A special interest forum of the HBRA of Connecticut

Join Other Professionals in the Land Development & Home Building Business to Solve Problems!

Become a Participant in the CT Developers Forum Today and learn why current participants keep coming back year after year!

The CT Developers Forum usually meets the 1st Thursday each month, Sept. through June,
6-9 pm at various locations in CT.

Meetings usually restricted to paid Forum Participants and their guests. The registration flyer is posted about 2-3 weeks before the meeting.Any forum participant who would like materials (if any) from prior meetings, please contact [email protected] and we’ll be happy to send them to you.

The CT Developers Forum identifies the special problems and serves the special needs of residential, commercial and industrial real estate developers and builders.  Forum events function to expand key advocacy and industry messages.

WHO WE ARE

The CT Developers Forum (CTDF) is a broad-based coalition of people and firms that subscribe to the basic objectives outlined below. The Forum is made up of land developers, builders, attorneys, engineers, bankers, real estate agents and brokers, architects, landscape architects, surveyors, planners and allied trade associations all working together to achieve common goals. The Forum is administered by the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Connecticut, Inc., the professional trade association of the building, land development and remodeling industries throughout Connecticut.

OUR OBJECTIVES

The Forum’s mission is to promote the development and redevelopment of residential, commercial and industrial land in Connecticut in accordance with sound economic, planning, land development, and environmental policies. Our goals are to improve the climate for real estate development in Connecticut, improve the education of industry members and the quality of real estate development work.

Chief among the Developers Forum’s objectives are to:

• Promote sensible regulatory policies and sound land development practices that lead to the creation of safe, affordable, decent and economically feasible residential, commercial and industrial uses of land for all of Connecticut’s citizens.
• Secure better and faster decisions statewide by government agencies, boards and commissions that control the use of private land — Decisions are better when they 1) reasonably allocate public and private burdens associated with real estate development, 2) respect constitutional principles and the primacy of an individual’s rights over government authority, and 3) are consistent among and within the myriad jurisdictions of Connecticut.
• Advocate for court decisions that effectively exercise the judicial powers of supervision over regulatory agencies and strive for a judiciary that remains cognizant of the need to protect the rights of individuals and private property interests, be they homeowners or business entities.
• Support land use and environmental laws, as well as land acquisition and development financing programs, that foster the creation and maintenance of jobs by private businesses.

WHAT WE DO

The Developers Forum assumes a positive and effective posture to make Connecticut competitive again and to help create jobs. We accomplish this by working closely with allied groups, associations and people who share our interest in a prosperous Connecticut.

The Developers Forum evaluates important issues to the industry and proposes or works on legislation where appropriate to advance industry’s interests, such as:

• Significant involvement in the “smart growth” debate and the myriad legislative and regulatory proposals generated by it.
• A comprehensive bill, which was enacted into law, to reform the Connecticut Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act, which updates the science of the statute, provides clearer guidance for municipal inland wetlands agencies and provides more certainty for the regulated community, all without harming valuable environmental resources.
• Efforts to control municipal exactions of open space, parks, playgrounds or fees in-lieu-of land dedications in the state’s subdivision statutes and ensure that such exactions are roughly proportional to the impacts on a community that are caused by a subdivision project.
• among many other pro-active proposals, legislation to make uniform the different timelines for hearing and deciding the multitude of permits and approvals in the land use review process.
• The Developers Forum closely monitors proposals at the State and local levels that negatively impact our industry’s interests and opposes any efforts to further complicate the already complex land development process. For example, we led the fight against proposals that would be a severe detriment to Connecticut, such as “urban growth boundaries” “impact fees” “mandatory installation of fire sprinklers in all new 1&2 family homes” and “wetland and watercourse 200′ buffer areas.”
  
  The Developers Forum initiates actions to meet its objectives outside of legislative bodies, such as:
• Meeting with the Governor’s office and agency Commissioners and staff to discuss key issues of importance to its members.
• Meeting with state agencies and UCONN’s CLEAR office (Center for Land Use Education and Research) to comment on proposed guidelines and regulations to advocate for changes appropriate to Connecticut’s landscape.
• Serving on the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Open Space and many other task groups.

Our educational programs are second to none. The Forum meets monthly from September through June to further the networking and education opportunities of land developers and builders and of all the professionals that service the land development and residential construction industry. Our members say that Forum meetings are the best they attend and are the most productive use of their valuable time. Monthly meetings have focused on specific topics, such as:

• Engaging in a discussion with soil scientists and environmental specialists on the state’s inland wetlands and watercourses act.
• Listening and talking with lenders on acquisition and development financing, what programs are being offered by lenders, what types of customers are sought after by lenders, and the future of financing land development work.
• Evaluating what developers do wrong, what they do right and how they could do things better, by listening to a number of chairman and members of local planning, zoning and inland wetland commissions.
• Discussing the appraisal process and the impact of appraisals on lending practices with a number of invited private appraisers.
• Discussing the complexity of and liability in land transactions with numerous real estate attorneys representing all sides of the transaction (i.e., seller, buyer, lender, title co.).
• Engaging several leading economists and demographers on the future of real estate work in Connecticut over the short and long term.
• Discussing issues of utility installations, connections, charges and requirements with the top brass of major utility companies (phone, cable, electric, gas and water).
• Listening to a panel of leading sales and marketing experts on what type of housing is or will be hot in Connecticut, and where in the state prospects for growth look best.
• Meeting with key legislative leaders to discuss smart growth and other land use and environmental policies and legislation; and Many other topics …

Participants in the Developers & Builders Forum keep coming back month after month for these dinner meetings.