Golden Valley Ranch

Runkle Canyon

SilverTip Resort Village

Yes on Measure V

Case Studies

Golden Valley Ranch ~ PacSun, LLC

After their project was initially rejected 4 to 1 by the Santa Clarita City Council, PacSun, LLC wanted to initiate a public relations campaign to rally support for their proposed Golden Valley Ranch housing, retail and elementary school development on 950 acres of land. The Golden Valley Ranch project faced strong opposition from anti-growth locals who did not understand the many benefits the project offered to the local economy and community.

The key to getting the city council to approve the plan was to demonstrate support of the community, which, in turn, meant successfully communicating the projects details and many benefits.

A multi-faceted public awareness campaign began nine months before the proposed city council vote a second time. Though the campaign included paid advertising, the heart of the campaign was grassroots. It had to be. Convincing skeptical citizens about the genuine benefits of the project required personal contact.

A merchant outreach program, a series of town hall-style meetings, community presentations, and one-on-one meetings, coupled with an aggressive government relations program, helped persuade and organize a core-group of supporters. In true grassroots fashion, that core group was encouraged to spread the word via letters-to-the-editor and by distributing literature.

On the evening of the city council vote, supporters of the project out-numbered the opposition 3 to 1. The supporters’ impact was even greater as the bright gold stickers and hats they were wearing seemed to fill the room.

Citing the apparent outpouring of support and seemingly absent sign of opposition, two council members who had publicly opposed the project voted in favor of it. By a stunning 4 to 1 vote, the Golden Valley Ranch project was approved.

GreenPark Runkle Canyon, LLC

With a piece of property known by Simi Valley residents for its fun hiking, biking and equestrian uses, GreenPark Runkle Canyon had a difficult task of developing a profitable residential project while preserving the pristine character of the area. Sheldon Group was retained in 2002 to help them do this because of our reputation for garnering public and city support for controversial development projects.

We developed an aggressive, ongoing community relations campaign geared toward educating the public about the many benefits the Runkle Canyon project offers. The biggest benefit being that over 90 percent of the property will be left as permanent open space with a series of public trails and a passive community park. Through effective collateral materials including a project Web site and full-color brochure, a local office with a “questions” phone line and direct mail we were able to assemble “Runkle Canyon Neighbors” – a large group of active supporters living within two miles of the project site.

The campaign also included thirty-nine community meetings, which helped diminish the initial opposition attached to the project to a silent few. In fact, several of the most vocal past opponents became active supporters helping us get the word out about the project benefits. Several of the City Council Members were quoted as saying, “Runkle Canyon should be used as a community outreach model for all developers.”

An active government relations program was also in place. Our ongoing contact with the City Council, as well as local elected officials on the state and federal level were key factors to the positive progress of the project.

The Environmental Impact Report was finalized by the city and the project steadily moved forward through the entitlement process. The project went before the Neighborhood Council in early 2004, and the Planning Commission in March of 2004 and City Council in April of 2004. With the overwhelming support we generated for Runkle Canyon we were approved by City Council 5 to 0.

SilverTip Resort Village ~ PacificUS Real Estate Group

Sheldon Group began working with PacificUS Real Estate Group in 2001 to gain approval for the SilverTip Resort Village, an upscale 125-room resort hotel proposed for Fish Camp, California. Our initial survey showed that local residents were adamantly opposed to the project saying it would ruin their rural way of life.

Our biggest challenge was developing a message that painted the picture of a project that was fiscally beneficial, environmentally sensitive and respectful of the lifestyle of local residents. We used direct mail and individual meetings to illustrate our positive message and built a base group of project supporters. From there, through more meetings, phone conversations and some advertising, we were able to assemble a larger team of active supporters that we constantly kept in contact with, making them feel “in the loop” and part of the project team.

Our community outreach plan included a letters-to-the-editor program, a “write your elected officials” program, individual and larger group community meetings and an aggressive phone banking operation urging our supporters’ active participation during the most crucial times – the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors’ hearings.

Together with our neighbors and many residents from other parts of the county, we were able to convince the officials that this project had too many benefits to pass up. All of these efforts were rewarded last spring when the SilverTip Resort Village was approved 5 to 0 by the Commission and ultimately 4 to 1 by the Board. In November 2003, the Board of Supervisors voted 4 to 0 to approve an environmental impact report for the development.

Yes on Measure V: Orange County Citizens for Local Controls

Sheldon Group was retained in July 2002 to run the campaign for Measure V. Measure V would determine if Orange County would become a charter county and change the method of selection when a vacancy occurs in the Board of Supervisors. An initial benchmark survey was done prior to the campaign phase. The survey showed that 39 percent of those surveyed were voting yes on Measure V in comparison to 45 percent who were voting no – the balance of which were undecided voters.

Sheldon Group’s strategy was to use research to determine the key arguments that would move voters and communicate to them in a multi-tiered campaign, including direct mail, phone contact, slate advertising and a letters-to-the-editor program.

Polling showed that many Orange County voters obtained their information about local political issues from the Orange County Register, both in the news section and on the editorial pages. We put into place an aggressive letters-to-the-editor and opinion editorial campaign to ensure that we reached these voters with our message. We also placed our message on several slate advertisements, which were used within our direct mail program. We have learned from past experience that slate advertisements are an extremely effective method of communicating to high propensity voters, most of whom are print oriented.

We conducted two tracking polls to high propensity Orange County voters to determine if our message was resonating and gather voter reaction to our mailings and advertisements. This research helped us determine how well our message was registering with the voters and track our progress as we prepared for Election Day.

The results were phenomenal – Measure V was passed on Election Day by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin. The campaign was able to solidify voters in the YES category, and move 14 percent of undecided voters to the YES side.