Advocacy Connection Series: Land Development-Advocacy Connection Series: Land Development Recording

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The transcript captures an ACEC (American Council of Engineering Companies) Land Development Advocacy Connection Zoom meeting aimed at surfacing policy priorities and field issues affecting land development firms. Logan Akey frames the session as an interactive, ongoing cadence between ACEC advocacy staff and coalition members. Key topics identified by the Land Development Executive Committee include electric grid capacity constraints delaying permitted projects, and affordable housing zoning requirements. Broader issues include potential changes to H‑1B visas, the international building code update cycle, and rising engineering software costs (e.g., Autodesk/Bentley).<br /><br />Steve Hall provides a Washington update: despite a tense, election-year political environment, infrastructure may remain a bipartisan pathway. He notes the IIJA surface transportation program expires at the end of September, requiring congressional action on a new or extended federal-aid highway program, and highlights a likely water package combining WRDA and expiring IIJA water/wastewater authorizations. He also flags ongoing WOTUS/NEPA volatility driven by shifting administrations and courts, underscoring the need for legislative clarity and permitting certainty.<br /><br />Energy specialist Nando Gomez describes federal efforts to modernize the grid and expand generation, emphasizing cost sensitivity for ratepayers, DOE funding for grid upgrades, and increased support for nuclear. Coalition members report utilities warning that new capacity and transmission can take a decade, with data centers accelerating demand. Discussion includes onsite storage/battery farms, cooling innovations, and proposals to allow large users or developers to generate power, alongside permitting reform.<br /><br />On housing and zoning, members describe growing state preemption of local zoning in the name of affordability—often controversial and not clearly producing affordable units—while stressing the need for streamlined, predictable approvals. Catherine Motley reports challenging prospects for immigration policy: administrative actions are tightening H‑1B pathways (fees, lottery changes, higher prevailing wages), potentially shrinking the engineering talent pipeline. The meeting closes with acknowledgment that software cost inflation is significant but difficult for ACEC to influence directly.

Keywords

ACEC Land Development Advocacy Connection

land development policy priorities

electric grid capacity constraints

affordable housing zoning requirements

H-1B visa changes engineering workforce

IIJA surface transportation reauthorization

WRDA water resources package

WOTUS and NEPA permitting uncertainty

grid modernization DOE funding nuclear support

engineering software cost inflation Autodesk Bentley