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Full-Text Articles in State and Local Government Law

Sign Regulation After Reed: Suggestions For Coping With Legal Uncertainty, Alan C. Weinstein Oct 2015

Sign Regulation After Reed: Suggestions For Coping With Legal Uncertainty, Alan C. Weinstein

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article discusses Reed v. Town of Gilbert, in which the Court resolved a Circuit split over what constitutes content based sign regulations. We note that Justice Thomas's majority opinion applies a mechanical "need to read" approach to this question, and then explore the doctrinal and practical concerns raised by this approach. Doctrinally, we explore the tensions between Thomas's "need to read" approach and the Court's current approach of treating some regulation of speech as content-neutral despite the fact that a message must be read to determine its regulatory treatment. A prime example being the Court's "secondary effects" doctrine. …


Sign Regulation After Reed: Suggestions For Coping With Legal Uncertainty, Alan Weinstein, Brian Connolly Sep 2015

Sign Regulation After Reed: Suggestions For Coping With Legal Uncertainty, Alan Weinstein, Brian Connolly

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This article discusses Reed v. Town of Gilbert, in which the Court resolved a Circuit split over what constitutes content based sign regulations. We note that Justice Thomas's majority opinion applies a mechanical "need to read" approach to this question, and then explore the doctrinal and practical concerns raised by this approach. Doctrinally, we explore the tensions between Thomas's "need to read" approach and the Court's current approach of treating some regulation of speech as content-neutral despite the fact that a message must be read to determine its regulatory treatment. A prime example being the Court's "secondary effects" doctrine. Practically, …


Ohio's Home-Rule Amendment: Why Ohio's General Assembly Creating Regional Governments Would Combat The Regional Race To The Bottom Under Current Home-Rule Principles, Jonathon Angarola Jan 2015

Ohio's Home-Rule Amendment: Why Ohio's General Assembly Creating Regional Governments Would Combat The Regional Race To The Bottom Under Current Home-Rule Principles, Jonathon Angarola

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note argues that Ohio’s home-rule principles foster a regional “race to the bottom and proposes that the Ohio General Assembly pass legislation creating regional governments to combat the absence of coordination among regional localities".


The Ohio Supreme Court's Perverse Stance On Development Impact Fees And What To Do About It, Alan C. Weinstein Jan 2012

The Ohio Supreme Court's Perverse Stance On Development Impact Fees And What To Do About It, Alan C. Weinstein

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio is among the twenty-two states that have no enabling legislation for development impact fees. But in a 2000 ruling, Homebuilders Association of Dayton and the Miami Valley v. City of Beavercreek, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled that municipalities could lawfully enact impact fees under their police and “home rule” powers, provided that the fees could pass constitutional muster under a “dual rational nexus test.” On May 31, 2012, however, the court ruled in Drees Company v. Hamilton Township, that a development impact fee enacted by an Ohio township with “limited home rule” powers was an unconstitutional tax. The …


Do 'Off-Site' Adult Businesses Have Secondary Effects? Legal Doctrine, Social Theory, And Empirical Evidence, Alan Weinstein, Richard D. Mccleary Apr 2009

Do 'Off-Site' Adult Businesses Have Secondary Effects? Legal Doctrine, Social Theory, And Empirical Evidence, Alan Weinstein, Richard D. Mccleary

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Recent federal court decisions appear to limit the ability of cities to mitigate the ambient crime risks associated with adult entertainment businesses. In one instance, a court has assumed that criminological theories do not apply to “off-site” adult businesses. After developing the legal doctrine of secondary effects, we demonstrate that the prevailing criminological theory applies to all adult business models. To corroborate the theory, we report the results of a before/after quasi-experiment for an off-site adult business. When an off-site adult business opens, ambient crime risk doubles compared to a control area. As theory predicts, moreover, ambient victimization risk is …


Kelo: One Year Later, Alan C. Weinstein Jan 2006

Kelo: One Year Later, Alan C. Weinstein

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

June of 2006 marked the first anniversary of the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Kelo v. City of New London, making this a good time to analyze the past year's flurry of activity and assess what it means for local governments. As of mid-May of 2006, more than forty states were considering legislation in reaction to the Kelo ruling, and fifteen have already enacted such legislation.


Zoning Restrictions On Location Of Adult Businesses, Alan C. Weinstein Jan 1999

Zoning Restrictions On Location Of Adult Businesses, Alan C. Weinstein

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This year's report concentrates on recent legal developments concerning regulation of the location of "adult entertainment businesses." Such regulations raise serious constitutional issues because the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression extends to non-obscene sexually oriented media. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, has established that local government may single out adult businesses for special regulatory treatment in the form of locational restrictions if the local government can show a substantial public interest in regulating such businesses unrelated to the suppression of speech and if the regulations allow for "reasonable alternative avenues of communication," which essentially translates into a reasonable …


Land Use And The First Amendment, Alan C. Weinstein Jan 1997

Land Use And The First Amendment, Alan C. Weinstein

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The past year saw no cessation in cases reporting on the conflicts that arise when local land-use regulation is applied to uses claiming protection under the First Amendment. This report highlights the major developments in this area.


Report Of The Committee On Land Use, Planning And Zoning Law - Report Of The Subcommittee On Land Use And The First Amendment, Alan C. Weinstein Jan 1995

Report Of The Committee On Land Use, Planning And Zoning Law - Report Of The Subcommittee On Land Use And The First Amendment, Alan C. Weinstein

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The past year saw no cessation in cases reporting on the conflicts that arise when local land use regulation is applied to uses claiming protection under the First Amendment. This report highlights the two major developments in this area - the courts' the treatment of claims brought under the Religious Freedoms Restoration Act of 1993 and the latest decision of the U.S. Supreme Court concerning sign regulation, City of Ladue v. Gilleo, and discusses other cases involving regulation of religious institutions, adult businesses and signs.


Forest City Enterprises, Inc. V. City Of Eastlake: Zoning Referenda And Exclusionary Zoning, Frank J. Kundrat Jr., Stephen Bond Jan 1975

Forest City Enterprises, Inc. V. City Of Eastlake: Zoning Referenda And Exclusionary Zoning, Frank J. Kundrat Jr., Stephen Bond

Cleveland State Law Review

In the recent Ohio Supreme Court decision of Forest City Enterprises, Inc. v. City of Eastlake, the court stated a new principle of law in the area of referendum zoning: A municipal charter provision, which requires that any ordinance changing land use be ratified by the voters in a city-wide election, constitutes an unlawful delegation of legislative power, in violation of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The court was, however, far from convincing either in terms of distinguishing the prior law of referendum zoning or in demonstrating the applicability of their conclusion …


Judicial Review Of Zoning Adminstration, Richard A. Pelletier Jan 1973

Judicial Review Of Zoning Adminstration, Richard A. Pelletier

Cleveland State Law Review

This discussion will focus on the role of the courts in zoning administration judicial review. More specifically, the limitations of that role, as it is now employed, will be examined with a suggested alternative. However, beforye a meaningful explanation of that topic can be undertaken it is necessary to provide a brief description of the zoning procedure before judicial review is summoned into the fray. For this reason, the initial portion of this comment is devoted to a general discussion of the source of the municipality's authority to promulgate zoning ordinances, and the makeup and function of the local zoning …


Mandamus For Zoning Appeals, James Jay Brown Jan 1962

Mandamus For Zoning Appeals, James Jay Brown

Cleveland State Law Review

With the passage of chapter 2506 of the Ohio Revised Code, the legal profession in Ohio has been confused as to whether the writ of mandamus is the most effective tool for challenging and reversing a rejection for a building permit by a municipal zoning officer or board. Doubts as to its use have become solidified because of the negative results obtained in several cases which relied upon this writ. In an attempt to comprehend the future use of mandamus for zoning appeals, an analysis will be made of its past use in relation to its effectiveness under Chapter 2506 …