KENWARD DEVELOPMENT LAW's FOCUS
The decisions that are made in connection with the use, development and conservation of land have dramatic implications for the economy, our quality of life and future generations.
Those decisions also tend to be quite complex, given the important physical constraints that factor into such decisions (in the Lower Mainland for example, the north shore mountains, the ocean, rivers and the US border) and given the myriad of other important policy and practical constraints that apply (regulations related to regional planning, municipal planning, zoning, development control, and the preservation of agricultural land and fish habitat, and the interests that underlie them). Development extractions and amenity and servicing requirements also have significant implications, whether in the form of community amenity contributions, development cost charges or development approval conditions.
Kenward Development Law's founder, Peter Kenward, has practiced municipal and administrative law for 37 years, for private sector clients and local governments, working with a broad array of regulatory regimes, and a great many local government and Provincial officials and their legal representatives, to seek and implement solutions that achieve private sector and public sector interests.
Peter's breadth of experience - as a negotiator and advising solicitor, in developing and assessing legislation and regulations, and as a litigator seeking the review of regulatory decisions - assists Kenward Development Law in advising regarding the myriad of issues that a land use or development proposal, or a regulatory change, can trigger, in ways that can improve the prospects for achieving an outcome that successfully balances the applicable economic, political, environmental and legal considerations. The complexity of regulatory regimes can easily result in the misinterpretation of their scope and intended effects, and a successful outcome not infrequently turns on understanding the broader context, and knowing which approach to take and which submission to make.
Prior to founding Kenward Development Law, Peter practiced with three law firms (a small local government law firm for 4 years, a large national firm for 22 years, and a medium to large BC firm for 11 years). Kenward Development Law Corporation was then established in 2021 as a vehicle to facilitate working with private sector clients and, where desired, their preferred real estate counsel, free from the conflicts and the extraneous considerations that sometimes arose from being part of a larger firm.