How to Evaluate a Land Parcel for Development: A Data-Driven Checklist

A systematic framework covering 6 categories: zoning & entitlements, environmental risk, soil conditions, construction cost estimation, financial feasibility, and market demographics.

1. Zoning & Entitlements

Confirm base zoning, dimensional standards (setbacks, height, FAR), overlay districts, entitlement timelines, and impact fees.

2. Environmental Risk

Check FEMA flood zones, wetlands, seismic design categories, wildfire risk, and brownfield proximity.

3. Soil & Geotechnical

Evaluate bearing capacity, drainage, shrink-swell, depth to bedrock, and corrosion risk from SSURGO data.

4. Construction Cost

ML models produce P10/P50/P90 cost intervals accounting for site-specific factors.

5. Financial Feasibility

Pro forma with hard costs, soft costs, contingency, and return metrics.

6. Market & Demographics

Population growth, income, vacancy, Walk Score from Census ACS.