Land Use Law Commons^™

Nondelegation And The Legislative Versus Administrative Exactions Divide: Why Legislatively Imposed Exactions Do Not Require A More Searching Standard Of Review, Hunter Dominick

Fordham Law Review

As the United States continues to grow and urbanize, local governments have tried to manage this growth to mitigate the external impacts that new developments can cause. One method by which state and local governments seek to control growth within their borders is by imposing conditions on the issuance of building permits—otherwise known as exactions. Exactions, however, face federal constitutional limits under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, which applies to state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment.

In Nollan v. California Coastal Commission and Dolan v. City of Tigard, the U.S. Supreme Court restricted exactions in …

Overparticipation: Designing Effective Land Use Public Processes, Anika Singh Lemar

Fordham Law Review

There are more opportunities for public participation in the planning and zoning process today than there were in the decades immediately after states adopted the first zoning enabling acts. As a result, today, public participation, dominated by nearby residents, drives most land use planning and zoning decisions. Enhanced public participation rights are often seen as an unqualified good, but there is a long history of public participation and community control cementing racial segregation, entrenching exclusion, and preventing the development of affordable housing in cities and suburbs alike. Integrating community engagement into an effective administrative process requires addressing the various ways …

Stronger Than Ever: New York’S Rent Stabilization System Survives Another Legal Challenge, Charles K. Gehnrich

Fordham Law Review

The fate of New York’s rent stabilization laws (RSL) directly concerns millions of New York City residents who take shelter in the protection of the RSL from the hardships and unfair business practices that accompany an unregulated housing market during a housing crisis. After the New York State Legislature made these tenant protections stronger than ever before in 2019, affected landlords responded by petitioning the courts to dismantle the entire rent regulation regime. A federal district court in the Eastern District of New York rejected the landlords’ broad constitutional challenge in Community Housing Improvement Project v. City of New York …

A Paper Tiger? Prosecutorial Regulators In China’S Civil Environmental Public Interest Litigations, Chunyan Ding, Huina Xiao

Fordham Environmental Law Review

In July 2015, China’s national legislature brought in prosecutor-led civil environmental public interest litigation (“EPIL”) for thirteen selected provincial areas of the country. After a two-year legal experiment, this prosecutor-led civil EPIL system was then established nationwide in July 2017. Yet, can it be said that prosecutorial regulators in China are in fact a paper tiger? Drawing upon content analysis of the 655 prosecutor-led civil EPILs and in-depth interviews with twelve frontline prosecutors and judges, this article examines the dynamics of regulatory practice and the motivation of the Chinese prosecutorial organs to engage in environmental regulation through litigation. Based upon …

Environmental Racism: Using Environmental Planning To Lift People Out Of Poverty, And Re-Shape The Effects Of Climate Change & Pollution In Communities Of Color,, William C.C. Kemp-Neal

Fordham Environmental Law Review

In the mid-1900s the United States began to see a rise in concern for environmental awareness issues. In the early days the movement focused on things like clean air, water and pollution but by the 1970s-1990s many prominent environmental awareness groups began to form focused on the idea that in order to avert climate change the principal goal needed to be to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. In 1987 a report was released called Toxic Waste and Race, which outlined an intimate link between the placement of environmental hazardous waste sites in communities of color, and greater instances of polluted …

Squaring The Cercla: Superfund And The Superfund Task Force, Manny Marcos

Fordham Environmental Law Review

The Superfund Task Force recently released its final report on the implementation of its recommendations for improving the Superfund program. The Task Force was given five goals for improving the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (“CERCLA’s”), implementation. These goals are to expedite cleanup and remediation, re-invigorate responsible party cleanup and reuse, encourage foreign investment, promote redevelopment and community revitalization, and engage with partners and stakeholders. While the Task Force’s recommendations have improved CERCLA’s implementation, many of CERCLA’s structural flaws remain intact. Specifically, CERCLA still has a severe shortage of funding, an unfair liability scheme, perverse incentives, …

The Yoga Analogy: Scaling-Up The U.S.’S Renewable Energy Sector Mindfully With New Technologies, Evolving Standards, Public Buy-In, Data Sharing, And Innovation Clusters, Kimberly E. Diamond

Fordham Environmental Law Review

This paper focuses on innovative renewable energy devices, exploring how scientifically-based industry standards that continuously evolve with engineering design technology, the public’s buy-in and feeling of connectedness with groundbreaking devices, and innovation clusters that accelerate device development through data sharing and public-private partnerships can all help advance the U.S.’s domestic renewable energy industry.

Part I analyzes challenges inherent to scaling- up novel renewable energy technologies while simultaneously developing the industry standards regulating them. Part II uses the Block Island Wind Farm, an offshore wind demonstration project, and Pavegen’s globally-deployed arrays of piezoelectric smart flooring tiles as examples illustrating the importance …

Climate Change, Competition & Conflict Along The River Nile: The Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam & Shifting Customary International Water Law, Salma Shitia

Fordham Environmental Law Review

Decade-long negotiations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia surround the decision to build the hydroelectric power plant along the River Nile. For much of Ethiopia, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam represents a beacon of prosperity. For countless Egyptians, the structure embodies a potential catastrophe. Grounded in threats of displacement for Egyptian agricultural communities, some have compared the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis to disasters culminating in mass migration.

This battle for natural resource access has intensified as climate change exacerbates the region’s dire conditions. Specifically, exhaustible resource allocation amid climate change indicates that …

Beyond Equity: Shared Natural Resources And Human Rights, Criminal Law, And The Use Of Force, Eian Katz

Fordham Environmental Law Review

Transboundary resource disputes are often analyzed by reference to two nebulous and conflicting principles that have emerged in international environmental law: “equitable and reasonable utilization” and “no significant harm.” Frequently overlooked in this context is the potential value of other canons of international law—especially human rights law, criminal law, and the rules governing the use of force—in adding definition to the muddled contours of these foundational precepts. This Article therefore undertakes an assessment of sovereign rights and obligations regarding shared natural resources which arise from these other bodies of law. In doing so, it offers new lenses through which to …

Covid-19 Impacts: How A Global Pandemic Amid The Sunsets Of The Ptc And Itc Made The U.S. Wind And Solar Industries More Resilient, Kimberly E. Diamond

Fordham Environmental Law Review

A cataclysmic event is sometimes the necessary catalyst for companies within certain industries to re- examine, radically shift, and replace their standard practices with technologically-advanced alternatives. In the United States, the occurrence of the Coronavirus pandemic (“COVID-19”) during the sunsets of the Production Tax Credit (“PTC”) and the Investment Tax Credit (“ITC”) created a unique confluence of factors that produced a perfect storm tantamount to such a cataclysmic event for companies in the wind and solar industries, particularly developers. Over the years, the domestic utility-scale wind industry has come to rely heavily upon the PTC, while the domestic utility- scale …

Illegal Discharge: Exploring The History Of The Criminal Enforcement Of The U.S. Clean Water Act, Dr. Joshua Ozymy, Dr. Melisssa L. Jarrell

Fordham Environmental Law Review

The criminal prosecution of defendants that violate federal clean water laws has been ongoing for roughly four decades. Yet, we continue to have a poor understanding of how federal prosecutors use the U.S. Clean Water Act (“CWA”) to charge and prosecute criminals and the outcomes of those prosecutions. We use content analysis to analyze 2,588 federal criminal prosecution case summaries, 1983-2019, to gain a better historical understanding of how the CWA has been used as a prosecutorial tool, to bring out the major themes in the prosecutions, and quantify sentencing outcomes. Findings from the 828 CWA prosecutions undertaken during this …

Red Tide: A Blooming Concern For Florida Manatees, Shannon Price Esq.

Fordham Environmental Law Review

Although red tides are a common and natural occurrence around the coast of Florida, within the last few decades they have intensified and become much more deadly. Several identifiable human-caused factors exacerbate the size, concentration, and duration of the harmful algae bloom and disturb the environment’s natural balance. The Florida Gulf Coast provides all the algae’s necessary requirements for survival, the perfect storm to create a resilient super bloom that annihilates its host ecosystem.

This article explains the plight of Florida manatees who, like other marine animals and plants, are being injured or killed by this algae crisis. It also …

"Eco" Your Own Way: An Argument For State-Specific Climate Change Legislation, Amanda Voeller

Fordham Environmental Law Review

The consequences of climate change seriously and immediately threaten the American way of life, but proposed federal legislation like the Green New Deal is overly broad, unrealistic, and inefficient. The most effective way for the United States to combat climate change is not with a one-size-fits-all plan like the Green New Deal, but with federal legislation that incentivizes states and cities to enact and enforce individualized, local climate legislation. Different states and cities have different climates, available energy sources, and transportation needs, so the federal government should use financial incentives to encourage states and cities to pass tailor-made bills and …

The Use Of Regular Militaries For Natural Disasters After A Major Event Where The Military Was Seen As A Failure - The Somalia Effect In The Age Of Black Lives Matters And Covid-19, Donald D.A. Schaefer

Fordham Environmental Law Review

This is written as a continuation of Dr. Schaefer’s recent article entitled, “The Use of the Regular Militaries for Natural Disaster Assistance: Climate Change and the Increasing Need for Changes to the Laws in the United States, China, Japan, the Philippines, and Other Countries.” 2 Perhaps few other areas have affected so many people than the Covid-19 pandemic. Coupled with this has been the struggle over the use of force by the military and police in the age of “black lives matters” and the movements that have been transpired as a result. With the increased global warming likely to continue …

Innovative Regulatory And Financial Parameters For Advancing Carbon Capture And Storage Technologies, Zen Makuch, Slavina Georgieva & Behdeen Oraee-Mirzamani

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lessons From Renewable Energy Diffusion For Carbon Dioxide Removal Development, Anthony E. Chavez

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regaining Control Over The Climate Change Narrative: How To Stop Right-Wing Populism From Eroding Rule Of Law In The Climate Struggle In India, Binit Agrawal

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Textiles As A Source Of Microfiber Pollution And Potential Solutions, Lea M. Elston

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Zoning Out Fracking: Zoning Authority Under New York State’S Oil, Gas And Solution Mining Law, Thomas Hooker

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Spaces For Sharing: Micro-Units Amid The Shift From Ownership To Access, John Infranca

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

You Can't Common What You Can't See: Towards A Restorative Polycentrism In The Governance Of Our Cities, Amy Laura Cahn, Paula Z. Segal

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Urban Commons As Property Experiment: Mapping Chicago's Farms And Gardens, Nate Ela

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

From Railroads To Sand Dunes: An Examination Of The Offsetting Doctrine In Partial Takings, Louis M. Russo

Fordham Law Review

Called “shadowy at best,” the offsetting doctrine in partial takings has confused “even trained legal minds” and generated inconsistent decision after inconsistent decision. The offsetting doctrine allows certain benefits, termed special, to offset condemnation awards, while general benefits may not be offset. Courts blindly adhere to the doctrine despite its underpinnings rooted in eighteenth-century public policy, which was based on concerns of overly speculative valuation and arguably erroneous fairness, as well as incorrect interpretations of Takings Clause jurisprudence. Such adherence dramatically increases the cost of financing a takings project.

In the face of blind adherence to the doctrine, municipalities are …

The Promise And Perils Of "New Regionalist" Approaches To Sustainable Communities, Lisa T. Alexander

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article examines the Obama Administration's Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program as an example of new regionalism and new governance. The article outlines new regionalism's response to the failure of local government law, explains the relationship between new regionalism and new governance, and examines the regulatory structure of the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program. After considering the strengths and weaknesses of the Grant Program, this article uses the case study of Madison, Wisconsin to analyze the Grant Program's ability to advance distributive justice.

Fostering Regionalism: Comment On "The Promise And Perils Of 'New Regionalist' Approaches To Sustainable Communities", Nestor M. Davidson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This brief comment, written in response to Professor Lisa Alexander's, "The Promise and Perils of 'New Regionalist' Approaches to Sustainable Communities," reviews Professor Alexander's assessment of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program. This comment suggests that although the ability to approach regionalism from a national perspective does not ensure that local power dynamics will not be replicated, the distance and independence that the federal perspective provides may in fact be a cause for optimism, particularly for those marginalized at the local level.

Can Urban University Expansion And Sustainable Development Co-Exist?: A Case Study In Progress On Columbia University, Keith H. Hirokawa, Patricia E. Salkin

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article uses the expansion of Columbia University as a case study to demonstrate the difficulty in labeling projects as "sustainable" or "unsustainable" when key stakeholders view the process and outcomes of sustainability differently.

City As An Ecological Space: Social Capital And Urban Land Use, The , Sheila R. Foster

Faculty Scholarship

One of the goals of land use (and pollution control) law is to force the internalization of these costs. This otherwise economic view of land use law is also rooted, however, in an ecological understanding of urban land use. Legal scholars writing over three decades ago successfully argued, based upon the ecological facts of life, that "[p]roperty does not exist in isolation" because the effects of its uses flow outside of the boundaries of ownership. The notion that property is inextricably part of a network of social and economic relationships, and that its impacts traverse legally defined boundaries and relationships, …

A Tale Of Three Northern Manhattan Communities: Case Studies Of Political Empowerment In The Planning And Developing Process, Richard C. Bass, Cuz Potter

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article reviews three development proposals in Northern Manhattan communities, how community boards responded to those proposals, and how the responses affected the outcome of each development. The article begins with a broad overview of the history of community boards' role in urban planning in New York City. It finds that boards have become increasingly influential in new development plans, empowering the communities they represent. The Article goes on to analyze three recent proposals in turn (an expansion of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, a residential development in Central Harlem, and a comprehensive rezoning of East Harlem) according to "zoning," …

From Harlem To Havana: Sustainable Urban Development Symposium - Environmental Law And Sustainable Development , Sheila R. Foster

Faculty Scholarship

Consider two remarkable places: Harlem, New York and Old Havana, Cuba. These are two different neighborhoods, cities, countries, political systems, economies, and cultures. Yet these two neighborhoods are bound together by a common phenomenon unlimited by geography or differences in political and economic systems. The global prosperity of the last two decades has created historic opportunities to usher in development and revitalization efforts in neglected urban areas across the world! Governments, along with the private sector, have moved capital back to cities or neighborhoods that became endangered from years of disinvestment, lack of economic opportunities, and inadequate access to essential …

City Life And New Urbanism, Ray Gindroz

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article discusses the importance and reintroduction of urban centers as areas of continuing development, information exchange and health in cities and suburbs. It first comments on the decay of urban centers as a result of the post-World War II push to build towns and cities which were more isolated, fragmented and anti-urban. New urbanism began in the 1970s and 80s to create neighborhoods and urban centers rather than scattered developments and has successfully continued to this day. This article identifies the design principles of these urbanists and how they are put into practice, including a case study of Park …