Land Use & Development

Our Team & Our Clients

DWT's land use and development team excels at helping our clients obtain, implement, and defend legal rights necessary for the development and use of land. Our land development practitioners include several paralegals, a land use planner, and over a dozen attorneys of various tenures across our West Coast offices. The scope of our land development practice is unparalleled because we are fully integrated into a full-service firm with deep expertise in real estate and virtually every adjacent practice area, including finance, energy, environmental, and public-private partnerships, as well as ample support on any business or litigation issue that may arise. This allows us the privilege of handling some of the most crucial development matters in our communities, for a diverse array of private and public clients, including developers, nonprofits, tribes, regional development authorities, and other government entities. We also advise institutional lenders and project investors on land development matters.

Our Approach & Capabilities

Experienced developers know that delay is the greatest threat to many land development projects, and versatility is key to success. Our practitioners are adept at promptly and efficiently fulfilling the many roles that we may be asked to take on for a client team, including that of a strategic advisor, zealous advocate, or engaging with decision makers and stakeholders to provide a path forward for your project. Our projects range from in-fill developments to large planned residential communities, affordable housing, mixed-use, commercial, industrial, and large public works projects. We guide our clients through comprehensive plan amendments, rezones, zoning code amendments, development agreements, and other highly-discretionary entitlement processes in which key conditions and mitigation measures need to be negotiated with decision makers. Our work includes public-private partnerships, as well as infrastructure and other public facilities work, including college campuses, transportation, and other essential public facilities. We work to resolve issues arising under land use and environmental regulations at the local, state, and federal level, providing a full range of legal services relating to land use and development, including due diligence review of projects and sites, advice on discretionary entitlements, environmental review and conditions under NEPA and state environmental policy acts, construction permitting, and, where needed, land use litigation at the administrative level as well as in state and federal courts.

Beyond the more traditional engagements, our clients have also entrusted our land development team to help solve their most complex, and in some cases seemingly intractable land use issues with creative thinking and outside-the-box solutions. Our work on these matters has included strategic amendments to state and local laws, working with decision makers on administrative interpretations as well as direct engagement with government officials, and coordination with our clients' separate lobbying or public affairs efforts on key projects or initiatives. In short, we flex to meet the needs of our clients and their projects, focusing our efforts on the tasks that will deliver results, on time and on budget.