When Design Decisions Become Community Engagement Challenges

Overview

Energy projects involve decisions across engineering, environmental, permitting, and community engagement teams. While each discipline has its own responsibilities, decisions made in one area can have consequences that extend well beyond it.

On a recent Access NEP project, a property was removed from the project during the design process. From an engineering and environmental perspective, removing the property was the appropriate decision. However, the change also affected a landowner whose connections within the local community were not initially apparent.

A seemingly straightforward design decision turned into a community engagement consideration.

The Challenge

The landowner was understandably disappointed about being removed from the project. What the project team had not anticipated was the landowner's close friendship with one of the local decision-makers involved in the project.

Faced with the landowner’s disappointment, the local decision-maker began having second thoughts about the project as well.

Nothing had gone wrong with the design process, and the decision to remove the property had not been made without careful thought. The challenge came from a relationship that was not obvious to the project team beforehand.

It was a useful reminder that communities have their own networks and relationships. A decision involving one person can influence another conversation somewhere else, including conversations that affect permitting and local approvals.

The Approach

Engineering and environmental teams need to understand that their decisions can affect community engagement. At the same time, permitting and community engagement teams need enough context to explain why those decisions were made and respond when they create questions or concerns locally.

Keeping those disciplines connected does not mean every community reaction can be predicted. It means the project team is less likely to be caught without context when an unexpected connection surfaces.

The Outcome

In this case, a seemingly straightforward design change revealed a community relationship that had implications beyond the affected property.

It gave the project team a clearer picture of the local dynamics surrounding the project and reinforced the need for engineering, environmental, permitting, and community engagement efforts to remain connected as decisions are made.

The Takeaway

Local communities are connected in ways that are not always visible from the outside. That makes it difficult to know exactly where the effects of an individual project decision will end.

The answer is not to avoid necessary technical decisions, but to make sure the people working across the project understand what is changing and why. Engineering, environmental, permitting, and community engagement teams that stay connected are better prepared for the human consequences that can come with even a sound technical decision.