Law Commons^™

Reclaiming The Streets, Vanessa Casado-Pérez

Faculty Scholarship

Pedestrians have been getting the short end of the stick in street policies and regulations. Drivers and cars dominate our streets even though automobiles’ externalities kill thousands of people every year. Given the environmental, health, safety, and community effects of cars, municipalities should embrace a policy that puts pedestrians at the center and produces more miles of wider, well-maintained sidewalks. Sidewalks make communities greener, healthier, safer, more socially connected, and even, wealthier. COVID-19 lockdowns have shown both the relevance of sidewalks, as well as the possibility of pedestrians regaining space currently allocated to cars by widening sidewalks.

This Essay identifies, …

Land Use Strategies That Mitigate Climate Change, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article discusses techniques and strategies that municipal governments can employ to mitigate climate change, of which land use and municipal law lawyers should be aware.

Law School News: Marine Law Symposium At Rwu Law To Focus On Legal Strategies For Climate Adaptation 11/08/2018, Edward Fitzpatrick

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Land Use Law Update: Reed V. Town Of Gilbert Redux, Sarah Adams-Schoen

Scholarly Works

The Winter 2015 Land Use Law Update asked whether the Supreme Court’s decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert would require municipalities throughout the country to rewrite their sign codes. The short answer is “yes.”

At a minimum, following the Supreme Court’s decision that the Town of Gilbert’s temporary directional sign regulations violated petitioners Good News Community Church’s and Pastor Clyde Reed’s First Amendment rights, municipalities will want to act quickly to amend their sign codes if they regulate different categories of signs differently. A code that places fewer restrictions on political or ideological signs than on directional signs likely …

Climate Change Adaptation And Mitigation: A Local Solution To A Global Problem, Sarah J. Adams-Schoen

Scholarly Works

Local land use laws offer powerful tools for climate change adaptation and mitigation. However, notwithstanding New York municipalities’ many impressive efforts, local laws are not yet being utilized sufficiently to create disaster-resilient or disaster-adaptive communities. New York City has done substantially more than many other cities, including, critically, setting specific CO2 emissions reduction targets and amending zoning and building codes. But, in light of the evidence of climate change and its impacts, local decision makers, resource managers, and planners throughout the state must ask whether we are doing enough. Failure to do so will continue to be costly in terms …

Changes Spark Interest In Sustainable Urban Places: But How Do We Identify And Support Them?, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Changes in climatic and demographic trends are sparking renewed interest in cities generally and sustainable communities particularly. On the one hand, residents and workers in denser, mixed-use neighborhoods served by transit have half the carbon footprint of those in spread-out suburban areas. On the other hand, many of the smaller households that characterize the nation’s growing population prefer to live in precisely those compact, mixed-use neighborhoods. In New York, these changes align with several new state policies that encourage cities and towns to reduce carbon emissions, reduce vehicle travel, create sustainable buildings and neighborhoods, and preserve the landscapes that sequester …

Social Networking And Land Use Planning And Regulation: Practical Benefits, Pitfalls And Ethical Considerations, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

This article explores how social networking sites have been used or might be used in the land use context. Part I focuses on the use of social networking for land use planning and zoning. It includes a discussion of the pros and cons of the use of social networking sites to present public information and to gather public input and invite general participation in the process, as well as to provide notice to the public of forthcoming government decision-making. This section offers concrete examples of how this technology is currently being used in the land use context. Part II focuses …

Slides: Water Leasing In The Lower Arkansas Valley: The "Super Ditch Company", Peter Nichols

Western Water Law, Policy and Management: Ripples, Currents, and New Channels for Inquiry (Martz Summer Conference, June 3-5)

Presenter: Peter NIchols, Trout, Raley, Montano, Witwer & Freeman, Denver, CO

28 slides

New York Climate Change Report Card: Improvement Needed For More Effective Leadership And Overall Coordination With Local Government, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

New York ranks eight out of the 50 states in terms of carbon emissions. While the State government is just beginning to enact meaningful programs and incentives to encourage municipal policies and actions that will reduce the impact of local decisions on our carbon footprint, a number of local governments across the State have already been at work developing and adopting "greening" strategies, policies and regulations. While the New York State Bar Association has released for comment a report of its Task Force on Global Warming which documents an impressive two-dozen current state-level laws and programs on climate change, the …

Slides: Linking Growth, Land Use And Water, Jim Holway

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Jim Holway, Global Institute of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Arizona Water Institute, Arizona State University

29 slides

Slides: Water Needs And Strategies For A Sustainable Future, Shaun Mcgrath

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Shaun McGrath, Program Director, Western Governors’ Association

25 slides

Slides: Beyond Rethinking: Redoing Western Water Law, Janet Neuman

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Professor Janet Neuman, Lewis & Clark Law School

17 slides

Sustainable Water Policies In The Rocky Mountain West: An Action Agenda, Sarah Bates

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Sarah Bates, Western Progress

10 pages.

Includes bibliographical references

"Review Draft, May 15, 2008"

Sepas, Climate Change, And Corporate Responsibility: The Contribution Of Local Government, Catherine J. Lacroix

Faculty Publications

Municipalities in the United States are increasingly active in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Data suggest that the physical layout of communities and the buildings they contain make significant contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and thus to climate change. One useful tool for municipalities could be the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), pioneered in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) at the federal level and subsequently adopted as a policymaking guide in the State Environmental Policy Acts (SEPAs) of many states. A SEPA requires state governments - and, in six states, local governments as well - to consider the …

Slides: Forests And Grasslands, Federico Cheever

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: Professor Federico Cheever, University of Denver Sturm College of Law

30 slides

Ensuring Continuing Community Amenities Through Golf Course Redevelopment, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

This article examines some of the issues faced by municipalities hoping to preserve their golf courses or to ensure their strategic redevelopment and focuses on how local governments can most effectively employ planning and zoning techniques to ensure that community amenities, including affordable housing and recreational areas, are an important part of golf course redevelopment projects.

States Beginning To Recognize That Training Is Essential For Members Of Planning And Zoning Boards And Local Legislative Bodies, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

Members of planning and zoning boards and local legislative bodies constantly make decisions that may be worth millions of dollars to applicants and that may have serious impacts on public health and safety. Unlike other players in the land use decision making process members of local legislative bodies and land use boards have no specific education or training in land use matters prior to their election or appointment putting them in the position to learn solely from “on the job training”. Five (5) states currently require mandatory training and continuing education courses for members of planning boards and zoning boards …

Zoning For Home Occupations: Modernizing Zoning Codes To Accommodate Growth In Home-Based Businesses, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

This article offers readers ideas and examples of ways to modernize local zoning laws to balance the growing demand by residents to engage in legitimate home-based businesses while protecting community character and the health, safety, and welfare of neighbors in residential zoning districts.

Slides: Changes In Timberland Ownership: The New Hampshire Experience, Paul Doscher

Community-Owned Forests: Possibilities, Experiences, and Lessons Learned (June 16-19)

Presenter: Paul Doscher, Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, Concord, NH

20 slides

Slides: The Trust For Public Land: Conserving Land For People, Ernest Cook

Community-Owned Forests: Possibilities, Experiences, and Lessons Learned (June 16-19)

Presenter: Ernest Cook, Senior Vice President, Conservation Finance Program, The Trust for Public Land, Boston, MA

19 slides

Planning For Conflicts Of Interest In Land Use Decisionmaking: The Use Of Alternate Members Of Planning And Zoning Boards, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Land Use Reform In New York: Challenges And Opportunities, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Smart Growth At Century’S End: The State Of The States, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Fair Housing Act, Zoning, And Affordable Housing, Patricia E. Salkin, John M. Armentano

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Book Review. The Zoning Game By R. F. Babcock, A. Dan Tarlock

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Evolving Judicial Attitudes Toward Local Government Land Use Control, Terrance Sandalow

Articles

The year 1967 begins the second half-century of zoning in the United States. The first comprehensive zoning ordinance was adopted by New York City in 1916. In the fifty years that have elapsed, zoning has become, notwithstanding a growing disenchantment with it on the part of planners, the most widely employed technique of land use control in the United States. At the present time only Houston, of all the major cities in the United States, lacks a zoning ordinance. And, though I have not obtained precise figures, we are all familiar with the increasingly large per centage of small municipalities, …