Law Commons^™

The Uncertain Future Of Tourism On Migrating Barrier Islands: How And Why The Outer Banks Of North Carolina Should Adjust To Growing Threats, Lillian Coward

William & Mary Law Review

Erosion, storms, and the migration of the barrier islands that comprise the Outer Banks themselves are not new. The rising seas that have resulted from climate change have merely exacerbated what has always occurred. What is new, however, is the economic havoc that natural processes and disasters alike can wreak on the islands. Today, because climate change has accelerated natural island migration, individuals, local governments, and the federal government alike have a lot to lose in the fight against the tides.

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This Note will evaluate a variety of potential solutions to the problems that pose nearly existential threats to …

The Short-Term Rental Economy In Rural Maine Communities: An Opportunity For Economic Growth Instead Of A Target For Regulation, Nicholas E. Anania

Maine Law Review

State and local governments across the country are grappling with the rise of short-term housing rentals and how to enact effective regulation regarding their use. The increase of short-term rentals (STRs) is almost entirely the result of online platforms that make STRs easy, efficient, and accessible. While STRs undoubtedly have positive economic outcomes for both property owners and local economies, there are also many negative repercussions which must be effectively regulated. Regulation in this area reflects differing priorities and viewpoints of states and municipalities. Specifically, rural Maine municipalities, many of which are popular seasonal destinations, face not only the challenges …

Conservation, Regionality, And The Farm Bill, Jess R. Phelps

Maine Law Review

Over the past several Farm Bills, there has been a somewhat subtle shift in program design to better incorporate regional perspectives/localized areas of conservation concern into national conservation program delivery. The purpose of this Article is to specifically explore the various roles that regional considerations play in existing Farm Bill conservation programs and also consider whether further developments in this direction could result in more flexible program delivery, more effective partnerships, and ultimately, better conservation outcomes. To this end, section II will provide an overview of the history of the Farm Bill, from its origins to the emergence of a …

Regulating Short-Term Rentals In California's Costal Cities: Harmonizing Local Ordinances With The California Costal Act, Lucy Humphreys

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

In the past several years, local governments throughout California have debated and implemented new ordinances in order to regulate short-term rentals, such as those listed on peer-to-peer vacation rental platforms like Airbnb.California’s coastal cities face distinct challenges whentrying to regulate short-term rentals due to the popularity of short-term rentals in their jurisdictions, rising housing prices along the coast, and California Coastal Act requirements. One of the primary goals of the California Coastal Act is to maximize public access to the coast. This Article explores the interplay between state policy embodied by the Coastal Act and the ordinances passed by local …

Local Government Plan Consistency And Citizen Standing: Renard In The Chicken Coop?, Terrell K. Arline, David M. Layman, Carl Coffin

Florida State University Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law

No abstract provided.

Low Carbon Land Use: Paris, Pittsburgh, And The Ipcc, John R. Nolon

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Linchpin Approaches To Salvaging Neighborhoods In The Legacy Cities Of The Midwest, Shelley Cavalieri

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Side By Side: Revitalizing Urban Cores And Ensuring Residential Diversity, Andrea J. Boyack

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Insuring Takings Claims, Christopher Serkin

Northwestern University Law Review

Local governments typically insure themselves against all kinds of losses, from property damage to legal liability. For small- and medium-sized governments, this usually means purchasing insurance from private insurers or participating in municipal risk pools. Insurance for regulatory takings claims, however, is generally unavailable. This previously unnoticed gap in municipal insurance coverage could lead risk averse local governments to underregulate and underenforce existing regulations where property owners threaten to bring takings claims. This seemingly technical observation turns out to have profound implications for theoretical accounts of the Takings Clause that focus on government regulatory incentives. This Article explores the impact …

Recent Development: Assategue Coastal Trust, Inc. V. Schwalbach: An Applicant Must Satisfy The "Unwarranted Hardship" Standard To Be Granted A Variance; The Variance Must Have No Adverse Impact On The Environment And Conform To The Purpose Of The Critical Area Program, Michael Louis Brown

University of Baltimore Law Forum

The Court of Appeals of Maryland held that the Worchester County Board properly applied the “unwarranted hardship” standard and correctly granted a variance under local critical area law. Assateague Coastal Trust, Inc. v. Schwalbach, 448 Md. 112, 140, 136 A.3d 866, 882 (2016). The court held that the variance would not have an adverse impact on the environment and the development was in conformity with the Critical Area Program’s purpose and intent. Schwalbach, 448 Md. at 143-44, 136 A.3d at 883.

Participatory Democracy And The Entrepreneurial Government: Addressing Process Efficiencies In The Creation Of Land Use Development Agreements, Ramsin G. Canon

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Can the development agreement become a tool for community-based planning? Development agreements and related land use planning instruments have steadily increased in popularity over the last few decades. Standard zoning regimes have proven to be too rigid and inflexible to accommodate the evolving nature of large-scale, and particularly mixed-use, developments. The bilateral nature of development agreements also allows cities and counties to effectively compete for development dollars by crafting incentives. However, this type of ad-hoc planning can run afoul of the reserved powers doctrine and its progeny, and can face vehement political and social opposition. This type of opposition results …

Luncheon Address: Planning Decision Making - Balancing Legislative Restrictions, Modern Technology, Community Input, And Personal Objectives , Robert J. West

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nollan V. California Coastal Commission: You Can't Always Get What You Want, But Sometimes You Get What You Need, Timothy A. Bittle

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Adverse Possession, Private-Zoning Waiver & Desuetude: Abandonment & Recapture Of Property And Liberty Interests, Scott Andrew Shepard

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Adverse-possession doctrine labors under a pair of disabilities: a hesitancy by theorists to embrace the abandonment-and-recapture principle that informs the doctrine, and a substantial unwillingness of governments to abandon an antiquated and outmoded maxim shielding them from the doctrine's important work. Removing these disabilities will allow a series of positive outcomes. First, it will demonstrate that all would-be adverse possessors, not just those acting "in good faith" or with possessory intent, should enjoy the fruits of the doctrine. Second, it will provide valuable additional means by which the public may monitor the performance of government employees, and additional discipline to …

The Mystery Of Life In The Laboratory Of Democracy: Personal Autonomy In State Law, Adam J. Macleod

Cleveland State Law Review

This article attempts to carve a path between the two sides in this autonomy war. It begins by bringing into dialogue with each other four of the most influential legal philosophers of our day: Joseph Raz, Ronald Dworkin, John Finnis, and Robert George. Each of these four scholars makes bold and instructive claims about the value and limits of personal autonomy. The article then examines several different areas of state law where one might expect a principle of autonomy to be implicated, and articulates six important lessons that one can glean from state law about the relationship between personal autonomy …

Leaps And Bounds, Nestor M. Davidson

Michigan Law Review

Imagine how stunted our understanding of the federal government would be without any detailed scholarly examination of the U.S. Constitution itself. As remarkable as that sounds, that is essentially the problem that Gerald Frug and David Barron have set out to remedy for local governments in their superb City Bound. In the book, Frug and Barron take a comprehensive, empirical look at the legal frameworks under which cities and other local governments operate, providing an invaluable roadmap for understanding the hidden architecture of legal constraints that-largely without notice-are shaping America's urban future. Why this kind of analysis has rarely been …

Suburbs As Exit, Suburbs As Entrance, Nicole Stelle Garnett

Michigan Law Review

Most academics assume that suburbanites are "exiters " who have abandoned central cities. The exit story is a foundational one in the fields of land-use and local-government law: exiters' historical, social, and economic connections with "their" center cities are frequently used to justify both growth controls and regional government. The exit story, however no longer captures the American suburban experience. For a majority of Americans, suburbs have become points of entrance to, not exit from, urban life. Most suburbanites are "enterers "-people who were born in, or migrated directly to, suburbs and who have not spent time living in any …

Where The Streets Have Many Names: Zoning, Community Power, And The Future Of Shaw, Washington, D.C. , Parag Khandhar

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

Real Estate And Land Use Law, John V. Cogbill Iii, D. Brennen Keene

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Religious Land Use Jurisprudence: The Negative Ramifications For Religious Activities In Washington After Open Door Baptist Church V. Clark County, Beth Prieve

Seattle University Law Review

Part II of this Note provides a history of religious land use jurisprudence in Washington. This part addresses growth management laws generally, and where these laws cross paths with constitutional guarantees of the free exercise of religion. Part III focuses on the Washington Supreme Court's Open Door decision, separately addressing both the majority opinion and the dissent. Part IV illustrates how the Washington Supreme Court misapplied Washington's religious freedom test in Open Door and significantly shifted religious land use jurisprudence. Part IV further discusses how this shift may include Washington's adoption of the lower federal standard and elaborates upon the …

Retroactivity, Equal Protection And Standing, Leon Friedman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dashed "Investment-Backed" Expectations: Will The Constitution Protect Property Owners From Excesses In Implementation Of The Growth Management Act?, Elaine Spencer

Seattle University Law Review

Section I briefly discusses the basic principles of takings law as enunciated by prior cases, as well as the United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, and the Washington Supreme Court's recent decisions in Sintra, Inc. v. Seattle and Robinson v. Seattle. Although the Lucas decision has received considerable publicity, it advanced the state of the law rather little. The real guidance for future decisions arising out of the GMA will come from earlier United States Supreme Court decisions and the Washington Supreme Court's decisions in Sintra, Robinson, and Lutheran …

Practice And Procedure Before The Growth Planning Hearings Boards, Wm. H. Nielsen, M. Peter Philley, Chris Smith Towne

Seattle University Law Review

In 1990, the Washington State Legislature took the first significant step toward growth management when it enacted the Washington Growth Management Act (GMA). The GMA directs cities and counties to protect natural features and to begin planning to accommodate anticipated population increases. The legislature examined the recommendation of the Growth Strategies Commission' to create an independent dispute resolution system to resolve conflicts under the GMA. The Commission recommended the use of a panel of independent arbitrators with mediation and binding arbitration. Appeals would be limited to the Washington State Court of Appeals only on constitutional and procedural issues. The legislature …

There Goes The Neighborhood: The Evolution Of "Family" In Local Zoning Ordinances, William Graham

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Planner's Panacea Or Pandora's Box: A Realistic Assessment Of The Role Of Urban Growth Areas In Achieving Growth Management Goals, Keith W. Dearborn, Ann M. Gygi

Seattle University Law Review

Over the past twenty years, Urban Growth Areas (UGAs) have become a tool of choice to manage growth. Numerous states and local jurisdictions have mandated UGAs in hope of confining urbanization, reducing sprawl, protecting open space and resource lands, and minimizing infrastructure investment. Washington State joined the trend in 1990 when it adopted the Growth Management Act (GMA), which requires certain counties to establish UGAs as a central component of its "bottom up" growth management strategy. Nonetheless, thoughtful criticisms have been offered regarding the utility of UGAs to accomplish intended growth management goals, and concerns have emerged regarding unintended consequences …

The Concurrency Requirement Of The Washington State Growth Management Act, Thomas M. Walsh, Roger A. Pearce

Seattle University Law Review

When the Washington State Legislature enacted the Growth Management Act (GMA) in 1990, it established a concurrency requirement in the transportation area and authorized local governments to establish concurrency requirements in other areas such as schools, parks, and public services. This Article seeks to inform the debate as to the GMA's requirements for concurrency regulations, the key issues in implementing concurrency regulations, and statutory and constitutional limits on the implementation of regulations. After detailing the GMA's transportation concurrency requirement, the Article will discuss whether the GMA requires concurrency for public facilities other than transportation, will highlight the key issues in …

Regulation Of Wetlands In Western Washington Under The Growth Management Act, Alison Moss, Beverlee E. Silva

Seattle University Law Review

Wetlands protection has long been an important issue in the central Puget Sound. With the passage of the Growth Management Act (GMA), all counties and cities within the state are now required to adopt regulations "protecting" critical areas, including wetlands. This requirement furthers the GMA's environmental goal to "[p]rotect the environment and enhance the state's high quality of life, including air and water quality, and the availability of water." This Article will explore these and related issues arising under the wetlands regulatory scheme in Washington following the adoption of the GMA. It will show how this complex, multi-layered regulation scheme …

Is The Growth Management Act Working? A Survey Of Resource Lands And Critical Areas Development Regulations, Gary Pivo

Seattle University Law Review

Section II of this Article begins with a summary of Washington's statutory requirements for both local resource land and critical area development regulations. Section II then reviews the circumstances under which those regulations have been adopted. Section III describes the methods used by the research team to collect and evaluate those regulations. Section IV examines whether Washington counties and cities have met their adoption deadlines. Section V describes the general approaches being taken for meeting those requirements. Section VI compares the regulations to one another in order to judge their consistency and relative restrictiveness throughout Washington. Section VII looks at …

Between Scylla And Charybdis: Growth Management Act Implementation That Avoids Takings And Substantive Due Process Limitations, Jeffrey M. Eustis

Seattle University Law Review

This Article begins with an overview of the GMA. It then proceeds with a summary of recent case law under the Takings Clause and substantive due process doctrine. After laying this groundwork, this Article focuses on four particular areas of growth management control and explores how local legislation implementing these areas of control would be analyzed under the Takings Clause and substantive due process. These four areas of land use regulation include: critical area protections, resource land designations, development phasing requirements for concurrency and urban growth areas, and impact fees for public facilities and services. This Article then concludes with …

Takings Law, Lucas, And The Growth Management Act, John M. Groen, Richard M. Stephens

Seattle University Law Review

In light of Lucas and the recent constitutionally questionable Washington decisions, government entities charged with implementing the GMA may have a more difficult time avoiding takings liability than previously thought. Accordingly, this Article first seeks to clarify the modern takings analysis as refined by Lucas. Second, Washington takings precedent is contrasted with the federal approach and several key changes are suggested to make state law consistent with controlling federal precedent. Third, key aspects of the GMA are identified that can be expected to raise takings implications. By identifying potential trouble spots in the GMA now, hopefully some takings will …