Land Use Law | Open Access Articles | Digital Commons Network™

Grassroots Regionalism Through Intermunicipal Land Use Compacts, John R. Nolon Jan 1999

Grassroots Regionalism Through Intermunicipal Land Use Compacts, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The question raised by this article is whether these statutes and this experience provide an opportunity to develop an effective regional approach fitted to the great diversity of New York's regions. It examines first the role local governments play in determining land use and then the statutes that authorize municipalities to cooperate with respect to land use planning and control. The article traces the use of this authority through two phases of evolution revealing ever more complex and potentially effective intermunicipal strategies. It ends with some thoughts as to how the state government could facilitate effective regional processes by providing …

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Community Involvement: Facilitation Adds Flexibility To Land Use Decision-Making, John R. Nolon Oct 1998

Community Involvement: Facilitation Adds Flexibility To Land Use Decision-Making, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

SEQRA, the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act, creates a process whereby public actions are reviewed with the intent to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of those actions. Recently decided New York case law has created flexibility in the SEQRA process by allowing developers, among others, to revamp proposed projects early in the application process in order to expedite SEQRA and save substantial amounts of money. A New York court held that using public meetings to garner information and negotiate different aspects of a proposed project, and a determination of a negative declaration (the proposed project will have no …

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Protecting Scenic Assets: Regulations Based On Study, Expert Reports And Rationality, John R. Nolon Jun 1998

Protecting Scenic Assets: Regulations Based On Study, Expert Reports And Rationality, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Many municipalities are seeking to protect scenic assets through a combination of land use tools and implied police powers. These tools include comprehensive planning, subdivision and site plan approval, and in New York, execution of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). An example of scenic protection is North Elba, New York, where the local planning board denied Wal-Mart’s application to construct a store because the store would compromise the viewshed of a nearby mountain. This article reviews the SEQRA process in the Wal-Mart case and also reviews several other methods municipalities may use to protect environmental and aesthetic interests.

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The Erosion Of Home Rule Through The Emergence Of State-Interests In Land Use Control, John R. Nolon Jan 1993

The Erosion Of Home Rule Through The Emergence Of State-Interests In Land Use Control, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The conventional wisdom is that New York's failure to adopt a comprehensive state-wide land use system is due to reluctance of the state legislature to diminish local control of land use. The purpose of this article is to explore that assumption as part of a larger examination of the proper course of land law reform in New York. The case and statutory law that have developed since the experiences of the early 1970s indicate that local “home rule” authority is neither a legal nor a political barrier to effective land use legislation in the broader state interest. Part II briefly …

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Review Of Regulating Paradise: Land Use Controls In Hawaii, Ralph Michael Stein Jan 1985