Municipality Due Diligence for Development Projects: Strategies for Avoiding Developer-Sided Agreements
Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Government
- event Date
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
-
This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
This CLE webinar will discuss the issues a municipality should consider when selecting and negotiating a construction or development agreement with a developer. The program will review what cities and towns should think about from both business and legal perspectives.
Mr. Makarious represents clients on municipal, airport, environmental, and construction matters. His airport work includes representing airports around the country on the negotiation of complex lease transactions with airlines, including airline use and lease agreements and agreements with airline fuel consortia. Mr. Makarious worked to revise the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Aeronautics regulations, and works with the Department’s Aeronautics Division on matters regarding the use and regulation of drones. He has also assisted a private manufacturer of drone technologies in obtaining a waiver from the FAA for the use of drones beyond the visual line of sight, one of the first such waivers ever granted by the FAA.
Ms. Pickering-Cook helps both public and private sector clients navigate issues related to construction, land use and real estate. She is skilled at drafting agreements in those areas to protect her clients, and strategically litigating on their behalf when it is necessary. Ms. Pickering-Cook has successfully litigated a broad range of real estate, construction and land use matters – including permitting and zoning issues – for her clients at all levels in state and federal courts. She is also part of an innovative Construction Project Delivery Think Group made up of national construction industry leaders that are working on finding technologically-based solutions to hurdles faced in the project delivery process.
When considering development agreements, municipalities can get taken advantage of with respect to a number of critical issues because they are not as specialized or experienced as the developers who want to do business with them.
Municipalities need more training on how to navigate these public-private partnerships. They also need additional instruction and insights about all financing structures available, including tax exempt bonds.
Without knowing what questions to ask and what red flags to watch for, a municipality can end up with one-sided development agreements weighted in the developer's favor, with potentially dire financial consequences.
Listen as this experienced panel discusses the issues a municipality should be considering when selecting and negotiating a development agreement with a developer.
- Defining due diligence for each project
- Business issues
- Legal issues
- Strategies for municipalities
The panel will review these and other critical issues:
- What are the most important sections of the development agreements for municipalities?
- What financing structures are available for public-private partnerships?
- How can cities shift the risk to developers or at least keep the risks even?
