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Land Use Law Reform: A Judicial And Practical Imperative, John R. Nolon
Land Use Law Reform: A Judicial And Practical Imperative, John R. Nolon
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
The practical lesson learned from a review of New York case law on land use planning is straightforward: judges will seldom overturn land use regulations when it is obvious, in the structure of the regulatory program, that considerable and comprehensive planning is involved. When judges sustain land use regulations, they routinely find in the regulatory scheme a valid local planning objective that saves the regulation from falling under the property owner's attack. The bases for this judicial reasoning lie in the statutory requirement that zoning provisions must be adopted "in accordance with" a "comprehensive plan" and the constitutional requirement that …
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 …