Resources for Small Development
What works?
With efforts around the country, at every scale (from the village to statewide efforts), we’ve learned that the best and quickest outcomes result when all are integrated. The local financial ecosystem must also be aligned with small development projects.
The contemporary real estate industry is almost exclusively geared to produce two products, both at large scales: single-family homes (usually in subdivisions that need lots of land) and large residential buildings (which usually have more layers of financing than stories). Large buildings require large sources of capital. Such developers and financiers often come from outside your community.
So, while large buildings have their place, the work of small-scale development champions involves rebuilding these local frameworks that support small. Teamwork.
One of the first challenges local champions find themselves facing involves how to organize one’s own sector, while also inviting the other two to sit on the same side of the table and face the work to be done together. Cross-sector teams focused on a particular geography–a property, block, neighborhood, or district– have proven the most effective way to bring together everyone who matters to the outcomes, prioritize the work, and institute a practice of learning by doing and making systemic changes so future projects can avoid identified barriers.
What’s working?
We’ve consulted with a number of folks around the country who are testing out some of these promising approaches. Whether they’re starting from one sector, or pulling together all three, they are on a path to making small development count where they are.
Need help accelerating results where you are?
The help we give local champions isn’t just reserved for these highlighted works in progress.
Neighborhood Workshop and Civic Agility are collaborating resource partners who have served in the trenches as practitioners and implementers. They’re ready to team up with just the expertise you need for technical assistance like code audits, coaching, training, or other consultations. We center a unique approach on your goals powered by small development.
No matter where you’re starting, we’re happy to talk. We find it a most productive use of your time if we don’t just talk about your work, but actually help you get work done. The format we’ve found most effective for this is a “Working Conversation.” It’s a private consultation in which you start with the largest purpose for your work and leave having identified the very next step you need to take locally to make progress.
We also host public Working Conversations on topics of broad interest. A schedule is listed in the Events section.
Our Resource Partners
Brian Reilly
Former Economic Development Director in Cleveland and Buffalo • Philanthropy Professional • City Coach
Neil Heller
Pro Forma-Based Data Analyst • Urban Designer • Small Scale Developer • Small Developer Training Faculty
Marques G. King
Architect • Urban Designer • Small Scale Developer • Small Developer Training Faculty
Jennifer O’Donnell
Urban Planner • Historic Preservationist • Development Advisor • Former Elected Official
Karen Winkle-Gorsline
People-Centered Housing Expert • Licensed Real Estate Professional • Development Advisor • Housing Authority Commissioner
David T. Kim
Architect • Urban Designer • Urbanist • Appointed Public Official
Sharon Woods
Real Estate Market Analyst • Urbanist • Site Selection Expert
Jaime Izurieta-Varea
Urban Designer • Small Business Trainer • Retail and Promotion Guru
Michael Herman
Inviting agility in teams, organizations and community networks
Kimberlee S. Williams
Entrepreneurial Thought Leader • Capacity Builder • Capital Growth Strategist • Curriculum Developer
Brian Reilly
Former Economic Development Director in Cleveland and Buffalo • Philanthropy Professional • City Coach
Brian knows city government. He has served as the economic development director in Cleveland and Buffalo, and won national awards for his program management of the City of Milwaukee’s Menomonee River Valley redevelopment. A Brookings Institution study identified his Menomonee Valley project as the key contributor to Milwaukee’s performance as the only top 45 US city to gain jobs between 1998 and 2006 within three miles of its downtown.
Brian has coached over a dozen cities in various roles. Notably, he directed The Integration Initiative, the signature program of Living Cities (a New York-based collaboration among 22 of the world’s largest foundations and banks). There he coached nine US cities in their own development strategies within a common collective impact framework he co-designed. The program emphasized an entrepreneurial and data-driven approach to experimentation and iteration in problem solving. It employed a bi-annual cohort model for in-person “learning communities” combining technical assistance from national experts with peer-to-peer learning.
Brian also oversaw technical assistance to dozens of New Jersey’s 566 towns while directing that state’s Municipal Land Use Center that provided best practice land use and transportation planning assistance to local governments including economic development strategies, comprehensive plan and zoning support, placemaking, and Sustainable Jersey (the nation’s most successful voluntary statewide municipal certification program encompassing 75% of NJ’s 566 towns.)
Principal of Civic Agility, a public purpose consultancy, Brian has pioneered the application of an Agile Scrum approach from the software development industry to local small-scale real estate development. He is a faculty member of the Incremental Development Alliance and a co-founder of the Small Development Counts Network.
Neil Heller
Pro Forma-Based Data Analyst • Urban Designer • Small Scale Developer • Small Developer Training Faculty
Neil is Principal of Neighborhood Workshop, a pro-forma-based urban planning firm based in Portland, OR. His practice focuses on aligning municipal regulations with the kinds of development outcomes a place wants to see. His real estate development pro-forma-based approach quantifies the effects of various policy decisions both physically and financially. He also helps to educate small developers to translate zoning code language into beautiful site layout plans.
With a strong background in design, urban planning, housing policy, and real estate development, Neil brings value to communities through user-focused site design, equitable housing policy, pro-forma-based scenarios, and supporting projects through to adoption.
As a small business and landlord himself, he is familiar with the regulatory, operations, and maintenance for 2-4 unit buildings through the renovation of a duplex and the addition of a basement suite + ADU to a single-family home using owner-occupied financing.
Neil’s background in development data and analytics gives him a big picture backdrop for project-specific implications that help to reduce small-developer risk, reduce costs and help remove barriers to project completion. Neil is a faculty member of the Incremental Development Alliance and a co-founder of the Small Development Counts Network.
Marques G. King
Architect • Urban Designer • Small Scale Developer • Small Developer Training Faculty
Marques is Managing Principal of Fabric[K] Design which strives to help people and organizations build better lifestyles through contextual, sustainable, & people-centric design. He was born & raised in Detroit. Marques was motivated to pursue a career in building things very early.
An urbanist at heart, Marques understands the value of traditional neighborhood design. He helps development projects and local government clients understand how to tap that value, particularly in central cities and downtowns at the site, block, neighborhood, and district level.
Marques teaches university students and community members about equity and economic inclusion topics in his course The Black Experience of the American Built Environment. He is also a faculty member of the Incremental Development Alliance and a co-founder of the Small Development Counts Network
Jennifer O’Donnell
Urban Planner • Historic Preservationist • Development Advisor • Former Elected Official
Jennifer O’Donnell is the principal of HONE STRATEGIC LLC. As practitioners in urban revitalization and the preservation of buildings and sites, Hone Strategic has worked on a wide range of projects in design and construction, urban and regional planning, participatory mapping and civic engagement, and organizational planning and development.
Jennifer is a seasoned urban planner and historic preservationist. She has lived in New York state’s Hudson Valley since 2004 where she has worked with numerous communities and organizations to plan and implement projects in historic sites and neighborhoods.
She specializes in projects that engage local participants and stakeholders in community-driven approaches to planning.
She has Masters’ degrees from Columbia University in Urban Planning and Real Estate Development, a BA in Art History from SUNY Stony Brook, and studied urban and regional conservation at UNESCO’s ICCROM program in Rome, Italy. She is fluent in French, Italian, and Spanish. She has also led several local planning and economic development efforts that have resulted in large grant awards for funding in housing, trails, main streets grants, cultural and downtown anchors, and more.
In her work with municipalities, both as Deputy Director of Planning in Ulster County and as Principal at Hone Strategic LLC, Jennifer has led and facilitated dozens of local governments in their work to transform their communities. These successful, locally-driven programs helped revitalize their main streets, protected their open spaces, nominate their historic districts, make their waterfronts more resilient, and build their local economies through comprehensive planning, design charrettes, community organizing, civic engagement, and policy change.
She recently developed a pilot program for the NY Department of State for comprehensive planning and trained numerous local officials in a range of planning and economic development topics and is a founding partner of Small Development Counts Network.
Karen Winkle-Gorsline
People-Centered Housing Expert • Licensed Real Estate Professional • Development Advisor • Housing Authority Commissioner
Karen connects people in need to funding streams and resources for their housing solutions.
She founded Painted Love in 2011 to assist various segments of the population (veterans, disabled, seniors, among others) with social and environmental enhancements and modifications to their living situations. She draws on her wide range of experience in social services, nonprofit advocacy, and government to creatively navigate the bureaucracy and regulations of various disconnected programs to provide a seamless set of outcomes for those with whom she works.
Painted Love projects have included or supported efforts such as
- Nursing Home Transition Waiver Program
- Assistive Technology Provision
- Veterans Agency Provider of Service for People with disabilities
- Social and Environmental Provider for the NHTD facilitating subcontractors in making medically necessary ADA changes to client’s homes
- Among others
Painted Love’s services attract not only people with housing needs but various service agencies, local governments, and even developers. Painted Love is a New York State certified Minority Women Business Enterprise (WMBE).
Karen has a range of experience in real estate and property management. She is a licensed real estate professional (Principal Broker, Individually Licensed Real Estate Broker, Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES), and Property Manager). She currently serves as an Olmstead Housing Specialist where she transitions nursing home residents back into a community setting with supportive services back and eligible financial support.
Karen is also a small-scale developer with a keen interest in innovative linkages between homeowners, tenants with special needs, and a diversity of housing configurations that meet the needs of the range of contemporary households as part of an inclusive community. Karen is a co-founder of the Small Development Counts Network.
David T. Kim
Architect • Urban Designer • Urbanist • Appointed Public Official
David Kim is a co-founder and principal of Anderson|Kim Architecture+Urban Design. He is a registered architect in California and New York and believes that good buildings and places result from understanding the constraints and opportunities beyond the boundaries of the individual project. He oversees the delivery and implementation of architectural design and documentation as well as the daily management and operations of the office.
With over twenty years of professional experience, David understands the complexities of design and planning at all scales. From the individual lot to the block and neighborhood, his ability to comprehend the macro-issues of finance and policies along with the minutiae of building codes and construction details help to focus available resources for long-term, pragmatic and sensible place-making. He has led project teams resulting in the construction of several courtyard housing and mixed-use transit-oriented developments as well as the design of residential and mixed-use prototypes for traditional neighborhood developments.
David has served as a member of the Chico Architectural Review Board and the Chico General Plan Advisory Committee and is a current member of the Zoning Board of Appeals in Tarrytown, NY where he also serves as a village trustee. He is a co-founder and faculty member of the Incremental Development Alliance and currently serves on the board of the Congress for the New Urbanism. David is a founding partner of Small Development Counts Network.
Sharon Woods
Real Estate Market Analyst • Urbanist • Site Selection Expert
Sharon is a specialist in retail and residential market research and analysis, downtown and urban market strategies, land use economics, and Target Market Analysis (TMA). She founded LandUseUSA in 2008 with 28 years of specialized, applied, and professional experience in these specialized industries. Sharon is a Certified Counselor of Real Estate (CRE) with a Master’s Degree in Geography (with an emphasis on Urban Planning and Applied Geography), and Minor in Mathematics.
CRE membership is by invitation only with rigorous testing required for membership. She adheres to CRE’s high standards for Commitment, Knowledge, Experience, Wisdom, Integrity, and Distinction.
LandUseUSA conducts market studies and analyses throughout every corner of Michigan and across the nation. During her past employment with several Fortune 500 Retail Corporations (Target/Dayton-Hudson, Macy’s/Federated, Sears/Kmart, and General Motors), she had senior level responsibility for deciding market-wide location strategies for new stores, acquisition strategies, and renaming strategies (Jordan Marsh, Stern’s, Abraham & Straus, etc.) regionwide.
Sharon is an advocate for traditional downtowns, merchants, and urban places that provide a complete shopping experience for shoppers and patrons. She is certified by the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNUa), the National Charrette Institute (NCI), and the Form Based Codes Institute (FBCI). She also serves on the Board of Directors for MiCNU – Michigan Chapter; serves on the Resource Council for the Form Based Codes Institute (FBCI); and is a faculty member with the Incremental Development Alliance. Sharon is also a member of the Michigan Downtown Association and serves on the Board of Directors for her local Downtown Development Authority (in Laingsburg, Michigan).
Jaime Izurieta-Varea
Urban Designer • Small Business Trainer • Retail and Promotion Guru
Jaime believes that beauty can heal our cities. He guides cities, local organizations and small businesses to find it. Jaime founded Storefront Mastery, a creative agency that brings beauty to economic development.
Grounded in his training in town planning and urban design, he helps people fall in love with cities. He helps spur economic vitality by creating the conditions for beautiful, quaint, walkable places people love.
With over 20 years of experience living and working in the US, Ecuador, Lithuania and The Netherlands, Jaime brings a diverse and varied perspective on the design and regulatory needs of the built environment. He’s been a small developer, small business partner, small firm consultant, bookseller, guitarist in a rock band, public official and an advisor to a president and a mayor.
He also lives what he practices—in his small town he walks four minutes to daycare and three minutes to work. He buys locally and shops at the farmer’s market because he believes in his local economy. And living this way keeps him learning more about cities and small businesses every day. Some of this knowledge he’s included in several books he’s written to help small businesses create storefronts that contribute to their sales and their community. They’ve received praise from experienced practitioners and small businesses. Jaime is also a founding partner of the Small Development Counts! Network.
Michael Herman
Inviting agility in teams, organizations and community networks
Michael Herman has been inviting agility and supporting high performance, as principal consultant for Michael Herman Associates, since 1998. He helps leaders and teams, organizations and networks, respond quickly and effectively to any kind of change or disruption. Sometimes he’s hired to help cause the disruption.
Michael teaches simple, powerful practices for organizing, learning and improvement, informed by thirty years’ experience in Agile Software Development, Open Space and Expeditionary Learning. He’s led wilderness expeditions, financial, project and strategic planning, conflict resolution, the formation of self-managed work groups, the facilitation of large corporate and community summits, and the transformational learning of agile teams.
As consultant, trainer and coach, he’s worked with clients and partners on six continents to help create better customer and community experiences, faster and smarter innovation, more value with less waste, and greater social and environmental impact. His insights and experience have been invaluable in the formation of the Small Development Counts Network.
Michael studied economics at Indiana University and earned an MBA in finance and healthcare administration at
Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
Kimberlee S. Williams
Entrepreneurial Thought Leader • Capacity Builder • Capital Growth Strategist • Curriculum Developer
Kimberlee is an entrepreneurial ecosystem builder, fostering economic and social resilience to overcome hurdles in generating thriving businesses. She seamlessly creates inclusive spaces that values, protects, and champions women, people of color, and LGBT-owned businesses. Her purpose-driven initiatives and capacity building endeavors meticulously leverage resources for a larger-scale impact, providing access to appropriate development, social networks, capital investments, real-estate opportunities, and securing prime corporate contracts.
She is the catalyst for advancing long-term strategies to sustain local micro and small enterprises. With a mission of diminishing socioeconomic barriers by providing access to resources and capital, she propels the growth of sustainable entrepreneur development. Her work extends throughout New Jersey and national locales including Havana, Cuba with upcoming endeavors in South Africa and the Middle East.
Kimberlee is a founding partner of Small Development Counts Network.