The following is an excerpt from NIMBY Wars—The Politics of Land Use by P. Michael Saint, founder and CEO of The Saint Consulting Group, Robert J. Flavell, an attorney and expert in land-use strategy and Patrick F. Fox, President of Saint Consulting. In the book, the three authors explain the new, purely political approach that must be made a part of any development plans to succeed.
CHAPTER 4
WHAT IS LAND USE POLITICS?
Land use politics is a new discipline in land use permitting that employs sophisticated political campaign strategies and tactics to help ordinary citizens influence public officials' decision-making process in reaching land use decisions. It is not lobbying, and its practitioners do not engage public officials in discussion on the pros and cons of a development proposal.
Instead, land use politics practitioners facilitate grassroots activism by organizing and assisting citizens in the effective use of their political rights. These include the right to free speech, the right to petition the government for redress of grievances, and the right to assemble, so that the citizens themselves can urge their public officials to act in a way consistent with their wishes.
Land use politics is based on citizen advocacy, not professional lobbying or presentation. The difference is considerable, and the benefits are many. First, nobody in a community is more credible to public officials or fellow citizens than a local taxpayer and voter who expresses concerns and asks questions about a development proposal.
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