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Full-Text Articles in Law
Past, Present And Future Constitutional Challenges To Transferable Development Rights, Jennifer Frankel
Past, Present And Future Constitutional Challenges To Transferable Development Rights, Jennifer Frankel
Washington Law Review
Seattle's transfer of development rights (TDR) system, an innovative land use device, has so far avoided many of the problems that have plagued other TDR systems. Although the system's voluntary participation avoids a takings challenge, it is still vulnerable to attack on due process grounds. In addition, two U.S. Supreme Court cases held that conditions in land use regulations must closely mirror the harms sought to be prevented, suggesting new constitutional problems for Seattle's TDR system. This Comment describes Seattle's current TDR system and examines its vulnerability to constitutional challenges. This paper concludes that while Seattle's TDR system will probably …
Challenging Land Use Actions Under Section 1983: Washington Law After Mission Springs, Inc. V. City Of Spokane, Eric Jenkins
Challenging Land Use Actions Under Section 1983: Washington Law After Mission Springs, Inc. V. City Of Spokane, Eric Jenkins
Washington Law Review
Federal law, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, provides a cause of action against persons who use state or local law to deprive individuals of constitutional rights. Federal circuit courts have been reluctant to apply § 1983 to commonplace land use grievances because of the local character of land use planning and a belief that only the most egregious misuse of zoning power can implicate a party's substantive due process rights. To limit the number of claims that can be brought under § 1983, the federal circuits have narrowly defined what property rights are protected by the Fourteenth Amendment and have held …
The End Of An Era: Suburban Village Aversion In Citizens For Mount Vernon V. City Of Mount Vernon, Ronda Larson
The End Of An Era: Suburban Village Aversion In Citizens For Mount Vernon V. City Of Mount Vernon, Ronda Larson
Washington Law Review
In 1990, the Washington Legislature enacted the Growth Management Act (GMA) to counteract problems related to unmanaged population growth. The GMA fundamentally altered two traditional aspects of land use law: the disregard for planning documents and the aversion to mixing uses within zones. Counties and cities planning under the Act now must have comprehensive plans and zoning ordinances that are consistent with those plans. They are also encouraged to use innovative zoning tools such as mixed-use housing developments. In the 1997 case Citizens for Mount Vernon v. City of Mount Vernon, the Supreme Court of Washington applied pre-GMA common …
A Doctrine Adrift: Land Use Regulation And The Substantive Due Process Of Lawton V. Steele In The Supreme Court Of Washington, Susan Boyd
Washington Law Review
Although substantive due process theory has lost much of its force as a local policymaking tool in the federal courts, the doctrine has played a significant role in the land use policies of Washington State. Relying on an ancient U.S. Supreme Court case, Lawton v. Steele, the Supreme Court of Washington has declared that legislation permitting government to pass the social costs of low-income housing demolition on to individual developers through development impact fees is "unduly oppressive" on those individuals and thus violates substantive due process. This Comment argues that the substantive due process doctrine the Supreme Court of …