Notice Quality Score

This factor asks whether notice was published far enough in advance that residents had real time to respond — at least 30 days before any binding decision, and before key commitments had already been made.

For notice to be meaningful, it must precede the point at which the decision becomes effectively irreversible. BEI applies a 30-day minimum as a threshold derived from the complexity of major incentive agreements — not adopted from any legal notice minimum. Notice that arrives after the company has already acquired land, filed permits, or signed agreements fails this factor regardless of its statutory compliance.

This factor asks whether the notice was written so an ordinary resident could understand it — not whether it satisfied legal boilerplate, but whether the actual project description was readable.

Notice language is assessed using a readability tool (Hemingway App, Flesch-Kincaid, or equivalent). Mandated boilerplate — statutory headings, legal citations, required disclaimer language — is excluded from measurement. Only the substantive project description sections are assessed. Every BEI review of this factor documents: which section was measured, which tool was used, and the grade level result.

This factor asks whether the notice named the actual type of project and its scale — not just a parcel number or a generic description of commercial construction.

A notice that identifies the project only as "commercial development" or "industrial facility" does not give residents enough information to understand what is being approved. This factor requires that the project type be named (e.g., data center, battery storage facility, logistics hub) and that scale indicators meaningful to the approval context be disclosed (power draw in megawatts, square footage, or equivalent).

This factor asks whether the notice identified the actual company receiving the benefit — not a shell entity or a numbered LLC that obscures beneficial ownership.

Beneficial ownership transparency at the time of public notice is a core condition for meaningful participation. When notice identifies only an intermediary LLC or a shell entity, residents cannot assess the applicant's track record, financial capacity, or public commitments. This factor scores whether official records at the time of notice identified the ultimate beneficial owner by legal name.

This factor asks whether the notice told residents what the project would actually do to their community — including energy demand, water use, traffic, and grid costs.

Impact disclosure means residents receive information about what the facility will actually do to the community — not just that it will "create jobs" or "generate economic activity." BEI scores disclosure across six impact categories. A rating of Documented requires disclosure of ≥4 of the 6 applicable categories. Where a category is structurally inaccessible (e.g., grid upgrade cost withheld by the utility), BEI flags it as a Disclosure Infrastructure finding and counts the threshold from the remaining accessible categories.

This factor asks whether the public hearing was actually accessible — held at a time working people could attend, in the jurisdiction, recorded, and open to written comments.

A hearing held at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday in a county seat 40 miles from the affected community is technically compliant but practically inaccessible for working residents. This factor scores four accessibility dimensions: whether an evening, weekend, or remote participation option was available; whether the hearing was held in-jurisdiction (not at a distant state capital or administrative office); whether the hearing was recorded and that recording made publicly available; and whether written comments were accepted.

This factor asks whether the key documents — permit application, incentive agreement, environmental review — were publicly available online before the binding decision.

Notice without documents is notice without substance. This factor scores whether the applicant's permit application, the incentive agreement (or a publicly available draft), environmental review, key technical studies, and fiscal impact analysis were all posted online in advance of the binding vote or approval. "Available upon request" does not satisfy this factor — documents must be proactively published.

This factor asks whether notice came before the company had already locked itself into the project — before land was bought, permits filed, the agreement signed, and grid studies started.

A commitment milestone is an action that makes the project effectively irreversible regardless of what the public process yields. When these milestones occur before notice, public participation is structurally compromised — residents may comment, but the outcome is effectively settled. BEI tracks four commitment milestones: (1) land acquisition closed, (2) building permits filed, (3) incentive agreement executed or officially recommended for approval, and (4) grid interconnection study commissioned.