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WAREHOUSE/DISTRIBUTION
Gaining Community Approval for Your Next Big-Box Project Partnerships with local economic developers and other community stakeholders are key to a company getting approval to site a big-box distribution center. By Benton C. Blaine, Vice President; and Joseph Beasley, Assistant Vice President; Infrastructure and Economic Development, McGuireWoods Consulting LLC
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t’s no secret companies are finding it more difficult to locate big-box distribution centers at desired strategic areas and sites. Elongated planning and zoning permitting review timelines, political pressure from elected officials and citizens criticizing the quality of jobs and increased traffic, and restrictive ordinances and technical standards targeting distribution facilities are all challenges that companies face. Local governments push back on the location of big-box distribution centers in their communities for a number of reasons. Limited land availability within a community’s tax boundaries — specifically limited industrially zoned land — puts pressure on local governments to create restrictions against distribution projects in an effort to attract projects with larger taxable investments and a greater number of higher paying jobs. According to Cushman & Wakefield’s Industrial Marketbeat reports,1 329.9 million square feet of industrial property was under construction in the fourth quarter of 2019, making leaps to 656.5 million square feet in the second quarter of 2022. As industrial development activity increases, local leaders feel greater pressure to be more selective in what uses are permitted, much less incentivized.
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Opposing residents may exert political pressures on governing boards, especially at public hearings for a rezoning or incentive award, by voicing criticisms against heavy truck traffic, industrial building aesthetics, and environmental impacts. Local decision-makers, in turn, may lack an understanding of how companies may mitigate these criticisms and the positive impacts that a distribution project will have on the community in terms of tax base, jobs, and the faster delivery of products
to industries and consumers within the region. Local leaders may feel a need to preserve the limited labor remaining in a community for perceived bigger and better projects in the future. Pressure may also come from well-connected and established residents to preserve the existing character of the community by calling for the denial of any rezoning or imposing restrictive ordinances and standards that stunt important job-creating industrial development in the community.
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8/25/22 1:21 PM