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Full-Text Articles in Law
Shifting Ground To Address Climate Change: The Land Use Law Solution, John R. Nolon
Shifting Ground To Address Climate Change: The Land Use Law Solution, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This article conceives and describes a Land Use Stabilization Wedge: a strategy that aggregates these five wedges and further organizes strategic energies. This builds on Socolow’s optimistic assertion that “an excuse for inaction based on the world’s lack of technological readiness does not exist.” I assert that the existing legal authority of state and local governments to regulate and guide land use and building is a powerful “technology already deployed somewhere in the world.” The Land Use Stabilization Wedge aggregates several of Socolow’s initiatives and employs multiple mitigation techniques available to citizens in every locality in the country.
Zoning, Transportation, And Climate Change, John R. Nolon
Zoning, Transportation, And Climate Change, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
On February 2, 2006, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) expressed the consensus of the scientific community that global warming is unequivocal and that its main driver is human activity. On April 7, 2007, the IPCC issued a second report detailing the likely consequences of climate change: widening droughts, more severe storm events, increased inland flooding, sea level rise, and consequent inundation of low lying lands. The Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University estimates that sea levels around New York City’s boroughs will increase by five inches by 2030, with some estimates predicting up to 12 inches …
Disaster Mitigation Through Land Use Strategies, John R. Nolon
Disaster Mitigation Through Land Use Strategies, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina brought to public attention the role of land use planning in mitigating natural disasters and which level or levels of government should decide whether and how to undertake this planning. In the Upper Mississippi River Basin, 6 federal agencies, 23 state agencies in 5 states, and 233 local governments share jurisdiction over various areas of activity on the river; the complexity and disorganization of this legal framework stifles effective action. In this Article, John R. Nolon calls for cooperative federalism and a clarification of agency roles as a remedy for this complexity. Through case …
Local Inclusionary Housing Programs: Meeting Housing Needs, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher
Local Inclusionary Housing Programs: Meeting Housing Needs, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This article explores the expansive legal authority that local governments in many states have to meet housing needs directly by providing for the production of new affordable homes. There is not a great deal of scholarship on the subject as we approach it. The emphasis in the academic literature in the field of affordable housing is on top-down, systemic, or theoretical solutions: urging reforms in federal and state finance programs, imploring courts to penalize localities that engage in exclusionary zoning, describing in detail a variety of inclusionary zoning techniques, or explaining relevant theories or the economics of the issue of …
The Mighty Myths Of Kelo, John R. Nolon
The Mighty Myths Of Kelo, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
The press releases of property rights activists and the media’s rapid embrace of their views have perpetuated several myths about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. New London. In the immediate aftermath of this myth making, the legislatures of several states have adopted restrictions on the use of eminent domain with uncharacteristic speed. Wisely, the New York State Legislature has been more cautious in its reaction.
Real Estate Law Review: Creating A Local Environmental Law Program, John R. Nolon
Real Estate Law Review: Creating A Local Environmental Law Program, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Local governments are adopting with increasing frequency local laws to facilitate low-impact development, ensure the construction of green buildings, and coordinate land use and transportation planning to lower greenhouse gas emissions. This builds on their progress over the past two decades in adopting an impressive number of local laws to protect natural resources. These include ordinances designed to protect trees, stands of timber, hillsides, viewsheds, ridgelines, stream beds, wetlands, watersheds, aquifers and water bodies, and wildlife habitat. At the same time, provisions designed to protect environmental features from the adverse impacts of development have been added to basic land use …
Climate Change, Zoning And Transportation Planning: Urbanization As A Response To Carbon Loading, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher
Climate Change, Zoning And Transportation Planning: Urbanization As A Response To Carbon Loading, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This article explores the relationship among zoning, transportation planning, and climate change. It discusses the relationship between land use densities and transportation choices, reviews the trend toward transit oriented development in higher density communities and transportation efficient development in lower density areas, presents several case studies where land use and transportation planning are beginning to intersect, and ends with a strategic approach for communities to consider.
Historical Overview Of The American Land Use System: A Diagnostic Approach To Evaluating Governmental Land Use Control, John R. Nolon
Historical Overview Of The American Land Use System: A Diagnostic Approach To Evaluating Governmental Land Use Control, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This article describes how the American land use system has evolved to address recent environmental and economic development problems. It begins by tracing the history of the legal system used in the United States to control private sector land development and demonstrates how it achieved the flexibility needed to respond to modern challenges. The American land use system has paid a price for this flexibility: it is not a coherent whole, but rather a fragmented mosaic of legal influences. Impressive examples of cohesion are cited that suggest a strategic approach to reforming the system so that it can become an …
Champions Of Change: Reinventing Democracy Through Land Law Reform, John R. Nolon
Champions Of Change: Reinventing Democracy Through Land Law Reform, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article explores the prospects of achieving policy coherence in the field of land use regulation. It explains how, as municipal governments react to pressures and crises at the local level, they discover and adopt new strategies in a constant process of experimentation. Through a properly constructed legal framework, critical information can be relayed from local to higher levels of government, state and federal legislators and judges can respond, and a "system" of law can evolve. Using theories developed in the fields of systems analysis and diffusion of innovations, the Article describes the process by which local communities perceive land …
Katrina's Lament: Reconstructing Federalism, John R. Nolon
Katrina's Lament: Reconstructing Federalism, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
The subject of stormwater management raises threshold questions about the federal system. Is the regulation of stormwater runoff and the environmental pollution it causes within the federal government's legal jurisdiction? Is it a matter reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment? Or is it a joint responsibility and, if so, precisely how is federal and state authority shared? How does the delegation of power by states to local governments to regulate the use of privately owned land affect the federal-state division of power? What limits should there be on local control of land uses that cause “nonpoint source” pollution, …
Comparative Land Use Law: Patterns Of Sustainability, John R. Nolon
Comparative Land Use Law: Patterns Of Sustainability, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Land use scholars and practitioners in the United States trace the development of domestic land use law to 1916, when the City of New York adopted the nation's first comprehensive zoning law, and then on to 1926 when the U.S. Supreme Court declared zoning constitutional in Euclid v. Ambler Realty. Some have studied European influences stemming from late nineteenth century regulations and the urban design principles imported from the great cities of the era. Others know about the catastrophic London fire of 1666 and how it transformed society's understanding of why individual property rights, to some degree, must be subject …
Development Agreements: Bargained-For Zoning That Is Neither Illegal Contract Nor Conditional Zoning, Shelby D. Green
Development Agreements: Bargained-For Zoning That Is Neither Illegal Contract Nor Conditional Zoning, Shelby D. Green
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article explores the new model of land use decision-making that is based upon bargaining with the landowner. The fact of a bargain raises the issue of whether such bargaining amounts to “contract zoning” based upon a bilateral contract between the municipality and the landowner, which is largely held to be illegal, or a related form of bargaining, not involving an exchange of promises in the context of a bilateral agreement--“conditional zoning.” Part II of this Article discusses the emergence of the development agreement, which involves a contract with a municipality and the developer under which the developer is assured …
Golden And Its Emanations: The Surprising Origins Of Smart Growth, John R. Nolon
Golden And Its Emanations: The Surprising Origins Of Smart Growth, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This article provides the background for the adoption of the Ramapo ordinance, explains its precocious inventions in some detail, and describes other dramatic local inventions emanating from the Ramapo approach to smart growth. It ends with a reflection on the Quiet Revolution, the continuing disquiet that accompanies the spectacular smart growth inventions of local governments in this country, and modest recommendations for reform. Along the way, the reader will encounter the rebirth of performance zoning, local environmental laws that protect critical environmental resources, a local abandoned property reclamation act, the use of mediation to solve border wars between localities, an …
Dean's Foreword, David S. Cohen
Dean's Foreword, David S. Cohen
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This issue of the Pace Environmental Law Review contains a description of this emerging field of law and the response of the academic and legal community to it. As Professor Nolon reports in his introduction, we found eloquent coherence in these laws and saw how they fit together to form a comprehensive whole. We examined state statutes that authorized local governments to adopt environmental laws and discovered that they were diverse in nature but prevalent in many states. We also found state court decisions that upheld local environmental laws against the challenges of regulated property owners. We were troubled by …
Grassroots Regionalism Through Intermunicipal Land Use Compacts, John R. Nolon
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 …
The Search For A National Land Use Policy: For The Cities' Sake, Shelby D. Green
The Search For A National Land Use Policy: For The Cities' Sake, Shelby D. Green
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This article offers a survey of federal legislation and statements of policy that have shaped and directed land use and related phenomena, including the location of population, economic growth, and the character of urban development. Part I of this article provides a historical development of land use policies and laws, as well as presents academic and scientific theories supporting a national land use policy. Part II of this article describes patterns of urban and suburban growth and their consequences, such as the decline of the viability of cities and the loss of agricultural land. Part III discusses the government's spending …
The National Land Use Policy Act, John R. Nolon
The National Land Use Policy Act, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Professor Miller talked about a particular road that we traveled beginning in the 1970s. Professor Robinson discussed a different road that we traveled when we adopted the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969. I would like to talk about the road not traveled, a road that led in the direction that Professor Miller just charted. We considered a different more comprehensive approach in the early 1970s when our national environmental policies were being formed. The time may be right to reconsider what we then narrowly rejected, both here and in Argentina.
Introduction: Dedication To James A. Coon, John R. Nolon
Introduction: Dedication To James A. Coon, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This issue of the Pace Law Review is dedicated to a man and an idea in which he believed. James A. Coon was land use counsel to the Department of State in New York when he died in 1992. For a quarter of a century he served as counsel to several New York State agencies, all involved in some way with providing technical assistance to those interested in the subject of land use law. For James Coon, and those who learned from him, land use law carries with it a significant set of responsibilities. It establishes the rules that dictate …
Comprehensive Land Use Planning: Learning How And Where To Grow, John R. Nolon
Comprehensive Land Use Planning: Learning How And Where To Grow, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This article explores the origins, evolution and contemporary workings of the legal system that determines the use of land. In Part II, the development of zoning and comprehensive planning laws in the United States is traced, emphasizing the importance that zoning be “in conformance with” a comprehensive land use plan, a requirement meant to provide direction and purpose to land use regulation. This retrospect shows that, from the beginning, the framers of the nation's land use regime were indecisive. They failed to define a comprehensive plan, to detail what such a plan should contain, and to prescribe how planning should …
The Erosion Of Home Rule Through The Emergence Of State-Interests In Land Use Control, John R. Nolon
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 …
Private Property Investment, Lucas And The Fairness Doctrine, John R. Nolon
Private Property Investment, Lucas And The Fairness Doctrine, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
These remarks are not intended to advocate the interests of the new property rights movement. In fact, those advocates will be disappointed by what I say. Rather, I aspire to view the issue of real property regulation as broadly as possible, reaching beyond the jurisprudence of regulatory takings cases into the realms of real estate transactions law and comprehensive land use planning.
Footprints In The Shifting Sands Of The Isle Of Palms: A Practical Analysis Of Regulatory Takings Cases, John R. Nolon
Footprints In The Shifting Sands Of The Isle Of Palms: A Practical Analysis Of Regulatory Takings Cases, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
It was not until the last day of the term, June 29, 1992, that the Court decided Lucas. By that time, interest could not have been greater. At issue was the validity of a regulation that prohibited all permanent development of the plaintiff's two beachfront lots. The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the regulation by a 3-2 margin because it prevented a “great public harm.” The U.S. Supreme Court reversed that determination and remanded the case to determine whether South Carolina's common law of nuisance could prohibit the construction of single-family housing on the lots. The fractured Court delivered an …
Toward A Housing Imperative And Other Reflections On Balanced Growth And Development, John R. Nolon
Toward A Housing Imperative And Other Reflections On Balanced Growth And Development, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
In a series of recent cases, the New York courts have commented on the legislative acts of the state and local governments which have restricted or expanded the access to housing for limited income households or minorities. From these holdings, we can glimpse the outlines of a housing imperative: an emerging right running generally to low and moderate income households and minorities not to be excluded from living in any given community. As important, there also emerges the understanding that our legislators are empowered to act decisively to solve New York's much-lamented housing problem.
Law And A New Land Ethic, John A. Humbach
Law And A New Land Ethic, John A. Humbach
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
As open space comes under increasing development pressure, existing-use zoning provides a direct and forthright way to preserve the line between urban and non-urban land use. Ultimately it may be the only practical means for protecting high-demand or sensitive areas such as wetlands, coastlines, lakeshores, floodplains, stream corridors, and pristine reservoir watersheds. This Article reviews the viability of existing-use zoning under United States Supreme Court interpretations of the Constitution's takings clause. It concludes that nothing in those interpretations disallows this straightforward approach to preserving our country's familiar patterns of land use and development.
Expanding Traditional Land Use Authority Through Environmental Legislation: The Regulation Of Affordable Housing, John R. Nolon
Expanding Traditional Land Use Authority Through Environmental Legislation: The Regulation Of Affordable Housing, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This article is devoted to an examination of local land use regulation in the context of the use of SEQRA and its mandate, to mitigate environmental impacts to require the provision of affordable housing in high cost housing markets. As such, it looks at one contemporary manifestation of the growth of police power authority to meet new land use challenges.
A Comparative Analysis Of New Jersey's Mount Laurel Cases With The Berenson Cases In New York, John R. Nolon
A Comparative Analysis Of New Jersey's Mount Laurel Cases With The Berenson Cases In New York, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Due to the widespread concern over the lack of affordable housing in New York, renewed interest has been expressed in the landmark case of Berenson v. Town of New Castle. That case and an associated line of decisions define the legal rules that will be used by the courts in New York to decide whether municipal zoning unconstitutionally excludes affordable types of housing. Interest has been piqued further by two recent lower court cases in New York which differ greatly in their approach to defining the legal standards to be used in reviewing allegedly exclusionary land use practices.
Review Of Regulating Paradise: Land Use Controls In Hawaii, Ralph Michael Stein
Review Of Regulating Paradise: Land Use Controls In Hawaii, Ralph Michael Stein
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Review Of Land Use Conflicts: Organizational Design And Resource Management; Environmental Impact Review And Housing: Process Lessons From The California Experience; Creative Land Development: Bridge To The Future; And Toward Eden, Nicholas A. Robinson
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.