Schwartz, Mineo, Carlino & Cohn. "For those who don't do it, I don't know why they don't do it."

For example, Forchelli Curto is handling the redevelopment of the former Northrop Grumman site in Bethpage. From a series of outreach meetings, they learned local residents didn't want apartment houses or retail development (local stores were already suffering from the loss of the aerospace giant). "It could have been a huge fight," Forchelli said. But instead, he added, "We tailored the redevelopment of the property to uses which were acceptable to the community."

At another site in Syosset, a developer thought the community would be happy to see an industrial site up-zoned to commercial retail, but learned from meetings that the neighbors didn't want the weekend traffic that would bring. They preferred to keep the current zoning. "You learn something every day," Forchelli said.

Sheldon Goldstein, head of Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Schlissel's real estate practice, said his firm has met with three separate civic associations over a plan to build either townhouses or a co-op or condo building on a Nassau site that used to be industrial.

"These are good people, these are nice people, they have the greater good of the community at heart. It was a good experience," he said. "I think more than anything else, the fact that we reached out early on gave people the comfort that we weren't trying to ram something down their throats."

The locals made it clear they would appreciate having green space on the site available for public use, like a park. "I think there's very little downside to meeting with these groups, and potentially tremendous upside," Goldstein said. "These people have something to say ... a developer that's arrogant toward these groups is doing itself a disservice."

Michele Pincus, of Lazer, Apthaker, Feldman, Rosella & Yadid, faced a potential fight with several communities when client Tennis Time morphed into Sportime, converting to multi-sport facilities and sparking fear of huge traffic and parking problems. But a thorough review of the site and parking plans, and the addition of plantings and signs instructing customers not to park on the streets, assuaged local concerns.

Generally, Pincus asks local elected leaders to identify the heads of the community groups. Or sometimes, her firm will do a mailing to homes in the vicinity, often to a larger radius than the hundred feet or so required by some local laws. Meetings are held at the client's site, village hall or even a community leader's house.

"I really think one of the biggest problems is misinformation and the rumor mill," Pincus said.

Kevin Law, managing partner of Nixon Peabody's Garden City office, concurs: "It's the fear of the unknown that gives a project bad PR."

Epoch 5 Marketing's Katherine Heaviside, who has done PR outreach work on a number of projects for lawyers and developers, sees her job the same way.

"In recent years," she said, "attorneys have realized the first thing they have to do is educate the community."

For example, CVS wanted to up-zone a vacant parcel in Smithtown from industrial to retail. The proposed change was opposed in the community until Heaviside informed them that a factory could have been built there under the initial zoning.

For Capson Senior Quarters (now Atria), an assisted-living residence developer, Heaviside had people walk door to door in the neighborhood, answering questions and leaving literature. When local residents don't understand the details of a project, she said, "misinformation fills a vacuum."

The community contact will sometimes lead to compromise or a revision of plans. Anthony Guardino of Farrell Fritz recounted that his client, the Walt Whitman Mall, ended up dropping plans to build a multiplex theater and food court in the face of opposition a few years ago. However, the client achieved its ultimate goal of renovating the mall. "That could have dragged out for years," he said.

When Sunrise Assisted Living wanted to build a residence in North Lynbrook in 1998, it held a series of meetings with neighbors who dreaded the thought of a large, institutional building on what had been the site of a nursery.

Sunrise agreed to lower the building from three stories to two and to make modifications to keep traffic off residential streets. The chance to see the Victorian home-style design of the building helped convert most opponents.

Visual aids, can, in fact, make a big difference. James Gesualdi, an attorney in private practice in Islip, has represented both citizen's groups and developers. And as village attorney for Huntington Bay, he's been in the middle.

"Most people can't visualize what something built out is going to look like," especially if it's different from what they're used to, he said at a recent symposium on smart growth hosted by Farrell Fritz.

In one case in Huntington Bay, an architect brought a scale model of a house to demonstrate that a proposed addition wouldn't interfere with people's view of the coastline.

"That was so impressive to the board, and I think to the neighbors," he said.

In the case of a builder who wanted to build a massive home on a four-acre plot in a preservation district, the village used Gesualdi and the village building inspector and engineer as mediators between the builder and neighborhood opponents. A revised, smaller version was ultimately approved.

In another house adjacent to a historic district, a dialog with preservation-minded citizens led to some being included as architectural and design consultants.

Sometimes a dialog with opponents can even save a project money. Gesualdi represented citizens of Cold Spring Harbor opposed to the state Department of Transportation's plan to widen Rt. 25A. Eventually, the DOT started taking the citizens seriously as they came up with proposals of their own to address the traffic flow and safety issues. The final, scaled-down plan preserved wetlands and the village's old-fashioned charm - not to mention a couple million taxpayer bucks.

"There's sometimes a perception that when people have concerns, it's just a means of obstruction," but it's often a false one, Gesualdi said.

Several attorneys said that municipal boards want to see a dialog between an applicant and the neighbors before they'll hear arguments.

Of course, it doesn't always work. Forchelli said he met with civic leaders over the plan to convert a Westbury Drive-in to a multiplex and attempted to work out a compromise, to no avail. "It just wasn't going to happen," he said, and ended up in the court fight nobody wanted, for years.

Sometimes, Guardino said, a community group may break down into factions, some willing to compromise, some still vehemently opposed. "You don't really know who you're negotiating with," in those cases, he said. "You try to please the greatest number of people. You realize you may not please everyone."

Sahn advises developers and attorneys to do their homework before meeting, such as completing environmental or traffic studies. "You get questions which are good and important questions, but if you don't have the answers, it leaves a bad impression which is hard to correct," he said.

Most important, he said, is to be absolutely forthright. "Don't try to hide the negatives under the rug ... People are very sophisticated these days, and they'll pick up if you're trying to skirt around an issue. People appreciate it if you're honest."

Finally, Sahn said, "Don't take the position that they're foes. They can be allies. If they can help solve problems, everybody wins."