I have attended over 50 Development Information Meetings.
Have you received an invitation to a Development Information Meeting (DIM) for a proposed development or other issue in your neighbourhood or city? Maybe you heard from a neighbour, or saw an ad in the local paper, or became aware through social media. This strategy will help you with your initial shock and confusion, and then give you possible steps to take if you choose to become involved. This strategy has been developed through 12 years of watching and learning about local and regional government and how their processes do or don’t work for residents.
Most often your City will require that the developer has a meeting to introduce the proposed development to the surrounding neighbourhood. Your City will have a policy document and also one for developers. You will need to confirm that your City actually follows these policies and procedures.
Please read the following three chapters first.
1 – Introduction
How can this be happening? This page will help you understand the ‘bigger picture’ of what is happening in the region and in your city and in particular, to you and your neighbourhood.
This chapter will help change your perspective in minutes. Be part of the solution. Add wonderful affordable housing units to your city, the region and your neighbourhood. Change the way development is happening.
3 – The Outline of the Strategy (available in the handbook)
Read this before taking any action. I believe that it could help keep you emotionally sane, help organize your campaign, and see changes made to what is being planned.
Before the meeting
Make contact with as many people as possible
You, and other neighbours need to be talking to people face-to-face. Late at night is when you can be making contact with others on the phone or on the internet.
Make contact with your City Council and City staff
Send an email to each Councillor separately to ask if they have heard about this DIM and whether they will be attending.
Contact the Project Manager. Also, contact specific Department Managers that this proposed project will impact. Start with Planning, Parks (if there will be a play area), and Bylaws (to find out how they deal with parking, site maintenance, etc.).
Comment on how many neighbours expect to attend. In your email, comment only on the quick notification timeframe.
Make contact with the developer
A bold move, one that I never thought about until months into the campaign:
Reach out to the development team as soon as you have received your notice about the Development Information Meeting. Indicate that you and your neighbours are all planning to arrive at the same time and that they would appreciate a presentation format where everyone could get the same information at the same time. Comment on how many neighbours you expect will attend.
Ask if coffee will be served. OK: here’s my thought. The development team is essentially lobbying you and your neighbours to be able to build in your neighbourhood. Either don’t serve anything, or they should make an effort to treat you nicely and provide decent treats. I have been to several DIMs where what they bring is near the expiry date, and has been hastily bought, at the last minute, at a corner store.
Make contact with other stakeholders
You want as many people as possible in your neighbourhood, the surrounding area, and the city, to be aware of what is being planned. ‘Stand and consider (available in the handbook)’ what is around you. Stores, schools, parks, local amenities. How will they be affected by the construction phase and the adjustment phase? Tell them. You might win some allies for your campaign.
I am not impressed by where many construction workers park their vehicles. Especially those big (or huge) work trucks. Bad, if it is halfway into a driveway. Worse, if it impedes sight lines at an intersection.
A large building is being proposed within our urban centre. The site is surrounded by a senior’s centre, a senior’s residence, City Hall, a civic square, a recreational facility, an elementary school, the local library, several townhouse complexes, and single detached homes and three daycares. (I love to see the line of children walking to the nearby parks.)
I am sure you could find many who would join your campaign if they were contacted, in person, and informed about the proposal, the safety concerns, and a possible parking nightmare during construction. Within walking distance of the site there are also local businesses who would probably object strongly if their customer parking spaces were being used by construction workers.
Find out if your issue has already been before Council
The Project Manager will be able to give you this information. I would be more than a little irate if my City Council had discussed the proposed development that would impact my neighbourhood, without informing the surrounding neighbours beforehand.
Preparing your neighbours
Drop-in format vs Presentation
Currently, most meetings have a drop-in format. This allows individual neighbours to attend when it is convenient for them, and to ask their questions of the developers, their team, and any Councillors or City staff who might be present. This format helps to separate neighbours from each other and makes them less likely to form a group. Developers like to divide and conquer.
If the meeting has a drop-in format, take the initiative. Speak to the developer ahead of time and suggest a formal presentation followed by questions by residents. Also, suggest to your neighbours that it would be best if everyone arrived at the same time to hear the presentation and the answers to any questions that are asked. Some meetings do begin with a presentation, so it’s important for neighbours to show up at the beginning to hear the entire presentation and present themselves as a group. Refuse to be spoken to individually.
Numbers speak louder than words
‘Beg, borrow and steal.’
Bring as many neighbours, friends, family, and ‘extras’ with you to the Development Information Meeting. Attending as a group will make Council and the development team aware how many residents have concerns about what is being proposed and that you are united in your concerns. If the Development Information Meeting is online, make sure to have as many people/devices online as possible.
The Meeting
Arrive early.
Come with other team members. Park at a distance to leave space for late-arriving residents. How about a few signs (with your ‘best results and best reasons’ ‘sound bites’)? Remember, everyone will be entering through the same entrance, including the development team, Councillors, City staff, and other stakeholders.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
How about bringing large photos depicting what your street will look like during the construction phase, photos of similar projects and photos of the neighbourhood adjustment scenarios you might encounter?
Greet residents boldly.
Those arriving could be coming to hear more about the proposed development and/or they could be arriving angry. Team members could wear name tags. You could have nametags available for neighbours to wear. This helps neighbours get to know each other. Carrying a clipboard will let neighbours know that someone is in charge and let all other stakeholders know that the neighbourhood is organizing.
If there is time, talk your neighbours through what will happen at the meeting. Your handout will quickly inform neighbours of the goals for the meeting. Your sign-in sheet should already have several names filled in, so that neighbours feel they are joining a group, rather than being the first name on the list.
Solidify your identity as a group.
Give everyone a handout when they arrive with a colourful file folder, to solidify your identity as a group. How ominous to see an organized group at the Development Information Meeting!
The handout will remind your neighbours that this campaign will be different. This campaign will be, firstly, about the disrespectful process that the City and the developer have used to inform the neighbourhood about the proposed development plans. At the meeting, when it is time for questions, the team leaders and then everyone else should, firstly, state clearly and concisely how and when they heard about the proposal.
Your actions during the meeting
Ask for introductions
Make sure that the entire development team introduce themselves. This could include developers, architects, landscape architects, real estate agents, etc. Discover if the Mayor or any City Councillors are in attendance. Discover if the Project Manager and other City staff are present. Discover if any other stakeholders are present.
Ask about the quick notification process
They’ve presented their plan. Now it’s your turn. Imagine the moment. You make the first comment about the quick notification process. Then, each and every resident tells their story of how they were notified. Each resident comments on this disrespectful process.
“I found my notice on my front doorstep on Sunday afternoon,” or “I saw the ad in the local paper on the day it was delivered,” or “I never received a notice. My neighbour told me on Saturday,” or “I was away and didn’t pick up my mail from my mailbox until yesterday.”
No one should use the term “public engagement.” See: The most important aspects of your campaign, and The Reality of Public Engagement (available in the handbook)
No one should speak about their areas of concern (yet).
Ask questions about your areas of concern
Everyone should comment on the short notification timeline. Then, and only then should the fun begin. You and your neighbours are going to be respectful. But you and your neighbours will use your well thought-out ‘sound bites’ to best effect. This action will build solidarity. Those hearing your words will recognize that you are organized and your concerns need to be taken seriously. You are ensuring that everyone hears the same information.
Make sure all your neighbours sign in and complete the developer’s/City’s comment form after the meeting. These comments will be included in the City report. (Personal information is redacted.)
Listen carefully to the answers that are given and challenge the obvious ones
I attended a Development Information Meeting for a proposed development in a ravine. The housing units were placed haphazardly on the surrounding slopes. There would be several ponds situated throughout the site, with fountains in the middle, to deal with groundwater. Everyone, think mosquitoes. I asked a member of the development team about a potential problem with mosquitoes. He said that they had never thought of that possibility. In this day and age of viruses that are spread by mosquitoes I cry, “Foul!”
Any comments about local schools should be specific to your neighbourhood schools, not those collectively in the district. Your neighbours will probably have some good stories to tell about the ongoing influx of new residents using local amenities, the lengthening waiting lists, with no land and no plans to build more facilities.
Discover the next steps in their process
You will have read the City DIM policies and the guidelines for the developer. You are aware of what probably happens next. It is important, however, for the City and the developer to answer this question out loud so that everyone clearly hears what their process is.
Find out when the developer and the City began discussing the project. The architectural drawings will have a date on them.
Gathering contact information: Sign In Sheet
If you have enough willing neighbours, station them outside the venue and inside the meeting room with clipboards. Choose neighbours who understand your plan and will remain calm.
Use a legal-sized clipboard to give more writing space for everyone’s name, address, email address, and telephone number(s). Make sure you can read what is written. (You will not have access to the developer’s sign-in list of those who attend, until a City report is written—which could be several weeks or months away.) Make sure all your neighbours and other city residents sign in.
Your sign-in sheet should include the name/location of the proposed project. Include the specific number of units proposed and the style of the project. (Example: 25 3-storey townhomes with tandem garage parking). Include other basic information.
Your sign-in sheets for the meetings could serve as a formal/informal petition so choose your words wisely. Your City will probably have a policy on petitions.
Development Information Meeting: handout for during the meeting
Some neighbours won’t be able to make the start of the meeting. For many neighbours, this will probably be their first meeting of this type, and you want to help them become part of your group rather than remain as an individual resident with concerns. A handout allows you to give them pertinent information while the meeting is in process.
Choose one paper colour to use throughout your campaign that residents will come to recognize. Hand out matching coloured file folders with your handout. Why a file folder? File folders are easier to find than a sheet of paper, they are sturdier for carrying to a meeting, and they indicate that you belong to a group. Your team and troops can add their research to a file folder.
The information on your handout will be your campaign’s first ‘sound bite’. It should include the name of your group, the specific address of the proposed development, a sentence that summarizes what is being proposed and a sentence that summarizes your proposal.
This handout is meant to calm residents during the meeting. It is meant to be tangible hope for those who are upset or frustrated or angry. It is a game plan for all—but especially for those who are impulsive and say whatever comes to mind!
We are campaigning differently by speaking to process and areas of concern as two separate issues.
Next:
- The team leaders will ask initial questions.
- The team leaders will talk about how they were notified about the proposed development.
- Everyone in attendance will comment firstly and ONLY on how they were notified.
- The team leaders will summarize the process that their neighbourhood has experienced.
- Then, and only then will the usual ‘areas of concern’ be mentioned.
The team leaders should go first, to model respectful behaviour, brilliant ‘sound bites’ and brevity. Then all the residents in attendance can make their comments and ask their questions.
Development Information Meeting: Handout for after the meeting
I have created handouts for Development Information Meetings, and City Council Meetings and Public Hearings. This package of handouts is available for download for $50. I wish I had these handouts for my first campaign.
This handout will include contact information for you and other team members, and information about a social media page where all pertinent information will be available.
Make sure to give a time and place for your one and only team meeting for concerned residents.
Your social media page
Your social media page/website should be for the exchange of information, not angry words and therefore should have one or more administrators.
It should contain:
- Notices of upcoming team and Council meetings
- Email addresses of each Council member, the Chief Administrative Officer, the City Project Manager, and the developer and as many of their team’s email addresses.
- Other stakeholders’ contact information
- A list of project timelines, so that neighbours can easily find/check what has/hasn’t been said
- Directions for how to find the Agenda on the City website, as well as the Development Information Meeting policies for the City and the Developer.
- A growing list of ‘sound bites’
- A link to this website
It should be open to other residents and neighbourhoods and groups – you may need them for the Public Hearing
Be specific about your area(s) of concern
Remember, neighbourhoods have been expressing all the usual concerns at this type of meeting for decades. Therefore, City Councils and City staff and developers might not listen too carefully to what you are saying. See: All the usual concerns (available in the handbook)
I suggest you think strategically about how you voice your concerns. One of your goals is to have the ‘opposition’ view your campaign differently than just a group of neighbours complaining.
Some of your areas could include “process,” “specific concerns about the proposed development,” “subject of affordability,” “construction phase,” “neighbourhood adjustment phase,” etc.
The usual concerns are:
- Increased traffic.
- Parking and safety.
- Changes to neighbourhood character.
- Being overlooked and overshadowed.
- View corridors.
- Sound.
- Changes to your home’s value.
- School overcrowding.
- Overwhelming of local amenities such as recreation facilities and hospitals.
- Concerns about increased crime, etc.
You should start with a specific concern and then expand it to include the potential outcomes that you envision. For example, your concerns about parking should refer to frustrated drivers being unable to find a parking spot near where they live, who may park illegally—which could cause dangerous driving/walking situations and could endanger lives. The size of vehicles could also be mentioned, and the danger to pedestrians and other drivers because they often block sight lines.