The Dewberry Companies. Land Development Handbook

McGraw-Hill Professional, 2002, 1124 p., ISBN: 9780071375252Planning Magazine : How to develop. "Forty years ago, for a typical suburban house, the cost of engineering, planning, and surveying, including fees paid to agencies, was about the cost of a refrigerator today. Today it is probably greater than the total cost of all of kitchen and other electronic appliances combined." So write Sidney Dewberry and Dennis Couture in the overview chapter that introduces the mammoth second edition of the Land Development Handbook: Planning, Engineering, and Surveying (2002 McGraw-Hill 1,124 p. $150). A development and consulting firm, the Dewberry Companies, is listed as author, which seems appropriate since most of the 26 editors and contributing authors are employees of the firm.Urban design experts plan the cities and communities of today and tomorrow. The many specialists involved are highly educated and experienced in several fields. They handle a host of tasks, encompassing feasibility studies, zoning applications, environmental regulations, designs, permits, and the hundreds of steps necessary to design and construct a project.Undeniably, the land development design process, however systematic it is, varies considerably throughout the United States due to the diversity of state and local regulations controlling land use and land subdivision. Yet within the process there are many elements common throughout the jurisdictions. Even if it were intentionally written for a particular microregion, no book could present the specific design process due to the dynamics of the regulations. This book is a presentation of a typical design process, but in no way should it be construed as the design process. It is our hope that this Handbook will aid you in anticipating the multiple issues and requirements you will no doubt encounter as you progress through the various stages of project development or as you seek to broaden your professional understanding of the complexities of land development.For the developer, it will be an invaluable tool to understand the services he or she will be acquiring from various design specialists and will prepare him or her for the regulation maze ahead. For those entering the land design profession, whether in the public sector or as a consultant, this Handbook will aid you in the development of the skills needed. For the practitioner it will prove an invaluable reference tool. But before we proceed with where we are today, a bit of background is in order.