Notes From My Knapsack 2-18-07
Jeff Gill

Developers Develop

Developers develop projects.

I know that sounds painfully obvious, but as George Orwell liked to say, sometimes the hardest work is facing what’s right in front of us.

A developer, by definition, wants to develop.

First, the upside (yeah, there’s a downside, give me a minute). Developers by their very nature see something that others don’t see. They see homes, businesses, streets to connect them, infrastructure to service them, and even a community surrounding them. They see opportunity, possibility, and yes, profit. Which is not always a bad thing, OK?

Developers do see something different than many of us when they look at a green field or a woody hillside. Even on vacation, or in a national park, they look at a slope and think "how many of which kind of somethings could I put in there? If I put in fifty condos at 12% or build seventeen estate homes at 40%, I’m golden unless the market leaves me with over 5% empty…" and so on. It doesn’t mean they really want to do it, but it’s like me reading the front page of the Dispatch and circling the typos and usage errors. Writers write, and developers develop.

Developers have to be persistent, and think beyond a quarterly forecast, or a biennial budget, or the next election. Ten years is a fairly common timeframe for most developers, which makes them some of the most forward looking people in the area. Whether they’re of a mood to share their forecasts or projections is another matter, because developers aren’t rare. They have competition, competing for green space (cheapest to develop on), tax breaks (which aren’t, contrary to belief, limitless), or financing (ditto). Successful developers are rare; developers going through bankruptcy, not rare.

Then the downside. Developers are rarely into parks or reserve public lands, unless it helps block a competitor’s plan. They don’t actually see any land as permanently set aside as much as not politically viable…at this time. Developers know there are enough people interested in preserving green space that it isn’t their concern. Developers develop, and greenies try to set aside land.

For now.

From Granville to Gratiot, from Pataskala to Perry Township, Licking County is already sized up, planned and parceled up, and vastly overbuilt – in the minds of developers. They’ve gonna do whatever they can do, with the most optimal profit, just as farmers will sell their grain and plants sell product, looking for the best price point and market saturation. And pushing just past it.

There’s a fellow I know who’s been getting quite a bit of flak, behind his back and to his face, over objecting to a recent green space initiative. Actually, when I told him I would likely vote for it, he was nothing but encouraging. It was the task of keeping the wider public aware of the ongoing nature of this question – how much building can we sustain? – that motivated him.

More to the point, I have a strong suspicion that we just saw a very skilled, experienced local developer play a community for chumps at a rigged card game. When every quote they have to give is ominous and threatening, and their phone banks are making calls filled with every loaded adjective to make people feel pushed into a corner, I wonder. It doesn’t take a skilled student of human nature to know that Licking Countians hate to be told they have no choice. Why would those supposedly trying to pass a bond levy push those buttons?

So now we have the hard work of many sincere community leaders, subtly undermined by way too many mailings, push poll phone banks, and a confrontative public stance by the owner of the land (a developer, note), ending in defeat.

So when a hearing over annexation someday is asking "Is this going to be a problem for the communities and schools affected?" the answer will come – "hey, they had a chance to vote and said they didn’t care."

Developers develop. Only the community, in dialogue amongst themselves, can build community.If a developer comes to your community and says they want to help, it could be. But just remember, developers develop.

Or am I repeating myself?

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and supply preacher around central Ohio. Tell him a story through knapsack77@gmail.com