When we look back on our lives, we remember the milestones we carry to this day: Our first date, first kiss, first car, our first adult job, our first born, as well as moments that have forged our character such as our first heartbreak, first ER visit, or first failure.
And then, in our real estate development careers, our first NIMBY (Not-In-My-Backyard) crisis. My first NIMBY encounter was when I was a Florida mayor back in 1996 conducting a quasi-judicial hearing over a seemingly routine development project. Our planning director was our expert witness, testifying to the merits and benefits of the proposed project. At the start of the hearing, I knew we had a 5-0 vote supporting this good project.
Our planning director was a rising star in the planning department, and in fact, before we started our hearing, the commission recognized his great work and authorized the city manager to give him a raise. However, as the hearing progressed, he was being attacked by my vice mayor who was arguing with him and publicly challenging and disagreeing with his expert testimony. She was obviously upset with him and siding with the small group of about 20 residents who were opposing the project from the peanut gallery. I couldn’t understand how my vice mayor, who just a few minutes earlier, was singing the praises of our planning director and even made the motion for his raise, was now saying his assessment as the city’s expert witness was incompetent. I began to call out the vice mayor for this obvious contradiction when my city manager leaned over to give me an answer that I’ve carried with me to this day. He said, “She [vice mayor] is running for re-election and she is counting the votes in the room.” This was my first encounter with NIMBYism and it taught me valuable lessons that I carry to this day. The project would go on to pass by a vote of 3-2.
A Mayor’s Perspective
Looking back on my three-year term as mayor, I learned how NIMBYism quickly and effectively turned good projects into controversial applications. I also observed how applicants reacted to being blindsided by the opposition. My mayoral position gave me a unique vantage point to manage public hearings from the dais, engaging influencers at community intersections, all while under the media’s microscope. By the time I completed my term, I had learned that land-use development was legal, logical, and linear. However, I had learned that NIMBYism easily undermined the application process with its emotional, political, and chaotic disruptions. As I went on to pursue my public affairs career, I never thought my mayoral experiences would underwrite my professional journey as an expert in the field of defeating NIMBYism. I owe my career to those 20 opponents who showed up at city hall and scared the crap out of my vice mayor. Nearly 30 years later, vocal minorities are still scaring the crap out of local, part-time public officials who determine the fate of countless real estate projects every year. Note: Portions of this article were used from the Amazon bestselling book, Never Lose to NIMBY Opposition Again, written by Patrick Slevin and published in 2021.