Challenge
Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, O’Neill Properties Group (OPG) sought to convert the zoning of its Belmont, Massachusetts property to commercial use in order to build a five-story office/laboratory building. In order to change the zoning of this property, known as the Belmont Uplands, a two-thirds vote of the Belmont’s Town Meeting Members was required.

O’Neill and Associates developed and implemented a community outreach campaign to communicate the benefits of the proposed development and show how they far outweigh any detriment to the town of Belmont.

Solution
O’Neill and Associates secured the support of parties impacted by this development, including residents, elected officials, environmental groups, and conservation groups through a campaign that incorporated the following elements:

• Message development: O’Neill and Associates will honed OPG’s messages about the rezoning including key facts and benefits to craft customized messages designed to resonate with each key constituency.
• Collateral material production: O’Neill and Associates delivered and reinforced these messages by developing the content and design of collateral materials including direct mail, fact sheets, print advertisements, and presentations.
• Targeted outreach: O’Neill and Associates identified and reached out to public safety officials, community opinion leaders, and other key influencers while also appealing directly to Belmont’s Town Meeting Members.
• Media relations: O’Neill and Associates monitored newspaper coverage, identified signatories for letters to the editor, authored press releases, coordinated editorial-board meetings and successfully reached out to individual reporters on behalf of OPG.
• Community meeting coordination: O’Neill and Associates coordinated several community meetings, hosted by OPG, in order to address community concerns and educate and persuade Town Meeting members. 

Results
O’Neill and Associates eventually won the support of enough Town Meeting members to win the vote to rezone the Belmont Uplands from General Residential (GR) use to Office/Research and Development use at the Town Meeting in April 2001.

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