How to Zone Extraordinary Projects—Zoning and Regulatory Issues (Online Seminar)

A pre-recorded streaming video replay from the September 2016 webcast, How to Zone Extraordinary Projects—Zoning and Regulatory Issues.

In this seminar, Dan Slone will address how a locality can develop the right vision to guide developers in their applications, and not only remove the regulatory barriers to building great places, but also enact ordinances that encourage the best kinds of development. He will examine the ways that implementation ordinances, such as site plan and subdivision ordinances, can undermine the policies being pursued in rezonings. Exploring incentives for innovation or alignment, he will explain the difference between “artisanal urbanism” and “assembly line urbanism.”

Mr. Slone will examine the zoning process through the eyes of citizens, suggesting new tools for public engagement, educating and informing the public (what to look for, how to help projects get better, how to simultaneously oppose and improve, how to crowdsource funds for alternatives, how to use “spark projects” to explore alternatives), and balancing the interests of the general public with the interests of neighbors.

Finally, Mr. Slone will instruct how developers can assemble great projects by starting with a different project standard and using “triple bottom line” thinking. He will discuss communications in a new world of sometimes intense and personal hostility and the use of visualization and communication tools to get across ideas. He will also address concepts such as “planned densification” and how, with community support, these can be permitted and save substantial capital.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Daniel K. Slone, McGuireWoods LLP / Richmond

Dan Slone is a partner in the Richmond office of the international law firm McGuireWoods LLP.  He represents property owners developing innovative new land use strategies for more sustainable developments and open spaces, and he counsels product manufacturers regarding the unique opportunities and impediments facing green products.  Over the last two decades Mr. Slone has represented numerous national and international nonprofits such as the U.S. Green Building Council, the World Green Building Council, and EcoDistricts.  He serves on the boards of several nonprofits, including the Congress for the New Urbanism, Bioregional North America (One Planet Communities), and the Resilient Design Institute.  He is cited consistently on lists of “top lawyers” for businesses, and he has won awards for his service for the environment.  He is a frequent author of articles and a national speaker regarding green development. 

In the summer of 2008 Mr. Slone and co-author Doris Goldstein wrote A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers and Architects, published by John Wiley & Sons.  In 2007 ULI published Developing Sustainable Planned Communities, which includes Mr. Slone’s chapter on “Maintaining Sustainability.”  In August 2009 the ABA released Green Building and Sustainable Development: The Practical Legal Guide, which contains a chapter he wrote as well.  Mr. Slone has written chapters on energy and legal arrangements in a book on eco-industrial development and a chapter in Sustainable and Resilient Communities.  His most recent publication is an essay entitled “Developing Sustainable Visions for Post-Catastrophic Communities,” published in 2015’s Sustainability in the Global City.

Mr. Slone addresses co-product issues for manufacturers, issues in contracts for gray water and storm water harvesting, regulatory barriers, and product claim issues as well as intellectual property and licensing of alternative technology issues.  He assists owners of large tracts with the monetization of environmental services, and helps develop innovative infill, greenfield, and retrofit projects by drafting new codes, obtaining land use and environmental entitlements, drafting governance documents, and negotiating public/private partnership arrangements.