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Sullivan's Permitting & Land Use team was featured in the article, "Community Opposition To Development Is Common, But There Is A Way Forward," produced in collaboration with Studio B and published by Bisnow [sub. req.d] on October 22, 2024. 

In the article, Gregory Sampson, Permitting & Land Use Partner, discusses the challenge of community opposition in response to commercial developments, particularly for projects involving multifamily housing and renewable energy projects. Greg emphasizes the importance of transparency and education in addressing these community objections, which often arise from concerns about the landscape, increased traffic, and impacts on local services.

“One of the most important things we can do is educate,” Greg says. “We use well-documented sources of information to present a fair and objective response. Our track record of moving projects forward shows this is the best way to engage with people who object.”

Greg explains that gathering factual data and engaging with local communities, often in collaboration with experts and local planning boards, are useful approaches to alleviating community concerns.

“I frequently pull together well-documented sources such as planning studies, master plans and reports from regional agencies,” Greg continues. “These have hundreds of real-case scenarios to compare with people’s supposed problems. In the case of multifamily, we can look at parking requirements and actual parking utilization. These can be very informative for local boards who think a project doesn’t have enough parking.”