Land development - I don't know where to start

[Marietou P.]

We have a couple of properties in Atlanta, Georgia, in very desirable neighborhoods. My brother and I got really lucky during some tax sales. 

Property 1 is 14.7 acres but has two easements: a gas utility running on the site, maybe 3% of the property, and a sewer line that splits the property in half.  The property is also currently zoned as AG1, which also limits us to building 1 property per acre. We are thinking of building some mini mansions once we change the zoning to residential.

Property 2 is 1.57 acres, but a third of it is a pond and is not too far from a previously identified flooding zone. So, it is not clear if it has the potential to flood. We are thinking of building townhouses once we fill in the pond.

I would like to prep both properties for building and finding funding—however, the steps to get there are not very clear to me. Here is my current total plan that was advised to me, which seems pretty good to me. I am struggling with getting the contacts in the area to get this done. So, ANY advice is welcomed. I am new to this, so there may be things that I am not thinking about.

• 1. Do an environmental survey or get a civil engineer? - Do we have a flood zone?
• 2. Get an architect to figure out what can be built there - can help with permits that are needed;
• 3. Get a contractor to:
  • Put together a detailed budget
  • Pull the permits
• 4. Call the power company and utility company (sewer), etc

I have two recommendations to start this process. One person says to get a civil engineer to check out the second property. A company I previously used for a survey says that they think I need a geotechnical survey.

My questions are:

Do you have any recommendations on what assessments I should start on? Also, do you have a referral for this?

Has anyone gone through a zoning change, especially in this county (Fulton, Georgia)? What was your experience? Do you have a contact point at the county you could share with me?

Based on the steps outlined above, is there anything else I need to consider? Please keep in mind, this will be my first development project. I want to prep both lands but will start building with property 2 to get my feet wet.

Any other advice you may have, including getting the funds to build them?

[Paul H.]

Hi @Marietou P.

I'll tell you where I would start which isn't the same for everyone.

The very first step I would do is speak with your local planner to determine what is actually feasible.  Once you have an understanding of what can be done on the land and that the planning department would support your idea you can then work backwards.

You'll need to solve following phases:

Entitlement Phase (Papered lots)

Horizontal Development Phase (Land Infrastructure)

Vertical Development Phase (Construction)

Each of these steps have several exit points depending on how far you want to go.  For example entitlement phase can be sold once the lots are papered up, or you can put infrastructure and roads in and sell the improved lots to builders for a premium price (horizontal phase). If you go the distance you could then build the homes and sell them during the vertical phase.

Where I would start is the following:

1. Contact the Local Planning Office to discuss the property and vision for the property.

2. Interview and Hire a local planner who is actively involved in the local market. Get quotes.

2.b. Interview and hire a local civil engineering firm with a track record. Usually the planner will have some great recommendations or have a n inhouse engineering team.

3. Review all the applications forms for that township/county that will be required for the project. Double confirm the forms with the planning office.  Those submission forms will tell you what you need in terms of the scope of work for each of the studies.  For example what's required on the survey, or what's required on the geo study etc. 

4. Figure out your proforma for each of the phases.  Calculate holding costs, study costs, engineering work etc for each of the phase before you spend the money.  

My opinion to your questions above:

1. 

Do an environmental survey or get a civil engineer? - Do we have a flood zone?

A quick search of the FEMA website will tell you if you're near a studied flood zone, if you don't see anything some towns use their own private studies which can be available and seen with some of the online mapping tools like GIS. It's best to ask at the planning meeting if they know of any floodplains in the area and have them reconfirm your findings. If you do have flood plains, and want to develop it, or modify the area in anyway you could be dealing with the army corps of engineers.

You will need a competent civil engineer that's local to the area that has a successful track record of getting projects through the planning process in a reasonable amount of time without much push back/corrections.

2. Get an architect to figure out what can be built there - can help with permits that are needed;

What you're looking for is a 3rd party planner that will take your application to the finish line.  Architects may come involved down the line in the construction phase, usually during the entitlement phase images of homes you intend to build should be sufficient enough, not full plans.

3. Get a contractor to:

• Put together a detailed budget
• Pull the permits

You're contractor will provide quotes for the work that they will do, however this is a core discipline that every investor/developer needs to know how to do.  You need to have someone on your team that can do a detailed proforma with the gc's budget and bringing all the additional costs together.  The GC is only really applicable during the build phase, however you need to know that the cost to build the house + the cost of the improved lot = an affordable product in your market once you add your margin

4. Call the power company and utility company (sewer), etc

This will all happen naturally during the entitlement process.  When you go to paper the lots, someone from utilities board/planning office will need to ensure you have capacity for your project.

Hopefully you found some of this helpful. The best thing you can really do is find a mentor developer to do the first couple of projects with so that you can get an education.  because it's a firehose from A to Z.