Patrick,
Seven years seems excessive. I am at 6 years with a project and we probably have another 16 months before construction could realistically begin. However, there is a lot to consider. I was in the forest two days ago walking a couple of holes that were staked for me, big, mature trees, a sizeable creek, wetland trenchs cutting down to the creek, and I spent about 30 minutes doing nothing else but just looking up into the canopy observing the many birds living in the upper stories, and surveying the whole scence knowing that the netire area I was looking at must be cleared to make way for two holes and an irrigation pond. It makes you wonder what the hell you are doing when you realize what a major impact you can have on the environment. You can look ahead and know that the landscape you create can be very interesting, I mean I will maintain the wetland drainage ways and probably increase them through the two holes, and the irrigation pond will have a littoral bench completely around it, so it will be a beautiful area once done, but there is no way I can sit there looking up as I did and think that I am improving the present situation. Progress yes, but it makes you pause and realize the tremendous impact we all impart on the land when we undertake these projects, and the silliness in our assertions that we are environmental advocates, we work with the land, yes to some degree, but...So, the review process is mind numbing, it is ridiculous at times, it is political, it is nasty at times, it negatively impacts people's lives, by which I mean there are many good hard working people that make a living building these communities and the longer the delays, the more projects that get scuttled by the process, the worse off these people become, but there is a heavy price to be paid in the natural world once we get the green light to start work. Nothing pleases me more to see the construction people out on the site. They are making decent livings, they mean well, they have families to feed, and it is a source of pleasure to see them busy building these communities, but, there is an emotional burden to bear when you know the depth of the impacts you are making, and I think by spending much time in the natural world you use that burden to make damn certain you are doing everything you can to lessen those impacts, and make something positive out of what you are doing. I heard a war photographer talking the other day about one of his heros whom encountered a gruesome situation, and it broke him, he gave it up because it just got to be too much, and while that is a major example, it could be somewhat analagous to someone in the development business whether a designer, a developer, a contractor, whom could finally encounter a situation where they might say enough is enough, this is just too heavy an impact to make on this natural place. I wonder how many people move from the development side to the protectionism side? Anyway it is a burdensome process, but there are a number of architects and developers that need to be challenged and beaten back from their assault on the natural world.