The Staff Report Before the Hearing
A project that reaches the hearing without the staff on its side will leave with conditions that erase the pro forma.
The staff report is the document the commission reads before the hearing, and the project that has not won the staff before the hearing has already lost it. We read the staff report before the commission does, and we answer the staff's concerns before they become the staff's conditions.
The work is in the weeks before the report is written. We meet the planner, walk the site, and provide the record the staff needs to write a favorable report. A staff report that recommends approval with minor conditions is a hearing that is a formality, and a staff report that is silent on the hard questions is a hearing that is a fight.
The conditions are the cost. A condition that requires a road widening, a buffer, or a phasing limit can erase the pro forma, and the condition is harder to remove after the hearing than before it. We negotiate the conditions with the staff, because the staff is the one who writes them.
A commercial use proposed at the agricultural edge will be decided on the frontage and the buffer, not the use.
An industrial park at the Berea conservation edge will be decided on the ridge and the road, not the jobs.