Land Use Law Commons^™

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

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, …

Profiles - Ucan’S New Campus Construction Project, Chicago, Illinois, James Hagy, Sahar Nikanjam

Rooftops Project

Funding and constructing a new $41 million facility may be a once-in-a-generation, if ever, event, for many social service not-for-profits. Choosing a site that invests directly in the neighborhood and the people served can have ripple effects far beyond the central purpose of the delivery of services the buildings are designed to support. The Rooftops Project’s Sahar Nikanjam and Professor James Hagy walked the site of UCAN’s new campus construction under way in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago.

Perspectives - Cannon Design’S Open Hand Studio, James Hagy, Sahar Nikanjam

Rooftops Project

Not only can architects create great space, they can also inspire better connections between the built environment and the social sector. John Syvertsen, Chris Lambert, and Ashley Marsh talk with Sahar Nikanjam and Professor James Hagy of The Rooftops Project about their work with not-for-profit organizations through architectural firm Cannon Design’s Open Hand Studio initiative.

Professor Gerald Korngold On Conservation Easements, James Hagy, Katherine Disalvo, Naveed Fazal

Rooftops Project

The Rooftops Project’s Katherine DiSalvo and Naveed Fazal talk with New York Law School Professor and conservation easement scholar, Gerald Korngold.

Profiles - The Rubin Museum Of Art, James Hagy, Payal Thakkar

Rooftops Project

For over two centuries, New York City’s arts and culture have been enhanced by visionary founders of museums designed to house collections the founders themselves treasured. That tradition continues with the installation of a remarkable collection in the equally remarkable transformation of a former clothing store. The Rooftops Project’s Payal Thakkar and Professor James Hagy visit with Patrick Sears, Executive Director of The Rubin Museum of Art in New York City.

Profile - Human Rights Watch, James Hagy, Mehgan Gallagher

Rooftops Project

Rooftops Project Profile - Human Rights Watch - Every day, not-for-profit organizations face “stay or move” choices when they approach the end of their leases. Making predictions about space, and making space work, can be challenging. How did one such organization assess its choices as a tenant in one of the most iconic buildings in Manhattan? The Rooftops Project’s Mehgan Gallagher speaks with David Bragg at Human Rights Watch.

Financiación Por Promotores De Vivendas Asequibles Para La Clase Trabajadora Mediante Impuestos Y Recuperación De Plusvalías: Una Comparación De Los Enfoques Estadounidense Y Español, Julian Conrad Juergensmeyer

Faculty Publications By Year

Este artículo explora las diferencias, similitudes, ventajas y desventajas comparativas entre los deberes de financiación de los promotores urbanos de viviendas asequibles y para la clase trabajadora en los Estados Unidos y España. Se hace hincapié en las impact fees como fuente de ingresos en los Estados Unidos y los requisitos de recuperación de plusvalías en España y en Cataluña en particular. El autor concluye que las impact fees norteamericanas proporcionan una base más amplia para los deberes de los promotores de financiación, pero que los programas españoles de recuperación de plusvalías ofrecen una mayor flexibilidad a las autoridades encargadas …

Incorporating Ny Land Banks Into The Delinquent Property Tax Enforcement Processes, J. Justin Woods

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Student Publications

This article argues that New York municipalities should integrate land banks into the tax enforcement process to break the unhealthy cycle perpetuated by real estate and lien speculators. By transferring all tax liens and foreclosed properties to local land banks, municipalities can generate an important funding source that will help cover land banks' operations while simultaneously maximizing land banks' ability to reinvest lien proceeds and equity into redeveloping or demolishing properties with little or no value. If New York municipalities use their Land Bank Act powers fully, local and regional land bank efforts can become a vital tools for planning …

Agenda: Seeds Of Change: Responding To Global Change In A Bottom-Up World, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law, Posner Center For International Development, Resolve (Firm), Newmont Mining Corporation

Seeds of Change: Responding to Global Change in a Bottom-Up World (Martz Winter Symposium, February 12-13)

Sponsors: Posner Center for International Development, RESOLVE, Inc., Newmont Mining Corporation, and Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment.

Conference moderators, panelists and speakers included University of Colorado Law School professors Phil Weiser, Sarah Krakoff, Britt Banks, and Lakshman Guruswamy.

This conference is made possible through the generous support of donors who sponsored this year’s Martz Sustainability Symposium (including Newmont Mining Corporation) and those who have invested in our Clyde O. Martz Endowed Fund for Natural Resources Management (including Brian Dolan and Davis Graham and Stubbs LLP). The Martz Natural Resources Management Fund was established in the memory …

Navigating A Pathway Toward Colorado's Water Future: A Review And Recommendations On Colorado's Draft Water Plan, Lawrence J. Macdonnell, Colorado Water Working Group

Books, Reports, and Studies

40 pages (includes color illustrations).

Profiles - Chicago Literacenter, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

Business news is often filled with stories about incubator spaces and entrepreneurial hubs in which start-up companies can hang out, network, and grow. What might result when these concepts are adapted to bring together diverse not-for-profit organizations focused on similar missions? Professor James Hagy visits Stacy Ratner, Co-Founder and Creative Director of the Chicago Literacy Alliance, and Transwestern’s Larry Serota at the grand opening of Literacenter in downtown Chicago.

Is An Apartment A Nuisance?, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

In an ongoing Texas lawsuit, some homeowners allege that a nearby apartment building will constitute a nuisance. This article asserts that courts should generally reject nuisance claims against multifamily housing, based on the public interest in favor of increased housing supply and infill development.

Further Developments In Land Use Ethics, Patricia E. Salkin, Darren Stakey

Scholarly Works

Ethical considerations continue to play a fundamental role in shaping the course of land use and developmental regulatory proceedings throughout the country. From an innocuous donation by one public official to his alma mater, to the outright bribery of a former mayor, the past year has been rife with a range of conduct implicating professional responsibility and land use.

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".

Profile - The Jacques Marchais Museum Of Tibetan Art, James Hagy, Kelly Cooper

Rooftops Project

Picture yourself leading a museum tucked into a 21st-century residential neighborhood, housed in a mid-20th-century building, mimicking a 16th-century Tibetan monastery, containing priceless art objects crossing a millennium. The Rooftops Project’s Kelly Cooper and Professor James Hagy visit the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art on Staten Island, New York.

Profile - The Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Evanston, Illinois, James Hagy, Carlee Cooper

Rooftops Project

A religious congregation envisions a new building better suited to its needs than its existing facility. But the location is perfect at its present suburban property. How might it start over while also observing green design principles? Rooftops Project team member Carlee Cooper and Professor James Hagy tour the new home of the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Illinois, with Michael Ross of Ross Barney Architects. It is the first place of worship in the United States to receive a LEED Platinum designation.

Kyoto Comes To Georgia: How International Environmental Initiatives Foster Sustainable Commerce In Small Town America, T. Rick Irvin, Peter A. Appel, Julie M. Mcentire, J. Chris Rabon

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Third Party Green Building Rating Systems Into Municipal Building And Zoning Codes, Edward Teyber

Pace Environmental Law Review

The role of green buildings in mitigating climate change has thus become a hot topic. This literature has begun to elicit change within corporations pursuing third party certification of their corporate buildings and campuses. Perhaps the success of discrete green building projects in mitigating climate change compared to the failure of international regulatory bodies to reach consensus for meaningful change is due to the publicity and, in turn, profits associated with certification by a third party green building rating system. In addition to reduced GHG emissions, reduced runoff, reduced maintenance costs, and positive publicity of green buildings for the project …

The Big Chill? - The Likely Impact Of Koontz On The Local Governments/Developer Relationship, Julie A. Tappendorf, Matthew T. Dicanni

Touro Law Review

This article will explore the doctrine of unconstitutional conditions, showing how it has evolved in the context of land use and come to be the logical underpinning of controversial Supreme Court decisions regarding exactions. Part I will explain the doctrine of unconstitutional conditions, providing a brief overview of its development over the course of the past century. Part II will then discuss how this doctrine has come to be the logical foundation on which the Supreme Court’s exactions jurisprudence rests. Part III will discuss the Koontz decision and its impact on the doctrine of unconstitutional conditions. In Part IV, we …

Economic Trends Report, Prepared For The Town Of Winthrop, Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center For Public Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

This Economic Trends report provides a multi-decade look at the economy of the Town of Winthrop. It is hoped that the report will serve as a reference guide for residents, business persons, and policy makers seeking to grow the local economy, using facts and data to help identify strategies and goals for the future.

The report contains information on change in resident population, since residents oftentimes are a natural market for the goods and services provided by businesses within the community; they can also serve as a ready workforce for those businesses. It also looks at the number and type …

Cambria's Water War: Legal Analysis Of The Building Moratorium And Its Implications For Land Owners, Jayson Parsons

Political Science

With each passing year, Cambria, California's building moratorium becomes increasingly controversial. The moratorium, enacted by the local community services district in 1986 due to a series of water shortages, has resulted in nearly 43% of all property owners under the district's purview to be denied the ability to develop their parcels. This paper seeks to examine the constitutionality of this moratorium using relevant regulatory takings jurisprudence.

Reviewing United States Supreme Court precedent, including Pennsylvania Coal v. Mahon (1922), Penn Central Transport v. New York City (1978), Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council (1992), and Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council …

Climate Change And Water Transfers, Jesse Reiblich, Christine A. Klein

Pepperdine Law Review

Climate change adaptation is all about water. Although some governments have begun to plan for severe water disruptions, many have not. The consequences of inaction, however, may be dire. As a report of the U.N. Environment Programme warns, “countries that adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach potentially risk the lives of their people, their ecosystems and their economies.” In the United States, according to one study, nearly 60% of the states are unprepared to deal with the impending crisis. Responding to this void, we offer what we believe is the first comprehensive, state-by-state survey of water allocation law and its …

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 …

Panorama - London Olympics Site Redevelopment, James Hagy, Dmitriy Ishimbayev

Rooftops Project

The 2012 London Olympics are over, yet the work is just beginning. Solicitor Linda Fletcher of the London office of the law firm Pinsent Masons talked with Dmitriy Ishimbeyev and Professor James Hagy about the 18-year project to redevelop and repurpose the Olympics venue for the longer term as a major, sustainable, mixed-use community in east London.

Profile - The Noguchi Museum, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

Few not-for-profit cultural or historic sites can be traced through a single thread, from heritage in an unlikely industrial setting in Queens; its conversion to workspace for the creation, staging and deployment of art throughout the world; its rededication by the living artist as a museum space while still a working gallery; and ultimately its preservation as a permanent cultural destination. At the Noguchi Museum, members and visitors can appreciate artist Isamu Noguchi’s full body of work in many media, enjoy the tranquility of galleries and gardens in a profoundly close-by urban setting, and understand the context in which that …

Profile - Not-For-Profit As Urban Neighbor: Groundswell, James Hagy, Scott Haggmark

Rooftops Project

Few not-for-profit organizations can claim to have made a dramatic, permanent, outdoor visual impact on more than 450 city blocks through the five boroughs of New York City. Groundswell has done just that. As part of a continuing series looking at not-for-profits as urban neighbors, The Rooftop Project’s Scott Haggmark and Professor James Hagy visit with Amy Sananman and Sharon Polli at Groundswell’s Brooklyn headquarters.

Profile - Not-For-Profit As Urban Neighbor: The Bowery Residents’ Committee, James Hagy, Tamara Salzman

Rooftops Project

From the very beginning of its new headquarters project, The Bowery Residents’ Committee set out not only to serve its mission but to be the very best neighbor. Seriously, how many of us freeze our garbage before putting it out for collection? Muzzy Rosenblatt, Christine Lalor-Chisholm, and John Johnson of The Bowery Residents’ Committee, and Charles Thanhauser and Sarah Corcoran of its architectural firm, TEK Architects, talk with the Rooftops Project’s Tamara Salzman an Professor James Hagy about their approach to this unique project in the heart of Manhattan.

Utilizing Michigan Brownfield Policies To Incentivize Community-Based Urban Agriculture In Detroit, Nicholas Leonard

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

As residents have increasingly moved from urban centers to suburbs, several cities have not been able to create effective solutions to the problems that such population loss has presented. Abandoned properties have proven to be the primary problem, and nowhere is that problem more pronounced than in Detroit. Urban agriculture has been widely embraced on a grassroots level as a potential solution to the pervasive problems that abandoned properties present and that cities have been unable to solve. While urban agriculture networks have largely arisen outside of municipal control, several cities are beginning to recognize urban agriculture as a potential …

The Greening Of Public Private Partnerships: What Design Professionals And Contractors Need To Know For Green Building's Next Legal Frontier, Tracy L. Steedman, Stephen Del Percio, Matthew L. Kimball

University of Baltimore Journal of Land and Development

America is at a pivotal moment in maintaining and modernizing its public infrastructure. Our nation's roads, bridges, water systems and energy networks have long been in poor repair. Much of the country's public infrastructure was put into place over fifty years ago, and many of these systems are simply overwhelmed or worn out. Infrastructure that is in poor condition or disrepair is mostly a hidden problem until it inconveniently stops working or worse, when ghastly consequences ensue from catastrophic failures.