Legal Insight

Economic Development Is Increasingly About Execution

What causes some economic development projects to move forward smoothly while others lose momentum long before construction ever begins?

That question surfaced repeatedly across recent industry conversations, including discussions at the 2026 KAED Collaboration Conference.

The focus was less on headline projects themselves and more on the realities that determine whether projects stay aligned once timelines tighten, infrastructure questions emerge, and multiple stakeholders are working toward the same outcome.

None of those pressures are entirely new on their own. What feels different is how often they are overlapping at the same time and how directly communities are being forced to think about readiness, coordination, and long term sustainability in practical terms.

The challenge for many communities is no longer identifying opportunity. It is sustaining alignment long enough to execute successfully.

Increasingly, economic development work is becoming less about any single project and more about managing overlapping pressures at the same time: infrastructure, workforce, funding, permitting, redevelopment, and long term sustainability. More >

Planning and Zoning: When Public Opinion Shapes Project Outcomes

Approval Is Not the Finish Line

For many development projects, the technical hurdles are clear.

• Zoning can be amended.
• Permits can be secured.
• Infrastructure can be engineered.

But projects rarely succeed or fail on technical readiness alone. They succeed or struggle based on whether they earn enough public comfort to move forward. More >

Economic Development: From Approval to Impact 

Approval is Only the Beginning  

Approval is often seen as the defining milestone in an economic development project, but approval alone does not define success. The more meaningful question is whether a project ultimately delivers what stakeholders actually need.  

For developers, this may mean predictability, speed, and cost-effectiveness. For municipalities, it may be job creation, tax base growth, and infrastructure alignment. For the broader community, success might mean public confidence that this growth supports local priorities.  

Every project carries layered goals.  Without structure, those goals may remain informal and unmet.   More >

The Real Risk in Lease Enforcement

5 Things Property Owners Should Watch and When to Get Legal Involved

Lease enforcement today operates within tighter statutory requirements, increased fair housing scrutiny, and evolving federal rules. There is less room for error. 

For property owners and developers, that means lease enforcement is no longer just a management function. It is a legal one. The risk is not only whether a tenant breached the lease, but whether each step taken in response will hold up. 

That is where bringing in legal assistance earlier can make a real difference.  More >

Shaky Ground for CDFIs: New Executive Orders Bring Uncertainty

Since assuming office on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump has implemented a series of significant measures aimed at drastically reducing spending across the federal government. These efforts have the potential to dramatically alter states’ reliance on federal grant funding to support a wide range of programs that assist economically disadvantaged communities. In particular, President Trump’s recent executive order targeting the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) not only raises concerns for Kentuckians who depend on its financial assistance for community based financial institutions, as well as for small businesses and infrastructure projects that benefit from the Fund’s incentives and investments. More >

Kentucky Tax Credits: What You Need to Know

Despite the lingering financial effects of the COVID-19 crisis and other economic setbacks, the Commonwealth of Kentucky is open for business. As part of ongoing statewide efforts for economic development, a variety of incentives are currently available to new and established businesses across the Commonwealth. We’ve highlighted some of these Kentucky tax incentive programs below – from farming operations to small entrepreneurial endeavors. A wide range of businesses are eligible to receive financial assistance such as tax credits and refunds, and yours may be one that qualifies. More >

5 Ways to Make Sure Your Company Holiday Party Doesn’t Land You on the Naughty List

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—but employers and HR managers everywhere are biting their nails, hoping the company’s holiday party doesn’t devolve into a legal-liability nightmare.  Here are some pointers that may help you and your company replace those nightmares with visions of sugar plums and an enjoyable festive season for all. More >

It May Be Dry January, But It’s Never a Bad Time to Brush Up on Dram Shop Liability

It’s a new year, which means plenty of people are resolving to give up or lessen their consumption of alcohol. But no matter how many resolutions are made, establishments that serve alcohol will still run into their fair share of problems with people who have had too much to drink. If such an individual causes some kind of harm, the retailer could be held accountable under dram shop laws. Here’s what you need to know about dram shop liability—and how to avoid it. More >

When DIY Goes Wrong: When NOT to Do Your Own Legal Work

There’s an old adage that the person who represents themself in court has a fool for a client. While we are not here to add any insult to the injuries suffered by legal DIYers, that particular line of reasoning may prove instructive in more areas than just court. Legal agreements and transactions may seem simple enough to handle on one’s own, but they can often get complex in a hurry. There’s never a wrong time to consult an attorney, and doing so at the beginning of a transaction can save a mountain of headache at later stages. More >

Peer Review Privilege in Kentucky: A Revolution in Public Policy

KRS 311.377 grants broad privilege protections to peer review proceedings and documentation.  As effective on July 14, 2018, this statute extends privilege and confidentiality protections to “the proceedings, records, opinions, conclusions, and recommendations of any committee, board, commission, medical staff, professional standards review organization, or other entity” engaged in performing a designated professional review function.  This grant of privilege was enacted, and is effective, in extending statutory protections for nearly all information arising from the retrospective review and evaluation of the competency of professional acts or conduct of healthcare personnel.  The 2018 amendments legislatively overrule a long history of Kentucky law that denied privilege protections to healthcare peer review proceedings.  More >