Land Use Law Commons^™

Perspectives - Benjamin Webb Of The Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta, Georgia, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

Benjamin Webb discusses the rewards and challenges of being responsible for facilities management and energy for the largest mixed-program cultural center in the Southeastern U.S.

Profile - Legal Aid Center Of Southern Nevada, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

Responding to an ever-increasing need for pro bono legal services, the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada recently broke ground in downtown Las Vegas on what will become its new headquarters. Professor James Hagy, Director of The Rooftops Project, talks with Eexecutive Director Barbara Buckley about the project and the role that the new facility will play in advancing the Center’s mission and its services to clients.

Perspectives - Alyssa Bellew Of The Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church Of Pasadena, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

At manyplaces of worship, responsibility for oversight of the physical facilities falls to administrative staff as one more adjunct to an already busy schedule. At others, property tasks may be left to volunteers. The “on-the-job training” may often be self-taught. Professor James Hagy explores these challenges with Alyssa Bellew, Administrative Director of Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church.

Panorama - International Perspectives: Kathleen Curran, Director Of Casa Nuevo Horizonte, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

In this first of our series of international perspectives, Kathleen Curran relfects on the important role that physical space has played in her charitable mission in Bolivia supporting promising students seeking an advanced education in a setting of poverty.

Perspectives - Alice Korngold Of Korngold Consulting, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

Alice Korngold of Korngold Consulting presents her views on optimizing the match between not-for-profit organizations and prospective board member volunteers.

Perspectives - Steve Marcussen And Jonathan Sklar Of Cushman & Wakefield, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

Steve Marcussen and Jonathan Sklar of Cushman & Wakefield’s Los Angeles office share thoughts on how not-for-profit organizations can be more effective with their real estate assets and in implementing projects with outside real estate brokerage advisors.

Profile - Fernbank Museum Of Natural History, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

Any natural history or science museum would be proud to haev the diversity of collections and programmatic resources found at Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, Georgia. But few if any can law claim, as Fernbank does, to having “grown out of a forest.” Professor James Hagy, Director of The Rooftops Project, talks wiht Aneli Nugteren, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Fernbank Museum, about its unique campus, mission, and facilities.

Profile - The California Endowment’S Center For Healthy Communities, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

When the California Endowment planned new headquarters space for its own operations, its vision also included creating conference space suitable for events by other not-for-profits, opportunities for formal and informal collaboration among not-for-profits with compatible missions, and even incubator spaces for smaller organizations in need of an office presence. In this second article in his series looking at not-for-profits as urban neighbors, Professor James Hagy, Director of The Rooftops Project, talks with Anne-Marie Jones, Director of the Endowment’s Center for Healthy Communities, and Edward de la Torre, its Director of Facilities and Events.

Profile - The Gates Foundation Leed Platinum Seattle Headquarters, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

In this first article in his series looking at not-for-profits as urban neighbors, Professor James Hagy, Director of The Rooftops Project, visits with the Gates Foundation at its recently opened LEED Platinum Seattle headquarters campus.

The Adirondack Park Land Use And Development Plan And Vermont's Act 250 After Forty Years, 45 J. Marshall L. Rev. 417 (2012), John S. Banta

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Quiet Revolution And Federalism: Into The Future, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

This Article offers an examination of the federal role in land use planning and regulation set in the context of varying theories of federalism by presenting a historical and modern overview of the increasing federal influence in local land use planning and regulation, specifically highlighting how federal statutes and programs impact local municipal decision making in the area of land use planning. Part II provides a brief introduction into theories of federalism and their application to local land use regulation in the United States. Part III provides a brief overview of federal legislation in the United States which affected local …

The Quiet Revolution And Federalism: Into The Future, 45 J. Marshall L. Rev. 253 (2012), Patricia E. Salkin

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Implementing State Growth Management Programs: Alternatives And Recommendations, 45 J. Marshall L. Rev. 307 (2012), Daniel R. Mandelker

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

It All Began In Hawai'i, 45 J. Marshall L. Rev. 317 (2012), David L. Callies

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Quiet Revolution Goes West: The Oregon Planning Program 1961-2011, 45 J. Marshall L. Rev. 357 (2012), Edward J. Sullivan

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

A History And New Turns In Florida's Growth Management Reform, 45 J. Marshall L. Rev. 397 (2012), Nancy Stroud

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Board Of Adjustment: Fifty Years Later, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Fifty years ago, Jesse Dukeminier, Jr. and Clyde Stapleton published a case study of the practice of law before the Lexington-Fayette Urban County (LFUC) Board of Adjustment. This Article presents a new empirical study of the LFUC Board of Adjustment. Specifically, the study covers the eighteen month period from the Board’s July 2007 meeting through its December 2008 meeting. This Article discusses how the practice has changed and improved in the years since the Dukeminier-Stapleton study and the problems and difficulties that still remain.

The Article begins by describing the current procedure before the LFUC Board of Adjustment and how …

The Ohio Supreme Court's Perverse Stance On Development Impact Fees And What To Do About It, Alan C. Weinstein

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio is among the twenty-two states that have no enabling legislation for development impact fees. But in a 2000 ruling, Homebuilders Association of Dayton and the Miami Valley v. City of Beavercreek, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled that municipalities could lawfully enact impact fees under their police and “home rule” powers, provided that the fees could pass constitutional muster under a “dual rational nexus test.” On May 31, 2012, however, the court ruled in Drees Company v. Hamilton Township, that a development impact fee enacted by an Ohio township with “limited home rule” powers was an unconstitutional tax. The …

The Future Of Abandoned Big Box Stores: Legal Solutions To The Legacies Of Poor Planning Decisions, Sarah Schindler

University of Colorado Law Review

Big box stores, the defining retail shopping location for the majority of American suburbs, are being abandoned at alarming rates, due in part to the economic downturn. These empty stores impose numerous negative externalities on the communities in which they are located, including blight, reduced property values, loss of tax revenue, environmental problems, and a decrease in social capital. While scholars have generated and critiqued prospective solutions to prevent abandonment of big box stores, this Article asserts that local zoning ordinances can alleviate the harms imposed by the thousands of existing, vacant big boxes. Because local governments control land use …

Reconstituting Land-Use Federalism To Address Transitory And Perpetual Disasters: The Bimodal Federalism Framework, Blake Hudson

BYU Law Review

Scholars analyzing the intersection of federalism and disaster law and policy have primarily focused on the difficulties federalism poses for interjurisdictional coordination of disaster response. Though scholars have highlighted that rising disaster risks and costs are associated with “land-use planning that exacerbates, rather than mitigates, disaster risk,” a more holistic analysis of land-use-related disaster law and policy is needed. This Article provides a more comprehensive framework within which to analyze prospective mitigation or prevention of disaster risk and costs through a rebalancing—or reconstituting—of the respective roles of the federal and state governments in land-use planning. The federal government does not …

Current And Emerging Issues In The New Urban Agriculture: A Case Study, Kathryn A. Peters

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Urban agriculture takes many forms, including individual gardens on privately owned land, neighborhood gardens, community gardens, and gardens located on church and school grounds, housing developments, and other publicly owned property. The most essential factors for successful urban agriculture efforts include land acquisition, zoning ordinances, access to affordable water, infrastructure, and support services such as education and outreach. Cities across the United States have formed task forces with the mission of making their cities more sustainable or strengthening the local food supply system; urban agriculture is instrumental in both of these missions. Major cities across the United States are recognizing …

Land Use For Economic Development In Tough Financial Times, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The recession hit cities hard. Basic municipal staffs and services are being cut, debt is being restructured, capital projects delayed, and other cost cutting measures reported. The Congressional Budget Office reports that by November of last year there were 241,000 fewer municipal employees than there were three years earlier when the recession began. In its most recent report from city finance officers, the National League of Cities states that city spending cutbacks since 2009 are the largest since the survey was first taken, over twenty-five years ago. Despite this serious trend, municipalities have not defaulted in debt payment and there …

Restoring Lost Connections: Land Use, Policing, And Urban Vitality, Nicole Stelle Garnett

Journal Articles

Justice William Brennan rightfully reminded all of us that state constitutional law is too often neglected in our courtrooms and our classrooms. State constitutions, to borrow from the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, ought not to be "relegated to the status of a poor relation" in our constitutional legal structure. They differ in important ways from the federal law Constitution-and those differences provide the space within which our democratic experiment flourishes. And I am sure if Justice Brennan were here with us today, he would agree that we also should not neglect the study of the state and local policies …

Green Infrastructure: The Imperative Of Open Space Preservation, Janice C. Griffith

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

Open space preservation ranks among America's most deeply rooted traditions. The creation of green, civic open spaces was recognized as an important design concept in the formation of a number of the country's early cities. Philadelphia, Savannah, and New Haven were developed around squares of green open space. Most New England towns set aside a town common for grazing cattle and for a myriad of public uses. The first planned suburbs were also organized around protected open spaces.

The environmental movement in the 1970s brought renewed attention to the importance of open space preservation, but the cost of making it …

Curbing Energy Sprawl With Microgrids, Sara C. Bronin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Energy sprawl - the phenomenon of ever-increasing consumption of land, particularly in rural areas, required to site energy generation facilities - is a real and growing problem. Over the next twenty years, at least sixty-seven million acres of land will have been developed for energy projects, destroying wildlife habitats and fragmenting landscapes. According to one influential report, even renewable energy projects - especially large-scale projects that require large-scale transmission and distribution infrastructure - contribute to energy sprawl. This Article does not aim to stop large-scale renewable energy projects or even argue that policymakers focus solely on land use in determining …

Planning And Practice - The Rooftops Project: Report Summarizing Results Of A Survey Of Not-For-Profit Organizations, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

The Rooftops Project's first national field study of the attitudes and approaches of not-for-profit organizations with respect to the owned, leased or hosted real estate that supports their core missions and operations.

The Georgia Greenway Guidebook: A Tool For Governments, Communities, And Individuals, Christine Clay, Kathleen Nelson, Katie Biszko

Land Use Clinic

The purpose of this guidebook is to provide a tool for local governments, community organizations and individuals that are considering launching or reinvigorating a greenway development project.

Section II of this guidebook explains the concept and use of greenways, as well as many of important steps and considerations for developing greenway projects from inception to completion.

Potential greenway corridors in Georgia are explored in Section III, such as riparian corridors, interstate and highway rights-of-way, railway corridors, fuel pipeline easements, and transmission line easements along high-tension power lines.

Part IV explores aspects of greenway project development, including the need to create …

Above All Else Stop Digging: Local Government Law As A (Partial) Cause Of (And Solution To) The Current Housing Crisis, Darien Shanske

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

So many things have gone wrong with our housing market that it is hard to know where to start. One simple diagnosis is that we invested too much in houses that were not worth as much as we thought. Looked at in this way, it is relatively easy to see how innovations like interest-only loans contributed to an over-valuation of housing. Certain actions of the federal government were and are also clearly problematic, such as the longstanding tax breaks for home ownership.

This Article looks at state and local government law, and particularly at financing mechanisms created by state law …

Slides: Energy Development Water Needs Assessment And Water Supply Alternatives And Analysis, Benjamin Harding

The Promise and Peril of Oil Shale Development (February 5)

Presenter: Benjamin Harding, Principal Engineer, AMEC Earth and Environmental

15 slides

Slides: Promise Or Peril: Shale Oil, Energy, And The Region, Chase Huntley

The Promise and Peril of Oil Shale Development (February 5)

Presenter: Chase Huntley, Policy Adviser for Energy & Climate Change, The Wilderness Society

8 slides