Land development is probably the riskiest part of real estate lending. Not only does a land developer have to deal with standing existing environmental regulations and site-specific construction issues, but the plat developer must also present a project that will be feasible, politically palatable, and potentially profitable - even before identifying the entities that will construct the finished products - let alone end users of the individual lots. Aside from extending options to purchase the land, how else might a developer mitigate risk prior to the end of the extended approval process?