Urban Planning ProsPlan Proper. Exit Strong.

Enhanced illustrated ebook | First edition 2026

Before the Land Deal Gets Expensive

The practical feasibility playbook for uncovering zoning, access, utility, drainage, approval, capacity, and exit risk before major capital is committed.

  • 94illustrated pages
  • 14decision chapters
  • 8field-ready worksheets
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Cover of Before the Land Deal Gets Expensive, the Urban Planning Pros land feasibility ebook
Landowners Developers Builders Investors Project Teams

The problem

Most land mistakes are made before anyone calls them mistakes.

They begin as assumptions: the zoning label is treated as an approval, a nearby utility line is treated as available capacity, gross acreage is treated as usable acreage, and an encouraging conversation is treated as permission to spend.

This ebook gives you a disciplined way to separate verified facts from assumptions, direct the next specialist, and keep every technical answer tied to an owner decision.

The deliverable of good feasibility is not a thicker report. It is a better next decision.

The land decision path

Evaluate. Plan. Coordinate. Exit.

The four-part UPP framework keeps the property, approval path, infrastructure, capital pressure, team scope, and exit strategy in the same conversation.

01

Evaluate

Separate evidence from enthusiasm and identify the fact most likely to change the deal.

02

Plan

Compare uses, net developable capacity, infrastructure timing, phasing, and special-use realities.

03

Coordinate

Hire the right specialist for the next question and keep the team working from one decision.

04

Exit

Make the project fundable and explainable while protecting the ability to renegotiate, partner, sell, or walk.

Land feasibility options showing a favorable path and a higher-risk path across topographic terrain

Quick start

The six gates every property should pass.

  1. Legal and policy fitIs the use allowed, conditional, or dependent on a discretionary action?
  2. Legal and functional accessCan the site support frontage, entry, circulation, and emergency response?
  3. Utilities and wastewaterAre service and capacity available for the intended use and scale?
  4. Land and water constraintsHow do drainage, flood risk, soils, topography, easements, and buffers affect the footprint?
  5. Capacity and approval pathDoes usable area remain after site requirements, and can approvals fit the timeline?
  6. Economics and exitDoes realistic yield support the basis, improvements, fees, carrying costs, and next exit?

Inside the ebook

Fourteen chapters built around live land decisions.

Part I | Evaluate

  1. Potential Is Not Feasibility
  2. What Is Actually Allowed?
  3. The Physical Site Can Overrule the Idea
  4. A Three-Stage Due Diligence System

Part II | Plan

  1. Compare Uses Before You Draw the Winner
  2. Turn Gross Acres Into Net Developable Reality
  3. Phase Around Infrastructure, Capital, and Proof
  4. Special-Use Land

Part III | Coordinate

  1. Hire the Right Specialist for the Next Question
  2. Keep the Team Working From One Decision
  3. Navigate Staff Review, Hearings, and Approvals

Part IV | Exit

  1. Make the Project Fundable and Explainable
  2. Protect the Exit From Day One
  3. The 72-Hour Property Screen

Land decision toolkit

Eight worksheets turn the framework into action.

Use the repeatable tools to screen a live property, document assumptions, identify red flags, direct specialist scopes, and organize the first fourteen days of diligence.

See Sample Pages
Property Decision Brief Property Intake Checklist Six-Gate Red-Flag Matrix Go / Pause / No-Go Scorecard Specialist Scope Planner Pre-Application Meeting Agenda Decision and Risk Log Fourteen-Day Diligence Sprint
Land feasibility decision team evaluating development options around a terrain model

About the author

Jeremy Wenger

Jeremy is the founder of Urban Planning Pros. His work connects property research, master planning, survey and engineering coordination, owner representation, project economics, and capital narratives around one practical question: what should the owner do next?

Discuss a Live Property

Digital edition

Find the expensive assumption before it becomes an expensive commitment.

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This ebook provides general educational information and a decision framework. It is not a site-specific feasibility study or a substitute for qualified legal, surveying, engineering, environmental, geotechnical, architectural, appraisal, tax, financial, lending, construction, or code advice.