C.W. Post Real Estate Practitioners Institute plans new land use initiative

The Real Estate Practitioners Institute at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University has planned to form a new institute designed to encourage sustainable, community-oriented development through advocacy, education, research and technical services. The prospective Regional Policy Center and Land Use Institute is envisioned as an advocate for sound planning, providing support to civic organizations, commentary on regionally significant projects, recommendations on community revitalization and information in the form of model codes, research and tools to benefit both public and commercial interests in regional development. The institute's programs and services will be designed for policy makers, civic groups and commercial real estate professionals. The credit-bearing educational programs of the institute will require the approvals of Long Island University as well as the New York State Education Department. The institute will be committed to development planning that discourages sprawl, supports diversity in housing development and encourages land use policies and processes that are clear, transparent, responsive, inclusive and fair, according to John Gutleber, chairman of the board of directors of the Real Estate Practitioners Institute and CEO of Castagna Realty Co. It will weigh redevelopment over new development, preservation of open space and environmental and recreational resources, regionalization and intergovernmental cooperation and seek to foster cooperation among policy makers, academia and commercial interests. "The Regional Policy Center and Land Use Institute can play a valuable role in protecting and improving the quality of life on Long Island," said Long Island University president Dr. David Steinberg. "This new Institute will help citizens, public officials, land use professionals and commercial developers make better-informed choices that benefit stakeholders." The institute will be directed by Daniel Gulizio, J.D., an experienced land use consultant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. Founded in 1972 and headquartered at the C.W. Post Campus in Brookville since 1998, the Real Estate Practitioners Institute provides continuing education services, seminars, white papers and luncheon discussions that address topics of interest to regional real estate practitioners. The mission of the Institute is to promote professionalism, ethics and education among the various segments of the real estate industry. Together with C.W. Post's Department of Continuing Education and Professional Studies (CEPS), which has been meeting the educational needs of professionals for more than 40 years, the institute expects, initially, to design New York State-approved certificate programs that focus on commercial, industrial and residential real estate sales, real estate financing, and ethics and standards of professional practice.