HOW TO BUILD A VILLAGE TOWN, PART III

Process

 We turn real estate development upside down.

The norm is for the developer to buy an option on the land, seek rezoning, subdivide and in the last step find the buyers. Conventional development is a high-risk, high-profit business driven by pecuniary interest. There is nothing wrong with this approach to business, except that it does not give the buyers the full potential of their purchasing power. We have found another way to approach real estate development that has a broader set of goals, more long-term and more social in focus.

With the VillageTown, instead of find-land, rezone, develop and find buyers, we find the buyers first, securing conditional rezoning and then find the land to develop. The buyers participate in the rezoning and we develop the land to meet their needs and aspirations. We begin with the people.

Once we begin, we open a dialogue with one or several competing local governments to explore the right combination of host, land and opportunity. In today's economy, the prospect of a completely sustainable development that will not add burden to the tax base, but to the contrary increase wealth and pay taxes on it, should be most attractive to local governments.

When the best location is found, a conditional agreement is signed in which the host jurisdiction and the organizing company, in which both parties agree on the size, scale and scope of the VillageTown. This agreement addresses matters related to who does what, taxation and secures commitment from the host jurisdiction to the Dynamic Engagement process. The terms of rezoning are agreed. In cooperation with the host jurisdiction, the last step is to find the right land and begin development. 

Actually there are several ways for a VillageTown to begin, and it ultimately depends on who or what comes forward first. The variables include funding, volunteers calling for a VillageTown for their region, land, politics and most importantly, the passion of the people who want to live there. A project can be driven by one or several of these forces.

If the land has already been acquired and the VillageTown commits to building there, it has no political leverage. Instead, the process shifts to the bureaucracy where appointed staff have procedures in place designed for the adversarial developer-versus-the-public proposed developments. The official’s job is to protect the public from to the excesses of the developer whose job is to make a profit. Such adversarial processes are not appropriate for the VillageTown concept and approach, because the VillageTown uses a planning model that aligns the project with the public interest. For this reason, in the absence of a wholly committed local government, it is better that the VillageTown not commit to the land until it has come to an accord with the host local government.

Imagine the response one will get if one or two villages for a VillageTown are already subscribed with people who want to live in a VillageTown in the designated region. With the people having come first, a VillageTown becomes an attractive prospect for most local governments. It has minimal adverse impact on the neighbors, on the roads, the infrastructure or the taxpayers. It brings construction jobs and an ongoing economic engine that is not dependent on the regional economy. Thus, it can be expected that once local government elected officials understand the idea, they will offer concessions to win the VillageTown for their jurisdiction. Rather than seek tax breaks or other concessions that burden the host’s taxpayers, the VillageTown will ask that as policy makers, the elected officials commit to a different way of doing business that protects the local community, but frees the process from the downtime and circular time that hurts the outcome.

Having said this, reality has a funny way of unfolding in its own way. In some cases, the host government may come first, offering to do whatever is necessary to make a VillageTown happen in their jurisdiction. In other cases, the right land-owner may step forward and have the right relationship with the host jurisdiction to secure the zoning and permission required. In all these variations, it is essential to maintain perspective; that the paramount priority is to serve the people who will live there.

Right now we are looking for the people who want to raise their families, or grow their businesses, or just live and work among the people who want to live in a Village Town community.  There are enough people with small businesses and diverse skills and talents in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area alone who could populate a Village Town in rural Eastern Missouri.  Let me know if you are one of them.