A common approach to NIMBYs in public processes is avoidance, but before we dismiss them as a group that needs to be either controlled or disempowered, we have to remember that it was NIMBYs who saved Grand Central Station. While there certainly are people who care only about disrupting development projects, most people that we think of as NIMBYs began their forays into the public sphere with intentions to provide constructive input based on their love and concern for their community. Generally, potential project blockers are people who are deeply invested in the project outcomes and who have preconceptions about the potential results. Often, they are people who have become disenfranchised with local government and public process because of experiences in the past with bad development and/or poor public process. In most cases, they are simply people who care deeply about their community but feel they have no other option than to block any development. One of the main goals of the Dynamic Planning process is to harness this fierce loyalty to benefit the project and allow them to become co-authors of the final plan. This is accomplished by reaching out to all interested parties early in the process, before design begins, and then to include them in a series of short feedback loops. It is not uncommon for former NIMBYs to become a project’s most strident champions. In a dramatic but not uncommon example, a person who attends the first meeting as a vocal opponent will stand at the last public meeting in support of the final plan.

* “Not in my Backyard”