John Laing Homes
Community relations, media and support-building for 150-Home Development

ISSUE|;SUCCESS

John Laing Homes (JLH), the second largest private home builder in the United States, saw a unique opportunity to build 150 homes on a 17-acre industrial property in Port Hueneme. The JLH project fit the city’s vision to promote itself as a desirable coastal residential community, and would help ease the city’s large jobs/housing imbalance (the greatest imbalance of any city in Ventura County) to meet State mandates.

JLH needed to earn support and approvals for the project from community stakeholders and decision-makers:

1. Port Hueneme City Council – whose members sought demonstrated community support
2. Oxnard Harbor District – local port authority threatening eminent domain to possess the property to use as a vehicle storage facility 
3. California Coastal Commission – approval needed to rezone the property from light-industrial to residential, rarely granted by the state-appointed body.
4. Community stakeholders -- concerned about traffic, environmental issues and who were actively engaged in opposing other residential and industrial projects.
5. State elected officials – Assemblymembers Fran Pavley and Paul Koretz; State Senator Sheila Kuehl

ISSUE|;SUCCESS

Consensus Inc. conducted an award-winning multi-layered outreach campaign including grassroots communications, targeted media relations and local and government relations to build support for the project. By conducting community walks, meeting with homeowners, environmental groups, and local/regional business groups Consensus Inc. educated stakeholders about the project and issues and built a network of more than 400 supporters. The Native American Chumash were also included due to the discovery of an archaeological resource on the property. Consensus Inc. sought support from Port Hueneme’s state elected officials, whose public support would carry significant influence on Coastal Commissioners.

Consensus Inc. implemented a public affairs strategy in three phases, including media relations that culminated in a supportive editorial by the Ventura County Star and a turning-point article in the Los Angeles Times on the day of the vote. In the end, more than five dozen Port Hueneme residents traveled two hours to San Pedro, California, on buses to attend and testify at the August 9, 2006 Coastal Commission hearing. After extensive debate and expressions of support from the community, as well as state and local elected officials, the Coastal Commission overrode its staff’s denial recommendation and approved the zoning change on a 7-2 vote.