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Once you have selected a potential site for

your development project, you mustinvestigate the issues involved in acquiring

and obtaining control of that site.


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Site control is the key ingredient and oftenthe toughest obstacle to commercial

development.

Before obtaining site control, you must

investigate certain contingencies by

conducting your due diligence.


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Due diligence involves the various processesthat you must undertake before development

of a project begins, such as :

title clearance,

cost estimations,

environmental testing and

market analysis.


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THE TWO STAGES OF SITE CONTROL

1) steps to take beforesite control, and

2) obtaining site

control


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STEPS TO BE TAKEN BEFORE

SITE CONTROL

These sections include the steps you shouldtake before obtaining control of a site,

including:

Information collection and organization,finding the owners and other key property

attributes,

assessing the costs of ownership,

environmental testing


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Obtaining Site Control

These sections discuss how to obtain site control of

both government- and privately-owned land.

It also explains the process by which land is

funnelled to state and local agencies.


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Initial Information

Collection andOrganization


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How to manage and

organize the different types

of information you will

collect about your siteduring the pre-development

process.


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Maps to Display Information

A range of different maps are

useful during the site

acquisition process both as a

source of information and todisplay, organize and analyze

information you have

collected.


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To start with:

A Site Base Map, which will serve as the

basic map to which you can add otherpieces of information.

Therefore, it should display the

minimum necessary information such aslot numbers, addresses, lot lines,

dimensions and street names.

The map should also be to scale and

display the larger area around the site

in case of future expansion of the

project.


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Site Base Map

Obtain a cartographic map from the City

Municipal Department and use this as abasic template.

Obtain preliminary and understand which

one of the following it can be (let us say for

a property of three plots) three separate

properties with three separate addresses,

two separate properties or a singleproperty.


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Identifying Ownership

and Other Key

Information


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A preliminary step in acquiring a site

is identifying basic attributes of the

property, such as current ownership,

lot size and assessed value. Forexample, ownership information is

important because you will need to

contact the owner and negotiate anoffer to purchase the property.


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HOW TO IDENTIFY OWNER

The Register of Deeds collects, maintains

and distributes information about apropertys current and past ownership. The

taxpayer and the owner of the property are

not necessarily the same person.

If you are interested in purchasing theproperty, you need to contact the property

owner (i.e. the person who holds the deed

to that property).

Th R i t f D d d t b


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The Register of Deeds database

contains the following pieces of

information: Names of buyer and seller

Type of deede.g. quit-claim deed

Chain of title leading to current owneralltransfers of property to current owner

Transfer amountsale price of the property

Mortgages and other encumbrances

Lot, liber and page number of latest deedlegal

description of the property


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Assessing the Real Cost of

Ownership

Before acquiring a site, certain costs in

addition to the market value of the property

should be investigated.

Ownership costs include back taxes, back

water bills, title insurance, the number of

different owners, and holding costs. Youmust assess the cost of ownership before

beginning the site control process.


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Title Search/Insurance

When actually purchasing

property, a title company

must be employed to do

complete research into theownership of the property

and to insure the title.


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Back Water Bills / Electricity Bills

Contact the City Electricity &Water Department to

determine if the property you

are interested in purchasinghas unpaid water bills.


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Number of Different Owners

Acquiring a site owned by many

individuals will involve contactingand negotiating with many more

people, which can drive up costs and

time requirements. In addition, the greater the number of

owners, the greater the chance that

one or more property owner will holdout for a higher price.


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Excavation

Excavation costs are very difficult

to predict because they involvedebris which is hidden

underground and depend to a

great extent on site plans whichmight be unknown at the

beginning of the development

process.


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Holding Costs

Holding costs are costs

such as taxes, security,

maintenance, and

insurance that you mustpay on the property while

the rest of the project isbeing put together.


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Investigating the

Physical Constraintsof a Site


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Before acquiring a site, you must investigate

any physical constraints of that site to determinewhether:

1) The site is suitable for your development, and

2) Whether modifying any physical constraints

(if possible) will be cost prohibitive.

(unaffordable )

Investigating these issues is part of your due diligence; a lack of

thorough research could hinder or even halt your development.


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ZONING

Zoning is important to investigatebecause it determines what activities

may be carried out on a property, the

size of the structures and where

structures can be placed. Furthermore,

if the activity you intend to carry out on

that property conflicts with current

zoning, you must consider whether ornot you want to pursue a zoning

change.


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EASEMENTS

An easement allows holders the

right to use the property uponwhich the easement is located for

a specific purpose. A common

form of an easement is a right-of-way (right to cross over the land

of another).


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UTILITY LINES

When a project includes public

streets or alleys, undergroundand overhead utilities running

under or above these areas need

to be identified and in some casesrelocated.


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STREET AND ALLEY CLOSINGS

Development projects often

require street and alley closings.For example, developers might

want to close an alley to

consolidate property for adevelopment; or communities

might want to close alleys to

improve the security of their

neighborhoods.


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EXISTING STRUCTURES

Before acquiring a site, you should

investigate whether that sites has anyexisting structures in need of

demolition or rehabilitation. Given

environmental concerns andconstruction costs, demolition and

rehabilitation of existing structures

can be very costly undertakings and

therefore should be investigated

before purchasing a site.


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Environmental

Testing andCertification


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As part of your due diligence, you

must follow certain environmentaltesting and certification procedures

prior to acquiring land. If you are

acquiring City-owned land,environmental testing should begin as

soon as you obtain right of entry.


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Generally following would be investigated

Water Resources Protection

Air Pollution Control Small Business Clean Air Assistance

Hazardous Waste Management

Solid Waste Management

Environmental Response, as amended Underground Storage Tank Regulations,

unamended

Leaking Underground Storage Tanks, unamended

Underground Storage Tank Financial Assurance,unamended

R f E i l T i


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Reasons for Environmental Testing

Before acquiring a site, certain testing and

certification procedures are necessary to:1) Assess past uses of the site,

2) Determine whether any remedial action

(i.e. clean-up) will be required, and

3) To protect yourself against liability for

contamination clean-up costs. You must

hire qualified experts to carry out

environmental testing.


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The following discusses types of typical

environmental testing you might need toconduct, followed by advice on hiring

environmental consultants.

E i t l Sit A t


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Environmental Site Assessment

Environmental site assessment (ESA) is a

study generally conducted as a part of areal estate transaction, such as sale or

refinancing of a property. A thorough ESA

will determine if the site is a facility. A

facility means any area, place or propertywhere a hazardous substance is in excess of

the concentrations permitted for human

contact levels.


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The ESA is typically carried out in two phases

Phase I Environmental Site Assessment

PhaseI testing is a review of the sites land useover time and involves no intrusive testing (e.g.

collecting soil or water samples).

Site description

Site inspection

Study of past uses and those adjacent to i t, including

previous owners of the site for the past 30, 40 or more years

The sites regulatory history; for example, permits must

have been issued if certain hazardous chemicals werestored or used on the site.

Study of contamination sources in the vicin ity

S


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The ESA is typically carried out in two phases

Phase I I Environmental Site Assessment

Phase II includes both a review of historicalinformation as well as sample collection and

site evaluations. Phase II testing further

investigates concerns found during Phase I. .

Site description

Site inspection

Study of past uses and those adjacent to i t, including

previous owners of the site for the past 30, 40 or more years

The sites regulatory history; for example, permits musthave been issued if certain hazardous chemicals were

stored or used on the site.

Study of contamination sources in the vicin ity

What a Phase II Involves


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What a Phase II Involves

Collecting isolated individual soil and

water samples on a site, Identifying potential contaminants and

Developing a formal work plan for

assessing the property. This could include a

time table for investigating the extent of the

contamination on the site, possible costs

associated with removal and treatment of

any contaminants, and a schedule for final

completion of the clean-up.


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elements

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chap 4 site control

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