Real Estate Development Consulting

Acuity Consulting Services, LLC (ACS) provides a full suite of professional planning, environmental permitting and related services for public and private sector clients in urban, suburban and rural settings with an exceptional quality of service. Our professionals have been providing these services for over 20 years to over 130 public sector clients and over 70 private sector clients in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and other parts of the United States. A representative list of services is included below.

Affordable and Workforce Housing

ACS’s professionals maintain exceptionally strong expertise in affordable and workforce housing planning and program administrative services. Our professionals have provided these services to over 50 municipal, county and state agency clients in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and other locations. Our Professional Planners and certified affordable housing Administrative Agents always stay up to date on the constantly evolving affordable and workforce housing landscape. They have a tremendous depth of knowledge of pertinent policy and regulations as well as a wealth of practical knowledge, and are able to provide solutions that are not only compliant with applicable regulations but are also able to be successfully implemented in accordance with the client’s goals and vision.

Representative services are listed below.   

• Settlement agreement and affordable housing agreement technical planning support
• Housing Plan Element and Fair Share Plan preparation and advisory services
• Special housing studies and plans
• Implementing ordinances for fair share plans and other housing plans
• Design, implementation and management of affordable and workforce housing programs
• Affordable and workforce housing Administrative Agent services, including affirmative marketing, income qualification, applicant placement, waiting list management, and compliance monitoring and reporting
• Annual reporting and compliance services for the full range of housing programs
• Federal, State and local housing program design, implementation, and management
• Litigation support, technical analysis, and expert witness services for housing and land use matters

Municipal Planning

ACS’s professionals have extensive experience providing the full range of municipal planning services to a wide range of municipal clients, from large cities, such as New York City, to small rural communities such as, Oldmans Township, New Jersey, and everything in between.

• Master Plans and Comprehensive Plans, including the full range of master plan elements, such as land use, circulation/mobility, open space and recreation, sustainability, resiliency, historic preservation, conservation, utilities, and other elements
• Ordinance amendments
• Redevelopment studies and plans
• Special planning studies and feasibility analysis
• Climate change and vulnerability assessments
• Environmental justice and equity analyses and studies
• Planning and zoning board representation
• Advisory services to municipal staff and assistance with day-to-day tasks
• All of the other relevant services listed herein, as applicable.

State, County and Regional

Our professionals have provided professional planning services to over 15 State, County and regional entities on a wide range of matters, including housing, land use, open space and recreation, infrastructure, economic development, sustainability and resiliency, and transportation.  

• Master plans and comprehensive plans
• Housing plans and programs
• Economic development and strategic investment plans and programs
• Open space and recreation plans, and related conceptual planning and design
• Special planning studies and feasibility analysis for projects pertaining to housing, land use, open space and recreation, infrastructure, economic development, sustainability and resiliency, and transportation
• Other services outlined herein, such as public engagement, environmental planning and permitting, etc.

Sustainability and Resiliency

Our professionals have prepared adaptation, sustainability, and resiliency studies and plans for over 20 public sector clients. We regularly engage in continuing education and training to maintain our expertise in the latest advancements in adaptation, resiliency, and sustainability, and leverage this knowledge and expertise to provide high quality plans and studies that not only reflect the latest advancement in the industry but are also able to be implemented from a practical and budgetary perspective.

• Adaptation, resiliency, and sustainability plans and studies, policy development, and ordinance amendments
• Feasibility studies for resiliency and sustainability projects
• Planning support and technical analysis for infrastructure studies and design
• Sustainability and resiliency program administration, management, applicant processing, and related services.

Environmental Planning and Permitting

Our professionals have provided environmental planning and permitting services for numerous public and private sector clients in  for a wide range of projects, including but not limited to housing, commercial, industrial, utility, transportation, and other public infrastructure projects.  

• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), including environmental review for projects regulated under HUD and other agencies
• State-Level Environmental Policy Acts (e.g., SEQRA)
• New York City Environmental Quality Review (e.g., CEQR)
• Environmental Review Documentation (e.g., EIS, EAS, Technical Memoranda and related analysis, documentation, and services)
• State and local environmental and land use permits and approvals
• Natural Resource Inventories

Public Engagement

Our professionals have provided public engagement services for state, county, regional and municipal clients for a wide range of planning and multidisciplinary projects.

• Design and implementation of public engagement strategies in support of public sector projects
• In-person, web-based/social media, and hybrid engagement strategies

GIS Mapping and Analysis

ACS provides GIS mapping and analysis in support of a wide range of planning and multidisciplinary projects. Our mapping and analyses balance technical analysis with accessible, user friendly graphical representation that brings key information and findings to light.

• Preparation of mapping for all studies, plans, public exhibits, and other project elements
• Technical GIS analysis for the full range of planning and multidisciplinary projects

Other Services and Additional Specialty Service Areas

ACS provides additional planning services and maintains expertise in certain additional specialty service areas, which include but are not limited to the services outlined below.

• Economic Development
• Water and wastewater planning and build-out analysis
• Feasibility studies and special planning studies
• Business incubator and business accelerator program  planning, design, and implementation
• Conceptual planning, and site layout and design
• Municipal Plan Endorsement
• Green Acres ROSI updates and related technical planning services
• Grants and funding application preparation and funding administration

Private Sector Services: ACS provides similar services to those outlined above, as applicable, for our private sector clients as well as additional services specific to private sector clients. Our professionals have extensive experience providing planning and environmental permitting services for a wide range of projects, including but not limited to residential, commercial office and retail, community facilities, medical, warehousing, light industrial, energy, utilities, and other projects. In addition to providing a high quality of service, we diligently seek out and identify ways for our clients to save costs, maximize profitability, and expedite project implementation. Our professionals have provided these services on projects ranging from two-lot subdivisions to multi-phase residential projects containing over 2,000 units, and for non-residential projects ranging from 5,000 square-foot professional office buildings to multi-phase commercial/light industrial developments containing over 2 million square feet of non-residential space. Our services begin with an initial consultation at no cost in order to discuss the vision, goals, and needs for your project. We tailor our services to provide the highest value, most efficient, lowest cost pathway to success for your project. In addition, our extensive public sector experience and network of public sector contacts enables ACS to add value through generating site leads, facilitating meetings with public sector representatives, anticipating public sector questions and perspectives, and obtaining informal feedback from the public sector, which enables our clients to save a substantial amount of time and money. Representative services are listed below.

• Project site leads
• Project feasibility and due diligence
• Maximum development potential analysis
• Affordable, workforce, and mixed-income housing technical analysis and advisory services that can shave costs and boost profitability
• Affordable and workforce housing administration services
• Affordable housing regulatory and compliance training for developers and/or developer’s staff
• Grants, funding and incentives analysis, scoping, and management
• Project implementation strategy and advisory services, which will shave costs and boost profitability
• Environmental permitting and approvals, including federal, State, regional, and local permits and approvals
• Real estate consulting and advisory services from a technical planning and permitting perspective
• Public agency meeting coordination and facilitation
• Project management
• Professional Planning Testimony

Representative Clients

A list of representative clients that ACS and/or its professionals currently serve, or have served under previous employ, is included below. ACS personnel have provided the full range of services outlined above for these representative clients, as applicable. Descriptions of representative projects completed for our clients are available and will be furnished upon request