Rezonings, variances, site plans, special use permits, plats, hearings and appeals, named, explained, and carried.
This is the work. Everything else we do either leads up to an approval or follows from one.
Below is every approval type we carry, in plain language. If you already know which one you need, skip to it. If you’re not sure what your situation is called, this is the fastest way to find out, and knowing the right name for it is worth more than it sounds, because it’s the first thing a planning department will ask you.
Rezoning
Changing what the land is legally allowed to be used for. It goes to elected officials, it involves a public hearing, and it takes months. When somebody says a project is “stuck,” this is usually what’s stuck.
The first thing we’ll ask: what are you trying to rezone it to?
Text amendment
Changing the ordinance itself rather than the map. Rarer and slower than a rezoning, and sometimes the only path when the code simply doesn’t contemplate what you want to build.
The first thing we’ll ask: is this a rezoning, or does the text itself need to change?
Site plan approval
Your proposed layout checked against the rules, parking, buffers, access, stormwater, setbacks. Usually administrative, handled at staff level. Rarely dramatic, frequently slow, and the number of review rounds is the thing that actually costs you.
The first thing we’ll ask: how many rounds of staff comments are you into?
Variance
Relief from one specific dimensional rule, a setback, a height, a lot width, because something about the property makes compliance a genuine hardship. Heard by a Board of Adjustment, and the hardship has to be about the land, not about your pro forma.
The first thing we’ll ask: what’s the hardship on the property itself?
Special use permit
A use the code allows only with conditions attached, and a hearing to set them. The use itself isn’t in question; the terms are. Which means the negotiation is the whole engagement.
The first thing we’ll ask: what conditions are they trying to attach?
Subdivision & plat approval
Splitting a parcel into lots and getting the resulting map approved and recorded. Preliminary plat first, final plat after the infrastructure is in. Increasingly, an incomplete submittal here earns a denial rather than a condition, which is a different schedule and a different cost than it was a few years ago.
The first thing we’ll ask: preliminary or final?
Hearings & appeals
Presenting the case to a board, and challenging a decision that went the wrong way. This is where twenty-two years of having sat on the other side of the dais pays.
The first thing we’ll ask: when’s your hearing?
What carrying it actually involves
Naming the approval is the easy part. The engagement is everything between the name and the vote: the pre-submittal meeting, the application, the staff comments and the revisions, the community information meeting, the neighbors who show up, the presentation to the board, and the conditions negotiated at the end that will govern your project for the next three years.
We do that work, and we do it having read what that body has done before, which policies its staff reaches for, what it has approved on comparable sites, what the recurring objections are and whether they have ever worked.
What we won’t tell you
That we can get it approved. Nobody can promise that, and a consultant who does is telling you something about themselves rather than about your project.
What we will tell you, early and plainly, is what the record says your odds look like, what would improve them, and when the honest answer is that this one isn’t worth the money.
How it’s priced
Scoped per project after a call. The variables are which approval, how contested, and how many review cycles the jurisdiction runs, none of which can be honestly guessed from a rate card.
The six approvals
- Rezoning
Changing what the land is legally allowed to be. The big one, and usually the one that’s stuck. - Variance
Permission to differ from one specific rule, because of something about the property itself. - Special use permit
Also called a conditional use permit. The use is allowed. The terms are the negotiation. - Site plan approval
Rarely dramatic. Frequently slow. The review cycles are what cost you. - Subdivision and plats
Dividing the land, and getting the map recorded. Do not assume this part is ministerial. - Hearings and appeals
Presenting the case, and challenging a decision that went the wrong way.
Common questions
How long does a rezoning take?
Months rather than weeks, and the count depends on the jurisdiction more than on the project. Most of the calendar goes before the hearing: the pre-submittal meeting, the application, the staff comments and the revisions, and usually a community information meeting. The hearing itself is the short part. We will give you a realistic range for your board before you file, because we will have read what that body has done on comparable sites.
What is the difference between a variance and a special use permit?
A variance is relief from one specific dimensional rule, a setback, a height, a lot width, and the hardship has to come from the property itself rather than from your pro forma. It is heard by a Board of Adjustment. A special use permit is for a use the code already allows, but only with conditions attached and a hearing to set them. With a variance you are arguing about the rule. With a special use permit the use is not in question, the terms are, and negotiating those conditions is the whole engagement.
Do I need a rezoning or a text amendment?
A rezoning changes what your land is allowed to be used for, which is a change to the map. A text amendment changes the ordinance itself, for everyone it applies to. Text amendments are rarer and slower, and they are sometimes the only path when the code does not contemplate what you want to build. Most projects need the rezoning. If yours needs the text, that is worth knowing before you spend months on the wrong application.
Can you guarantee the approval?
No, and nobody can. A consultant who promises an approval is telling you something about themselves rather than about your project. What we will tell you, early and plainly, is what the record says your odds look like, what would improve them, and when the honest answer is that this one is not worth the money.
What does an entitlement engagement cost?
It is scoped per project after a call. The variables are which approval you need, how contested it is likely to be, and how many review cycles that jurisdiction actually runs, and none of those can be honestly guessed from a rate card. If you want a fixed price read on a single parcel first, that is what a QuickCheck is.
Tell us which one you’re facing, or describe the situation and we’ll tell you what it’s called.