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Land Use Law Commons

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Articles 91 - 120 of 178

Full-Text Articles in Land Use Law

Climate Change, Zoning And Transportation Planning: Urbanization As A Response To Carbon Loading, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Jan 2007

Climate Change, Zoning And Transportation Planning: Urbanization As A Response To Carbon Loading, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article explores the relationship among zoning, transportation planning, and climate change. It discusses the relationship between land use densities and transportation choices, reviews the trend toward transit oriented development in higher density communities and transportation efficient development in lower density areas, presents several case studies where land use and transportation planning are beginning to intersect, and ends with a strategic approach for communities to consider.


Disaster Mitigation Through Land Use Strategies, John R. Nolon Jan 2007

Disaster Mitigation Through Land Use Strategies, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The persistent question this book raises is who should decide whether and how to mitigate the damages caused by natural disasters. Our understandable preoccupation with response, recovery, and rebuilding makes it hard to focus on this question as a central, even relevant, one. But it persists, nonetheless. The high-profile “blame game” played following Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of the Gulf Coast is emblematic. In pointing fingers first at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), then at the city of New Orleans, and then at the state of Louisiana, public officials exhibited an appalling lack of understanding of the roles that each …


Courts Have Decided A Wide Range Of Issues, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Dec 2006

Courts Have Decided A Wide Range Of Issues, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In 2006, as in most years, the New York courts have decided a broad range of land use issues. This article summarizes the impacts of several of these important decisions. Specifically, this article covers the following land use topics: affordable housing, statute of limitations, res judicata, standing to sue, enforcement of injunctions, takings law, vested rights, property annexation, religious land uses, New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), and judicial review of local board actions.


Affordable Housing In The New York Courts: A Case For Legislative Action, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Nov 2006

Affordable Housing In The New York Courts: A Case For Legislative Action, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article reviews the position of the New York courts on the obligation of local governments to zone for affordable housing and concludes that it is time for legislative action at the state level. Although municipalities are beginning to adopt inclusionary zoning ordinances, most are doing little to eliminate barriers to housing or stimulate needed production. Additional encouragement, guidance, and resources are needed to create an adequate supply of affordable housing. After a review of the affordable housing cases, this article reviews what other state legislatures have done in recent years, and proposes the adoption of a Local Housing Planning …


Court Prods Municipality: Other States Offer Large Number Of Models To Consider, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Oct 2006

Court Prods Municipality: Other States Offer Large Number Of Models To Consider, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The state legislature’s decision to leave the creation of affordable housing to New York’s local governments has resulted in a segmented, slowly evolving, and insufficient resolution to a statewide problem. For example, the Orange County Supreme Court, in Land Master v. Montgomery, struck down a zoning law that eliminated all as-of-right multifamily development, in a municipality where affordable housing was in urgent need. This article reviews comprehensive initiatives from other states, and suggests that through the adoption of a state legislation and planning, the affordable housing problem is rectifiable


Affordable Housing: A Case For State Legislative Action, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Sep 2006

Affordable Housing: A Case For State Legislative Action, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Efforts by municipalities to promote affordable housing have proven to be insufficient as evidenced by the skyrocketing real estate prices in the New York metropolitan area. Historically, New York courts have struggled with the affordable housing issue, often issuing inconsistent decisions on what types of local laws are unconstitutionally exclusionary. By utilizing other states’ initiatives as a guide, New York can create a comprehensive affordable housing bill that will effectively provide for affordable housing and relieve some of the pressures on the judiciary caused by past ambiguous legislation.


Historical Overview Of The American Land Use System: A Diagnostic Approach To Evaluating Governmental Land Use Control, John R. Nolon Sep 2006

Historical Overview Of The American Land Use System: A Diagnostic Approach To Evaluating Governmental Land Use Control, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article describes how the American land use system has evolved to address recent environmental and economic development problems. It begins by tracing the history of the legal system used in the United States to control private sector land development and demonstrates how it achieved the flexibility needed to respond to modern challenges. The American land use system has paid a price for this flexibility: it is not a coherent whole, but rather a fragmented mosaic of legal influences. Impressive examples of cohesion are cited that suggest a strategic approach to reforming the system so that it can become an …


Inclusionary Zoning In Westchester County, New York: Is It A Viable Tool To Reduce A County-Wide Housing Crisis?, Ann S. Matthews Sep 2006

Inclusionary Zoning In Westchester County, New York: Is It A Viable Tool To Reduce A County-Wide Housing Crisis?, Ann S. Matthews

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.


Inclusionary Zoning: The Effect Of Market Forces On Local Housing Law, John R. Nolon Jun 2006

Inclusionary Zoning: The Effect Of Market Forces On Local Housing Law, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

As the price of housing continues to rise in the New York metropolitan area, municipalities have begun creating inclusionary housing ordinances to ensure working families have a place to call home. This article analyzes the effects of inclusionary zoning ordinances on the economics of affordable housing and suggests several potential methods that local, state, and federal government may utilize to ease the financial burden on developers willing to construct affordable housing projects.


Local Housing Efforts: The Maturation Of Laws Promoting Affordability, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Apr 2006

Local Housing Efforts: The Maturation Of Laws Promoting Affordability, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

A shortage of workforce housing, especially in the New York metropolitan area where real estate prices are rapidly increasing, has long been a critical land use issue. Since amendments to New York state law that explicitly stated municipalities’ implied power to incentivize affordable housing, municipalities have begun to create innovative laws to promote affordable housing. This review describes some of the basic concepts behind the affordable housing movement, and the considerations of local legislatures in defining, and providing for affordable housing.


Champions Of Change: Reinventing Democracy Through Land Law Reform, John R. Nolon Jan 2006

Champions Of Change: Reinventing Democracy Through Land Law Reform, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article explores the prospects of achieving policy coherence in the field of land use regulation. It explains how, as municipal governments react to pressures and crises at the local level, they discover and adopt new strategies in a constant process of experimentation. Through a properly constructed legal framework, critical information can be relayed from local to higher levels of government, state and federal legislators and judges can respond, and a "system" of law can evolve. Using theories developed in the fields of systems analysis and diffusion of innovations, the Article describes the process by which local communities perceive land …


The Emergence Of Exacted Conservation Easements, Jessica Owley Lippmann Jan 2006

The Emergence Of Exacted Conservation Easements, Jessica Owley Lippmann

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Mandated Training: Program Proposed For Local Decision-Makers, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Dec 2005

Mandated Training: Program Proposed For Local Decision-Makers, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Local land use boards, made up of volunteers from the community, decide a majority of the land use issues in New York’s municipalities, as well as most other states. In the past, these decision makers were not required to obtain formal training. Now, several states and municipalities are recognize the substantial impact of land use board decisions, and as a consequence, are providing innovative training for their board members. Land use law becomes more complicated with each passing hour, and through proper training, land use board members can become informed decision makers who maximize the potential of their communities.


Fallout From Kelo: Ruling Spurs Legislative Proposals To Limit Takings, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Oct 2005

Fallout From Kelo: Ruling Spurs Legislative Proposals To Limit Takings, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The 2005 Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London has galvanized much unwarranted controversy over governmental authority to condemn private property. A legislative reaction throughout the country has focused on limiting governmental condemnation authority in order to encourage economic development. This article discusses some of the specific pros and cons of reactionary legislation by both the federal and New York legislature.


New York Case Law Reaches Maturity, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Sep 2005

New York Case Law Reaches Maturity, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Through a review of recent case history, this article examines the role of courts in land use decisions. The consensus of the holdings is that a court should not substitute it’s discretion for that of a local land use board so long as the board’s decision was based on substantial evidence on the record. The rational for this standard of deference is based on the idea that local land use boards are legislative bodies that understand the needs of the communities they serve. This article highlights several instances where appeals courts reign in the power of trial courts that overstepped …


Court Of Appeals Again Restrains Lower Courts, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Aug 2005

Court Of Appeals Again Restrains Lower Courts, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Through a review of recent case history, this article examines the role of courts in land use decisions. The consensus of the holdings is that a court should not substitute its discretion for that of a local land use board so long as the board’s decision was based on substantial evidence on the record. The rational for this standard of deference is based on the idea that local land use boards are legislative bodies that understand the needs of the communities they serve. This article highlights several instances where appeals courts reign in the power of trial courts that overstep …


Despite Alarmists, 'Kelo' Decision Protects Property Owners And Serves The General Good, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Jun 2005

Despite Alarmists, 'Kelo' Decision Protects Property Owners And Serves The General Good, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London, has spurred national debate, as many people portray the court’s decision as a damaging blow to private property rights. In Kelo, the court confirmed local government’s ability to condemn property in an area designated as blighted by the state, in order to encourage economic development. This article highlights several positive examples of this sort of condemnation in New York case law, where the public interest was served by economic redevelopment. The article goes further, to distinguish several legal decisions from Kelo, where courts invalidated condemnations upon a …


'Takings' Clarified: U.S. Supreme Court Provides Clear Direction, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Jun 2005

'Takings' Clarified: U.S. Supreme Court Provides Clear Direction, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The United States Supreme Court holding in Lingle v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc. clarified years of takings jurisprudence and overturned a controversial decision in the case of Agins v. City of Tiburon. This article discusses how the Lingle court denounced the “substantially advances” test created in Agins, as a due process inquiry rather than a proper takings test. The Lingle court instead opted to create a clear four-category paradigm for takings cases, which focuses on the burden the government places on private property rights in order to distinguish takings categories.


Zoning Exemptions: Granting Immunity To Private Wireless Providers, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Apr 2005

Zoning Exemptions: Granting Immunity To Private Wireless Providers, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Contrary to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the New York Court of Appeals in the Matter of Crown Communication New York, Inc. v. Department of Transportation of the State of New York, City of New Rochelle et al., held that, both private companies who contract with local governments to build towers on public land, and the private companies who build attached antennae to these towers, are immune from local zoning regulations. The court’s decision is due to the public nature and importance of the mass communication these structures will provide. Of particular importance, was public good to be served by …


Court Reviews: The Takings Doctrine And Exactions, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Feb 2005

Court Reviews: The Takings Doctrine And Exactions, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Exactions occur when applications to develop parcels of land require governmental permission, and that permission is conditioned upon dedicating part of the land to public use. Exactions have long been challenged as regulatory takings, and both federal and state courts look at these types of regulations with a heightened level of scrutiny due to the nature of exactions to remove a crucial element from the bundle of property rights associated with ownership of real property: the right to exclude. This column discusses a recent example of exactions jurisprudence applied in New York and goes on to compare that decision in …


Paradigms Of Positive Change: Reordering The Nation's Land Use System, John R. Nolon Jan 2005

Paradigms Of Positive Change: Reordering The Nation's Land Use System, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article begins with a brief look at the system’s familiar dysfunctions, continues with a lengthier examination of positive examples of reform, emphasizes the importance of coalition building in the reform process, and ends with the observation that reform efforts should be organized by the task of creating essential connections among the governments involved.


Comparative Land Use Law: Patterns Of Sustainability, John R. Nolon Jan 2005

Comparative Land Use Law: Patterns Of Sustainability, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Land use scholars and practitioners in the United States trace the development of domestic land use law to 1916, when the City of New York adopted the nation's first comprehensive zoning law, and then on to 1926 when the U.S. Supreme Court declared zoning constitutional in Euclid v. Ambler Realty. Some have studied European influences stemming from late nineteenth century regulations and the urban design principles imported from the great cities of the era. Others know about the catastrophic London fire of 1666 and how it transformed society's understanding of why individual property rights, to some degree, must be subject …


Redevelopment Tools: Creating And Recreating Urban Centers, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Dec 2004

Redevelopment Tools: Creating And Recreating Urban Centers, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article describes a number of the agencies, entities, and legal tools and techniques that are used today to redevelop or create urban centers of population and commerce.


Religion And Law Use: Constraints On Local Boards' Decision Making, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Oct 2004

Religion And Law Use: Constraints On Local Boards' Decision Making, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

While local legislatures generally have broad authority to enact land use regulations that serve a public interest, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act as well as constitutional limits found in the First Amendment limit religious land use regulations that seek to restrict religious freedom. This article explores the Second Circuit’s decision in Westchester Day School v. Village of Mamaroneck, and makes suggestions about the future implications of the court’s decision.


Shielding Board Members: Municipalities Should Protect Them From Suits, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Aug 2004

Shielding Board Members: Municipalities Should Protect Them From Suits, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Both individual land use board members and the municipal governments containing these boards are concerned with the liability of the boards, and of individual members from legal challenges stemming from their decisions. Legal actions against these boards, and the potential for subsequent liability of individual members could put significant financial burdens on municipalities and also discourage competent citizens from serving on these local land use boards. This commentary reviews the impact of two recent New York state cases, and their affect on state legislation concerning these topics.


Clarifying The Rules And Roles Of Land Use Boards, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Jun 2004

Clarifying The Rules And Roles Of Land Use Boards, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article discusses the rules and roles of land use boards, including planning boards, and zoning boards of appeals. Local governments are given broad authority to create land use regulations by the New York state legislature, and so long as they stay within the boundaries of the state land use statutes, the local government’s fact based decisions are usually upheld in face of legal challenges in court. This column analyzes several recently decided cases in an attempt to clarify the uncertainties involved with the decisions of local land use boards, and challenges to land use board decisions.


Religion And Land Use: Westchester Day School V. Village Of Mamaroneck, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Apr 2004

Religion And Land Use: Westchester Day School V. Village Of Mamaroneck, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Westchester Day School and the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) of the Village of Mamaroneck were involved with several lawsuits stemming from a rescinded “negative” State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) determination by the ZBA after local public outcry of the school’s expansion. This article explores the relationship between Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and land use regulations, and comes to the conclusions that Congress enacted the RLUIPA to ensure religious organization landowners are not singled out to bear the burdens of the general public.


Seqra Challenges: Court Creates New Rule On Statute Of Limitations, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Feb 2004

Seqra Challenges: Court Creates New Rule On Statute Of Limitations, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The New York State Environmental Quality Review Act, known around the New York legal community as SEQRA, triggers any time a public action may have an adverse impact on the environment. The determinations of this process, intertwined with public actions such as, site plan approvals, variance requests, or any other land use or public action, are often challenged by those parties who are unsatisfied with the result. This article discusses the extensive case history regarding when SEQRA actions are ripe for legal challenge.


Tribal Sovereignty Over Water Quality, Jessica Owley Lippmann Jan 2004

Tribal Sovereignty Over Water Quality, Jessica Owley Lippmann

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Development Agreements: Bargained-For Zoning That Is Neither Illegal Contract Nor Conditional Zoning, Shelby D. Green Jan 2004

Development Agreements: Bargained-For Zoning That Is Neither Illegal Contract Nor Conditional Zoning, Shelby D. Green

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article explores the new model of land use decision-making that is based upon bargaining with the landowner. The fact of a bargain raises the issue of whether such bargaining amounts to “contract zoning” based upon a bilateral contract between the municipality and the landowner, which is largely held to be illegal, or a related form of bargaining, not involving an exchange of promises in the context of a bilateral agreement--“conditional zoning.” Part II of this Article discusses the emergence of the development agreement, which involves a contract with a municipality and the developer under which the developer is assured …