Outreach vs Engagement - What's the difference?

Arizona’s economy is booming. That means lots of companies coming to Arizona to locate and build capital intensive projects in semiconductors, data centers, manufacturing facilities, energy development, batteries, cars, and more. Az Big Media reported $58 BILLION in Arizona manufacturing investments over the last few years alone. With TSMC announcing another $100B in investments; suppliers and other projects are sure to follow. There isn’t a ton of room to develop on the edges of Phoenix which means more infill and more conflict. Even on the edge of town, conflicts will likely be encountered.

Anyone who has ever done a project in Arizona knows they have to run the public outreach gauntlet in order to get regulatory approval from any government jurisdiction. The myriad of legal notifications, public meetings, appointed and elected officials can be contradictory and repetitive. As a member of an Arizona regulatory commission, I have seen this done very poorly and very well. Talking to the public about your project doesn’t have to be in conflict. By deploying the right techniques, being open minded and listening, even the toughest projects can get built. The rules have changed. Here is what you can do.

Most important, understand the “public outreach” and “public engagement” mean two VERY different things. Outreach is telling people about your project. This is generally the statutory notification required by government in order to advance your project. It involves signs, mailings, newspaper posting, neighborhood meetings and public hearings. Public engagement involves listening to stakeholders and others and adjusting project elements in order to make the overall project better and help the project interface with its surrounding community in a more holistic way.

Does engagement cost more? Will engagement take more time? Absolutely! But so does litigation and referendums. Time is money and NIMBY’s are well practiced at the art of delay. If they can drag out the project long enough they can ruin the financials. Here are three ideas for truly engaging your public.

1)????? Engage early. Don’t be afraid to share financial and design ideas at an early stage. Help your neighbors feel invested early on by being transparent and listening to ideas. Develop a key stakeholder group that you can interact with regularly.

2)????? Return and report. As things evolve with your regulating jurisdiction, return to your key stakeholders and inform them about changes that are compelled upon the project by regulators. This will help build them from stakeholders into advocates.

3)????? Identify community benefits. Promises can be hollow and often don’t find their way into development agreements with the regulating jurisdiction. Sit with stakeholders and identify what is important to them and how they will benefit from your project becoming part of the neighborhood. Mitigations don’t need to be expensive. Sometimes simple design changes can go a long way towards building good will. Memorialize the changes in an agreement.

We all know that sometimes we cannot satisfy all of our critics. By demonstrating to decision makers the good faith efforts, many of the worst conflicts can be resolved. Have questions? Feel free to reach out. Let’s develop a strategy for success together. #publicengagement #publicoutreach #arizona #development #engagement #outreach #planningandzoning #publichearing