Finding the Best Strategy to Defeat Flawed Development Proposals.  How do you stop sprawl or other bad development projects?  A CEDS Initial Strategy Analysis is the quickest way to get an answer.  As part of the analysis we will look at technical, legal, and political options for resolving your concerns. We can usually complete the analysis for as little as a few hundred dollars and in one- or two-weeks regardless of where you are located.  For further detail click the following title: Initial Strategy Analysis.

Affordable, Top Notch Legal Representation. The CEDS network includes more than 135 attorneys nationwide with a good reputation for winning citizen cases.  This allows us to quickly mobilize a legal team to block issuance of key permits-approvals until your concerns are resolved.  For further detail visit our Good Attorneys webpage. We can also help you with easy, yet highly-effective fundraising methods.

Saving Thousands of Dollars By Preventing Bad Development Before A Developer Arrives. CEDS believes that vacant lands within or adjoining a neighborhood should be used in ways that preserve and enhance quality of life for you and your neighbors. Proactive Neighborhood Planning (PNP) allows you to decide how these lands will be used long before a development company arrives on the scene. Compared to the traditional approach of waiting until a development proposal has been made, PNP can save neighborhood residents thousands of dollars and success is far more likely.

Our Clients Win 75% of the Time. CEDS employs an aggressive approach on multiple fronts: legal, technical, and political.  Because of this unique approach, our clients win 75% of their cases vs. the much lower success rate typical of a solely legal campaign strategy.  And most of our victories come at a fraction of the cost. 

Our free 300-page book, How To Win Land Development Issues, presents our strategy approach in detail and describes how you can employ much of this same approach through volunteers. 

We Help With Projects Big & Small.  Whether you are concerned about a single structure proposed for a one-acre lot, a thousand-unit housing project, a shopping mall, highway, or growth throughout a town or county, we can help. 

Project Types & Issues We've Won.  Following are the issues and types of projects we've helped our clients win at locations throughout the nation:

• adequate public facilities,

• affordable housing,

• air quality,

• annexation,

• big box stores,

• blasting effects,

• boating impacts,

• bog turtles,

• buffers,

• changing laws,

• clustering,

• comprehensive plans,

• conditional use permits,

• crime,

• dams,

• discharge permits,

• dredging,

• dust,

• endangered species,

• environmental impact statements,

• environmental justice,

• erosion and sediment control,

• farm preservation,

• fire protection,

• fishery protection,

• flooding,

• forest preservation,

• fundraising,

• golf courses,

• groundwater,

• health effects,

• highways,

• historic and archaeological resources,

• impact fees,

• impervious surfaces,

• incinerators,

• industrial development,

• instream flow,

• lake protection,

• landfills,

• legal action,

• light trespass,

• livestock confinement operations,

• logging,

• marinas,

• mining,

• neighborhood conservation,

• noise,

• odors,

• open space,

• pedestrian and bicycling facilities,

• pesticides,

• power plants,

• property taxes,

• property value,

• recreation,

• rezoning,

• river protection,

• rural preservation,

• school overcrowding,

• septic systems,

• sewers,

• shopping centers,

• sludge,

• smart growth,

• special exceptions,

• sprawl,

• stormwater management,

• tidal creeks and marine waters,

• traffic congestion and safety,

• truck traffic,

• variances and waivers,

• viewshed impacts,

• wastewater treatment,

• water supply,

• watershed protection and restoration,

• well protection,

• wetlands,

• wildlife,

• zoning,

and more

WHO WE ARE

Free Assistance Available To Citizens Advocates 1-800-773-4571 Toll Free