1 · Community Sentiment and Political Climate
NLP scoring of town hall minutes, local news, and elected official statements. Surfaces organised opposition fingerprints. Strongest predictor per Stokes et al. (2023, PNAS).
2 · Historical Permitting Outcomes
County approval and denial history for comparable asset classes. Path dependence in permitting is well-documented. Susskind et al. (2022, Energy Policy).
3 · Regulatory and Zoning Environment
CUP requirements, active moratoriums, CEQA/NEPA trigger assessment. Conditional Use Permit mandates activate latent opposition. Wolsink (2000, Renewable Energy).
4 · Community Equity and Engagement
Benefit-sharing structures, PILOT agreements, and developer engagement quality. Early, substantive engagement reduces opposition rates. Löw-Beer et al. (2025, Nature Communications).
5 · Physical and Site Characteristics
GIS proximity modelling for visibility from residential zones, proximity to sensitive receptors, and setback compliance. Roddis et al. (2018, Applied Energy).
6 · Cumulative Burden
Regional infrastructure saturation. Communities experiencing repeated siting resist new proposals at higher rates. US EPA Cumulative Impacts Framework (2022).
7 · Demographic and Socioeconomic Composition
Race, income, homeownership, and education provide secondary predictive signal in US datasets. Applied alongside primary sentiment and historical variables. Stokes et al. (2023, PNAS).