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partnership
at a glance
Newland Communities
Headquartered in San Diego,
Newland Communities is a privately
owned company that creates residential
and urban mixed-use communities
from coast to coast. With expertise in
creating a special sense of community,
Newland brings to life the unique
history, culture and traditions of the
land they develop. Newland believes
it is their responsibility to create
enduring, healthier communities so
people may live life in ways that
matter most to them. Newland
currently has nearly 40 communities
under way in 14 states.
Martha Guy is Newland
Communities’ senior vice president
and general counsel. She joined the
company in 2001 and is responsible
for all corporate and project level
legal matters. Martha came to
Newland from TrizecHahn
Development Corporation, where
she served as senior corporate
counsel. She can be reached at
MGuy@newlandcommunities.com.
Sharon Koplan is the regional
general counsel for the Southeast
and mid-Atlantic regions of Newland
Communities. She works closely with
the local business teams on project
legal matters, including acquisitions,
sales and operational issues. Sharon
came to Newland in 2004 from the
Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher LLP. She can be reached at
SKoplan@newlandcommunities.com.
Don Whyte has more than 30 years’
experience in creating communities
in Canada and the United States,
including major amenity-oriented
master-planned communities in
Florida, Colorado and Alberta. He is
currently responsible for all Newland
operations in the Southeast region
of the United States, including
Florida and Georgia. Don joined
Newland Communities in 2001, after
it acquired Genstar Land Company
(USA). He can be reached at
DWhyte@newlandcommunities.com.
Environmental concerns abound, and the
Bexley project is no exception. The project’s
two-day envisioning, held in nearby Tampa
in 2002, included celebrity zookeeper
“Jungle Jack” Hanna, who’s appeared on
“Rhea may look at a proposed
road or access way early on
and say, ‘There’s no way the
county will allow that, but
you could accomplish the
same thing by doing it this
way instead.’”
numerous regional and national television
outlets, including “Good Morning America.”
“He brought snakes, eagles and other wildlife,
everything you find on the property,” Law
explains. “Newland brought him in because
they wanted all of us to understand the site’s
environmental resources and what needed to
be protected.”
Dual-Purpose Guest
Including Law in the gathering served a
dual purpose. First, her participation
helped identify (and when necessary rectify)
potential legal snags early in the design
process. “Rhea may look at a proposed road
or access way early on and say, ‘There’s no
way the county will allow that, but you
could accomplish the same thing by doing it
this way instead,’” Whyte explains.
More important, the sessions give Law a
thorough understanding of the project, one
she would need to develop and submit what’s
known as an Application for Development
Approval of a Development of Regional
Impact (DRI)—essentially a due diligence
report prepared for an array of state and
federal regulators on Newland’s behalf. The
DRI must be approved by each regulatory
body before the project can move forward.
“It’s Rhea’s responsibility to help us work
our way through the regulatory maze so that
we end up with the same development we
originally envisioned,” Whyte says. “She’s an
important part of the envisioning, because
she’s the one who’s going to deliver our
vision to the regulators.”
Meeting Regulatory Demands
An application is required for any project
that’s beyond the statutory scope of a
particular county or region. In the case of
Bexley, Pasco County requires a DRI study
for any project over 2,000 units in size.
It took Law and her team three years to
gather and distribute the information.
The study consists of multiple, highly
detailed analyses. For example, one analysis
evaluated the site’s wetlands and outlined
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