McCarter continues to grow its real estate and government affairs teams with the addition of Kenneth D. McPherson III, who advises developers, property owners, and businesses on securing state and local approvals for commercial and mixed-use projects. In a recent interview with Law360, Ken discussed his move, noting, “McCarter is a very dynamic firm looking ahead into the future. There’s a lot of interaction among the groups, which was something that’s very interesting to me.”
One area that he sees that interaction providing opportunity to grow is in the cannabis sector, where McCarter has a growing legal practice. Ken helps cannabis as well as alcoholic beverage clients obtain state and municipal licensing approvals and address various compliance issues. He said he sees more towns changing their zoning laws to allow cannabis operations.
“I would certainly like to see more towns [embrace cannabis companies] because cannabis dispensaries, cultivating, manufacturing, it’s proven to be a very quiet, beneficial use from the tax revenue standpoint to the municipality,” Ken said.
In his land use work, Ken appears before planning and zoning boards helping clients gain approval for projects ranging from residential and industrial to retail and senior living developments and advises clients on getting approval for property tax exemptions and payment-in-lieu-of-taxes programs. In representing his clients in these matters, Ken finds it important to speak directly to governing officials in public meetings to make the case for redevelopment.
“Some lawyers may be a little hesitant to do that, but I’ve always found it’s actually beneficial for the clients and for the municipalities also to hear directly from the attorney,” Ken said.