I asked a lawyer friend “What possible legitimate reason could Roanoke County have to allow for an NDA?, re:this situation
This is what the lawyer told me-
“In municipal economic development, nondisclosure agreements are standard practice primarily to prevent real estate speculation and protect corporate strategy. If a major company publicly announces its plans too early, neighboring property owners will often skyrocket their asking prices for necessary adjacent land, road rights of way, or utility easements.
Additionally, the anonymity keeps competitors from discovering a company’s expansion plans or aggressively bidding against them for local resources and contractor labor.
Furthermore, keeping negotiations confidential protects both the local government and the business while they hammer out complex tax incentives and infrastructure agreements. State laws, including Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act, specifically allow for this secrecy. If a municipality could not guarantee confidentiality during early negotiations, businesses would simply take their projects, along with the potential tax revenue and jobs, to a state that would.”
So- Long story short, NDAs are used to stop local property owners from instantly raising real estate prices and to keep competitors from sabotaging the company’s expansion plans. They give the city and the business a safe, legally protected space to negotiate complex tax deals and infrastructure needs before going public.
Still stinks to me, though.