Environmental Land Use Permitting

Depending on the project and the necessary permit, you may be up against delays, extra costs, financing or investment challenges, contract issues, changes to the design, limitations on key features that can affect the profitability or revenue stream, even feasibility of the project. Not to mention instances of changes in law.

GETTING THE ‘ALL CLEAR’

Issues may arise at any point in the process – from the planning phase to application and during construction through the operation. Our team is deeply entrenched in the industry and has a thorough understanding of the highly technical and complex regulations that govern environmental land use permits.

We skillfully navigate the interplay between engineering, construction, compliance, changes of law, and related contractual and liability issues, ultimately enabling our clients to make sound land use decisions.

WE SPOT AND TACKLE PITFALLS EARLY IN THE GAME

Our team is distinguished in finding issues early, flagging potential challenges such as delays, increased costs, and even infeasibility of a project.

Armed with a detailed level of awareness and insight, our attorneys work collaboratively with our clients to assemble the most effective team of environmental consultants, engineers, architects, and other professionals. Together we develop and implement due diligence, permitting, negotiating, and contractual strategies in order to get the deal done and the shovels in the ground.

When site remediation obligations conflict with land use regulatory requirements – for instance, flood hazard rules that prohibit the installation of a protective cap over contamination because the property is located in the floodway – our attorneys find creative, workable solutions and utilize our strong relationships with regulators to advocate for reasonable discretion.

With constant change comes perpetual risk

As with any area of environmental law, environmental land use regulations are constantly changing on both the state and federal level. Most notably, we continue to see a spike in changes to environmental land use guidelines as regulators attempt to address risks associated with sea level rise and other climate change impacts.

With regular revisions and updates comes the potential for material risk in many projects, especially for development projects with long lead times or long-term site remediation projects.  Our attorneys are constantly monitoring and participating in the stakeholder process for proposed revisions to environmental land use law, to ensure our client’s projects are adjusted if needed, and completed with their goals achieved.