JOINT FACT-FINDING AND THE USE OF TECHNICAL EXPERTS

John R. Ehrmann and Barbara L. Stinson

Picture yourself in a controversial dispute that puts you at odds with your friends and neighbors. Local developers in your town have proposed to build a 25,000-square-foot office building on the edge of your subdivision, an area zoned for commercial use (but left vacant) for the past 25 years. You are concerned that the development will create traffic and noise problems and will encourage more businesses to move into the area. You also think that, for aesthetic and environmental reasons, the land should remain open. Some of your neighbors, however, argue that a new office building will generate tax dollars, provide local businesses with more customers, and increase property values. Ever since you learned about  the project two years ago, you have complained to the city council and the planning board, but they seem unconcerned about possible impacts on the community. The developers have received nearly all the permits they need; barring any delays, they will begin construction in four months.

You recently learned, though, that a rare songbird nests in the area and will soon be listed as a “threatened species” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. You and your likeminded neighbors have raised money to study the nesting area on the chance that this rare bird will be disturbed if the development proceeds. Your consultant’s findings are conclusive; they support reexamining the construction permits that have already been granted.

As the consultant prepares to present his findings at a city council meeting, you are horrified to learn that an equally prominent biologist has also studied the area and drawn the opposite conclusion. She sees no threat to the habitat. You have been told that, through administrative hearings, public meetings, and even courtroom confrontations, the “dueling experts” might still be able to delay things, but eventually local leaders will make a decision about who “wins.” You groan, thinking, “There must be a better way!”

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