Conference and expo highlight land development markets, trends, techniques, and solutions.

The Land Development West 2008 Conference & Expo, Nov. 13-14, 2008, at the Sheraton Universal Studios in Los Angeles, is a national event bringing together professionals responsible for land and community development to explore ways to better accommodate growth while ensuring healthy, attractive communities in which to live and work. The event is produced by ZweigWhite, publisher of CE News.

The conference program includes the following themes:

• Planning for the future: Exploring land use, infrastructure, and transportation;
• Pursuit of sustainability: Moving from abstract to action;
• Identifying opportunities: Finding work in today’s land development environment;
• Development design trends: Horizontal, vertical, and the in-between; and
• Technical innovation: Revolutionary land development techniques and solutions.

Additionally, an exhibit area allows attendees to view the latest products and services relevant to land development, including stormwater management systems, specialized engineering services, drainage products, surveying and mapping services, erosion control, site design software, bridge solutions, landscape design, environmental specialists, sewer systems, retaining walls, and more.

Chairman of the Land Development West 2008 Conference is Blake Murillo, P.E., LEED AP, CEO of Psomas. Murillo, the firm’s leader in sustainability, participates in many sustainability organizations, including the U.S. Green Building Council, and is a published author on smart growth and the newest LEED initiative, LEED for Neighborhood Development.

Keynote presentations
The following five keynote presentations are scheduled during the conference:

Looking ahead: Land development market trends and industry forecast—Richard Gollis, principal and founder of The Concord Group, will provide strategic insight about current trends in real estate development and land use, including green infrastructure, transportation-oriented development, regional approaches to land use planning, higher densities, affordable housing, downtown revitalization, and urban design. He will explore the impact of possible energy shortages and global warming on the real estate industry. Gollis also will address skyrocketing development-related costs and highlight favored investment markets and property sectors in the United States.

Growing cooler: Urban development and climate change—Reid Ewing, research and associate professor, National Center for Smart Growth, University of Maryland, will provide an overview of the new book Growing Cooler, including its findings and implications for urban planning, land development, and public policy. This book was developed as part of the Urban Land Institute’s sustainability initiative, in cooperation with Smart Growth America, Center for Clean Air Policy, and National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education. Ewing will cover the evidence on urban development and its impacts on driving, and policy and program changes forthcoming at the local, regional, state, and federal levels to make green, compact neighborhoods more available and more affordable.

Land development in urban settings: Grand Avenue project—According to William A. Witte, president and managing partner, The Related Companies of California, land development has typically connoted planning and developing raw land on the urban fringe, where the end product is more horizontal than vertical. Today, however, there is an increasing focus on redeveloping underutilized land in or near the urban core, often as the centerpiece of downtown revitalization efforts. In these instances, there is a premium on more vertical development. Focusing on downtown Los Angeles and Related’s Grand Avenue project, Witte will discuss the technical challenges of vertically integrated, mixed-use communities and the rewards of delivering on these market-changing projects.

Forcing a confrontation between environmental regulations and smart growth principles—By requiring actions to reduce CO2 emissions, California’s AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, may well be the catalyst that reconciles the conflict between smart growth measures that would reduce dependence on the automobile and traditional environmental/zoning regulations that are often in direct conflict. A panel, led by Blake Murillo, P.E., LEED AP, CEO, Psomas, will explore the roots of the conflict, as well as efforts underway in California to remove the barriers to smart growth. What happens in California may well set the stage for similar dialogues across the country.

For the health of it: Making the connection to land use and transportation—Where and how we live impacts our health. This simple concept has been the topic of increasing attention, especially from public health officials concerned with the alarming increase in obesity in the United States. As a result, public health departments in many jurisdictions are engaging with planners, developers, and policymakers to discuss how we can create places that encourage residents to be more physically active and eat healthier food. In this session, Paul Zykofsky, director, Center for Livable Communities, Local Government Commission, will explore how this is happening and how developers can play a role in creating these healthy communities.

Focus sessions
As of press time, information was available on the following topics that are scheduled for presentation during five concurrent focus sessions spread throughout the two-day event.

A blue print for green retail—IKEA Brooklyn opened on June 18, 2008, with a transportation plan that avoids traffic chaos. Free ferries, running about every 15 minutes, bring shoppers from Manhattan to Brooklyn’s Red Hook Pier built especially by IKEA. Bus stations were built within the store’s footprint and city bus lines were extended. Free shuttles whisk people from subways to the store. People arrive by transit and leave with their furniture by Zip-car. The carbon-footprint generated by cars to IKEA has been halved. This presentation by Samuel I. Schwartz, president and CEO, Sam Schwartz Engineering, explores the plan and its results.

Designing the project-focused firm—Firms engaged in all aspects of land development must measure success in terms of successful project delivery. Upon a foundation of successful projects, we build a successful project portfolio and a continually successful firm. As such, we need to gear all of our strategies toward building a firm focused on projects. Giles Jacknain, principal, ZweigWhite, will present how to develop and implement operational, organizational, and cultural strategies that will refocus firms on the basic building blocks of success—projects.

Overcoming the top five hurdles to technology implementation—New technology advances can make our professional lives much easier when the implementation goes smoothly. But a failed technology upgrade can have a far greater impact than just the lost time and wasted effort that went into the unsuccessful project. This session by Mark Scacco, P.E., president, Engineered Efficiency, Inc., will identify several obstacles that impede success and how to develop a plan to surmount them, reaping the benefits that new technology offers.

Rolling With the Flow: Developing land in flood-prone areas—Residential developments that are located near waterways are attractive and popular with homebuyers. However, proximity to water may increase the likelihood of flooding, especially when developed areas have been reclaimed from flood-prone areas. In this session, Duane Barrett, P.E., CFM, R. G. Miller Engineers, Inc., explores potential problems associated with flood plain development and discusses ways in which those problems may be successfully addressed. He will explain what the 100-year flood plain standards really mean and will also dispel some of the myths about flooding.

Strategies for sustaining growth in a declining market—With energy prices at an all time high, public funds limited, the housing industry suffering, and inflation on a comeback, these are challenging times. Michael Sutton, P.E., president of Infrastructure Engineering, Inc., will discuss current issues facing the land development industry and explore strategies to overcome these obstacles and prosper in today’s marketplace.

Successful brownfields redevelopment through integrated risk management planning—Panelists Timothy Wood, P.G., CHG, senior hydrogeologist, AMEC Geomatrix, Inc; Anne-Marie Jones, development manager, The California Endowment; Steve Dietrich, president, Financial Research Group; and Bruce P. Howard, Esq., partner, Latham & Watkins LLP, will discuss how a successful redevelopment project requires integrated risk management planning from project conception through construction and cost recovery.

Sustainability and infrastructure: How to make sustainability pay—Laura Bonich, P.E., LEED AP, vice president, Nolte Associates, Inc., will highlight master plan community case studies from Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California, where design approaches that promote sustainability decreased resource consumption and significantly reduced land development costs associated with traditional infrastructure.

Who shifted my transportation planning paradigm? — Ronald Milam, AICP, principal, Fehr & Peers, maintains that a combination of transportation funding constraints, climate change, and a focus on creating sustainable development are shifting today’s transportation planning paradigm. The shift is dramatic as it introduces new analysis tools, methods, and performance measures that most communities have not used. Further, the shift is being accelerated by politics and legal challenges. This session will describe the new paradigm and explain how it will influence future planning and impact studies for land use development and transportation infrastructure projects.

White Rock Center: A public-private approach in an atomic city — The White Rock Center Master Plan/Economic Development Strategy outlines a detailed vision and implementation strategy for the small town in Los Alamos County, N.M. Stimuli included a strong desire to revitalize a commercial core that has enjoyed minimal success in recent years and new land acquisition from the Department of Energy. The community’s vision is to create a thriving, active focal point with a range of services and amenities. Jay Renkens, AICP, MIG Portland, and Joshua A. Birks, senior associate, Economic & Planning Systems, will identify the challenges and opportunities associated with mixed-use, denser development in traditional small town, and corridor-oriented areas; discuss development strategies for White Rock and small towns with similar conditions; and explore potential funding mechanisms and incentives for public- and private-sector development.

Wrestling with restrictions on redevelopment — Despite impacts associated with the housing and financial crisis, cities and counties continue to consider imposing additional restrictions on the redevelopment of existing uses. This session with Nicki Carlsen, attorney, Weston Benshoof LLP, explores some of the restrictions municipalities have devised on the conversion of certain uses to other uses, such as the prohibition on the conversion of industrial lands to housing or the preservation of questionable historic resources, as well as some solutions. Carlsen will also discuss the complex environmental review process for redevelopment projects on developed land and how to unravel the process to make it work for you.

Each attendee at the Land Development West 2008 Conference & Expo will receive a certificate of attendance indicating the total number of Professional Development Hours (PDHs) and Continuing Education Credits (CEUs) received. Attendees may submit this certificate to their respective state agencies for professional credits; however, each state differs and some states may not accept this certificate. Conference attendees participating in all sessions offered during the conference will be eligible for a maximum of 11 credit hours.

Updates to the Land Development West 2008 conference program, as well as registration and hotel information, is available online at www.ldwest.com, or call 800-466-6275.