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Roger Pearson, Director of Planning for CH2M HILL鈥檚 IDC Architects, has spent a lot of years (37+) as a master planner for industrial, commercial and technology manufacturing sites around the world.聽 Over time he鈥檚 seen developers, designers and the communities they serve transition from adversarial relationships to a more harmonious melding of common interests when creating visions for technology parks.

Oregon has a long history of reconciling the interests of technology development with conservation of agricultural land.聽 Here Roger shares observations about how these interests are also being delicately balanced on the other side of the country in the 鈥淪cience & Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park鈥� (STAMP) project in upstate New York.

鈥淭he 6-year STAMP process has been a valuable reminder of the importance of stakeholder involvement to finding harmonious solutions for complex and controversial projects.

At the outset, the idea of a major new technology manufacturing campus within an historically rural agricultural area prompted significant concern in the host community.聽 Although intrigued with the potential economic benefits of a technology manufacturing development, residents were concerned with losing the agricultural heritage and character of their community.

The challenge with STAMP has been to establish a long-term process that eventually leads to a world-class technology campus, while ensuring that the new campus would be welcomed and supported by the community.聽 Over the past 6 years, an open, inclusive community engagement process has been implemented.聽 As a result, community support for the initiative has grown and the New York State government has recognized STAMP as a priority development for the regional economy.

The STAMP stakeholder-based process included the following components:

• Advisory Committee Meetings
• Public Information Meetings
• Community Opinion Survey
• Town Board Meetings
• Benchmarking Visits
• State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) Public Hearing

This open, inclusive process resulted in the following significant benefits to both the project and the community:

• Established communication linkages
• Built goodwill
• Improved project plans
• Fostered pride of authorship
• Improved project competitiveness

From the outset, the project聽team believed that robust community engagement would foster project success.聽 Consistent adherence to this philosophy has taken the STAMP initiative from a state of community apprehension to open dialog and general support.聽 STAMP is now moving forward into implementation and is widely seen as transformative for the regional economy at the local, regional and state levels.

Watching people with differing concerns and backgrounds share and resolve their concerns in a spirit of mutual respect has been an inspiring validation of the value of civility in pursuit of prudent community planning.鈥�