Public Agency Advisory | DL Smith Company

PUBLIC AGENCY ADVISORY

DL Smith Company advises cities, successor agencies, school and community college districts, and special districts on the real estate and financial questions that determine whether a project gets built - feasibility, deal structure, land disposition, and approval risk. We bring a private-side practitioner's perspective to public work. When a developer tells a city a project doesn't pencil, we know how that number was built.

Highest and best use analysis - What the site actually supports under current market conditions, not what the general plan designation says.
Surplus Land Act strategy - Surplus versus exempt-surplus determination, notice and negotiation sequencing, HCD reporting, and where the affordability trigger changes project economics.
Disposition structuring - Sale, ground lease, or participation structures, and which one fits the agency's objective.
Developer solicitation design - Drafting an RFP or RFQ, setting evaluation criteria that actually predict delivery, and structuring submittal requirements so responses are comparable.
Proposal evaluation and developer selection - Independent scoring, capitalization and track-record verification, and reference diligence.
ENA and DDA business terms - Negotiation support on price, schedule, performance milestones, and remedies, coordinated with agency counsel.
Split-ownership and assemblage strategy - Where the agency controls only part of a site and progress depends on aligning with a private owner.

Independent pro forma review - Line-by-line examination of developer's sources and uses, cost assumptions, revenue assumptions, and return requirements.
Shadow underwriting - An independent model built before negotiations begin, so agency staff enter the room with their own number.
Testing the "it doesn't pencil" claim - Untrended against trended returns, yield on cost against exit cap spread, and a land basis against comparable transactions. These distinguish real infeasibility from a negotiating position.
Evaluating requested public participation - Whether the assistance sought matches the actual gap, and whether the project would proceed without it.
Incentive structuring - Performance-based assistance, reimbursement mechanisms, risk allocation, and clawbacks.
Fiscal and market context - Net new revenue against displacement, and whether demand supports the proposed program.

California housing law - SB 79, SB 1123, AB 2011, density bonus, and by-right pathways, and what each means for agency-owned and agency-influenced sites.
Entitlement critical path - realistic approval timelines built from experience processing them, not from code-stated review periods.
Quantifying schedule risk - what approval uncertainty actually costs a developer in return terms, and where an agency can reduce it at a low cost.
Housing Element implementation - rezoning program support and site inventory feasibility testing.
Infrastructure obligations and project feasibility - how offsite and utility requirements affect whether a project pencils, and when cost allocation across benefiting properties is worth exploring with the agency's finance team.
Diagnosing stalled projects - identifying the binding constraint, determining whether the agency can move it, and saying plainly when it cannot.

Owner's representation - Acting as the agency's technical counterpart to the design and construction team.
Project Controls - Budget, schedule, and change management with reporting built for public transparency and Council presentation.
Consultant selection and management - Scoping, procuring, and overseeing design and technical consultants.
Critical path development - Sequencing approvals, funding, and construction so dependencies surface early.
Executive and Council support - Staff reports, deal summaries, and risk-and-reward analysis written for public decision-makers.