Negotiating Land Acquisitions

By Michael C. Givler, Principal

Negotiating land acquisitions can be challenging, especially when everything is subject to public scrutiny. You will want the best professional team to help with the negotiations and contracts. In addition, you need to develop strategies between the board and administration that will be successful in meeting the district's overall objectives.

Mum's the Word

As you research potential sites, keep your needs confidential. Although capital planning projects are exciting, it is important from a negotiation standpoint that your team and board of education don't speak too freely about the details. Hold as much information as possible in confidence regarding the project. Loose lips could drive costs up or make negotiating difficult. If you appear flexible, you may have more choices.

Prioritize

Avoiding deadlines is an important negotiating strategy in dealing with developers. Experienced negotiators say 90% of concessions are made in the final 10% of negotiating time. The party under the greatest time pressure will generally lose. Therefore, never reveal your deadline, and definitely try not to create a deadline for yourself.

Be Strategic in Dealing Publicly

Resist the temptation to make a premature public announcement. Do not set an announcement date until you have a written agreement in hand protecting the benefits achieved in negotiations. Unless the agreement is in writing, developers are able to use any excuse to justify changing their proposal. This could leave you in an awkward position if the deal has been announced to the public. In essence, if you don't have a contract, you don't have a deal. Your financial advisor and legal counsel can recommend types of agreements that best protect your interests.

Understand Their Goal

Whether you are looking for a better location for a school or new transportation center, understand that developers have different goals. The owners, board members and CEOs of the companies with whom you negotiate all have different motivations, priorities, experiences and pressures. Gather information about the developer to help you learn their goals. Ask open-ended questions. Ask them to restate their position.

Never Narrow Negotiations Down to a Single Issue

If you narrow negotiations to a single issue, it creates a winner and a loser, which can lead to an adversarial situation. This is the opposite of a "win-win" negotiation. Keeping two or more open issues on the table creates opportunities for compromises and lets each party gain on some issues while making concessions on others. Both sides feel they have gained something valuable as they compromise on items of relatively lower value (to them). In win-win negotiations, both sides must feel that the other side has compromised to meet some of their needs. This "feel good" aspect of negotiations will set the stage for future successful negotiations and establish a better environment to encourage businesses to make a positive contribution to the school district and community.

Umbaugh assists many school districts and communities with an entire range of services including negotiations on land acquisitions and other development issues. For additional information, contact us at footnotes@umbaugh.com.