Land Use Law Commons^™

City Of Jefferson Curry Creek Water Supply Watershed: Estimate Of Existing And Projected Impervious Cover And Assessment Of Watershed Protection Provisions, Jamie Baker Roskie, Seth Wenger

Land Use Clinic

The Land Use Clinic, in conjunction with the River Basin Center, helped the City of Jefferson to protect its drinking water supply. The Land Use Clinic wrote municipal legislation to reduce impervious cover (roads, parking lots, buildings and sidewalks) and minimize runoff, which diminishes water quality by filling streams with pollutants and increasing sedimentation, increases the need for expensive water treatment and impacts aquatic habitat.

An Analysis Of Development Impact Fees In Georgia, Jim Edge, Michael J. Eshman

Land Use Clinic

A development impact fee is defined as “payment of money imposed upon development as a condition to development approval to pay for a proportionate share of the cost of system improvements needed to serve growth and development.” Development impact fees are a relatively new idea in Georgia, but have been used in other jurisdictions for years. This paper analyzes the development of the Georgia Development Impact Fee Law. It also tracks use of impact fees in Georgia and makes recommendations for jurisdictions considering adopting impact fees.

Accessory Apartments, Lauren Giles

Land Use Clinic

Use and regulation of accessory dwelling units, also known as accessory apartments, as a way to promote affordable housing and multi-generational housing options in single-family neighborhoods. Implementing an ADU ordinance requires local governments to balance the interests of homeowners, potential tenants, and the community at large. ADUs can benefit all parties if they are implemented properly. Community education and involvement are important to ensure support for ADUs. ADUs allow communities to grow in population without additional construction or the expense of new infrastructure. Accessory dwelling are not for everyone or every neighborhood, but when done properly in the appropriate area …

New Urbanism And Euclidian Zoning: Can They Co-Exist?, Janna Blasingame Custer

Land Use Clinic

Euclidian zoning served a purpose in its time. It separated land uses so that people could live away from industrial developments without the fear that such industries would locate to their backyard. But despite the positive effects of Euclidian zoning, many people believe it provides too little attention to character and historic design and promotes sprawl. New Urbanism offers an alternative to Euclidian zoning and many cities are beginning to utilize New Urbanism principles as they strive to bring back a sense of place to their communities. Challenges result when the New Urbanism principles conflict with the zoning in place, …

Controlling Big Box Retail Development In Georgia, Matt Roberts, Brian Wright, Elizabeth Simpson, Lauren Giles, Anna Hauser

Land Use Clinic

The rise of big box retail presents a number of serious challenges that can be addressed by both state legislatures and local governments. This paper provides strategies to help communities avoid "big box blight" caused by retailers abandoning existing sites for new stores, leaving empty eyesores in their wake.

Protecting The Future Forever: Why Perpetual Conservation Easements Outperform Term Easements, Paul Mitchell

Land Use Clinic

Conservation easements are amassing increasing popularity as a private means for accomplishing a public good. In 1980, conservation easements protected 128,001 acres. By 2003, that number had jumped to over 5 million acres. In Georgia, over 131,000 acres had been protected by conservation easements by the end of 2005, more than double the acreage of just a few years before.

A conservation easement is a legal arrangement whereby a landowner chooses to transfer certain development rights to an eligible easement holder, usually a non-profit or government agency, in order to achieve a qualified purpose. The landowner can sell or donate …

The Scientific Justification For Stream Buffers, Paul Mitchell

Land Use Clinic

Fact sheet on the importance of stream buffers in protecting water quality.

Stormwater Utilities In Georgia, Joshua Smith

Land Use Clinic

How a local government can establish a stormwater utility to help fund infrastructure improvements to protect water quality.

Keeping Livestock Out Of Streams In Georgia, Jill Schonenberg

Land Use Clinic

Regulatory and incentive methods for requiring or encouraging the fencing of streams to exclude livestock. Animal waste is a major cause of water pollution in Georgia.

Phase Ii Compliance & Illicit Discharge Ordinances, Benjamin Corson-Knowles

Land Use Clinic

How municipalities can implement illicit discharge ordinances in compliance with Phase II of the NPDES program of the Clean Water Act.

The Problem Of Reallocation In A Regulated Riparian System: Examining The Law In Georgia, Wilson Barmeyer

Georgia Law Review

There has been considerable debate over creating a market for water withdrawal permits in Georgia. Water market proponents argue that Georgia currently lacks the tools to reallocate water efficiently and to sustain continued economic growth. Opponents argue that a market is an inappropriate way for Georgia to introduce economic incentives into water management. This Note rejects the dichotomous choice between market and non market institutions. Instead, it presents a range of water reallocation mechanisms and argues that water supply solutions should be tailored to meet specific problems and objectives. Such an approach emphasizes the need for regional planning and management …

Commercially Harvesting Endangered Salmon? Rethinking The Interaction Of Salmon Hatcheries And The Endangered Species Act After Alsea Valley Alliance V. Evans, Joseph A. Brown

Georgia Law Review

Prior to 2001, a dichotomy existed in the application of the Endangered Species Act. Naturally spawned salmon, dwindling in number, were afforded the Act's protection while hatchery-spawned salmon, released in the billions each year, were commercially harvested and almost universally excluded from the Act's purview. A recent federal district court decision, however, held that the salmon listing decisions had not properly considered the contribution of hatchery-spawned salmon. Although the subsequent agency review mandated by the court decision left the listing determinations largely unchanged, this Note argues that the most profound implications of the court's decision regard hatchery management rather than …

Strip Corridor Redevelopment: A Guidance Document, University Of Georgia School Of Law, Land Use Clinic, College Of Environment And Design, University Of Georgia

Land Use Clinic

Guidance document and model ordinance for Georgia local governments, created for the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. This project began with a strip corridor revitalization overlay and implementation document for the city of Dalton to help improve community character and reduce traffic congestion along Dalton's Walnut Avenue commercial strip.

Sustainable Development Scenarios For The Richard B. Russell Parkway, Jesse Fountain, Judith R. Wasserman, Jamie Baker Roskie

Land Use Clinic

For many years local elected officials, the state legislative delegation, and community leaders worked diligently to get Richard Russell Parkway extended to Interstate 75 and provide the Warner Robins area with a second interchange to serve the City and Robins AFB. The project became a reality in the spring of 2002 when the Georgia Department of Transportation awarded a construction contract for the Parkway's extension. During the spring of 2003, with construction work progressing toward an October 31, 2004, completion date, the Mayor and City Council decided to explore alternative development concepts for the Parkway.

The goal of this document …

Sign Control On Rural Corridors: Model Provisions And Guidance, University Of Georgia School Of Law Land Use Clinic, College Of Environment And Design, University Of Georgia

Land Use Clinic

Help for local governments to regulate billboards on scenic corridors. Funded by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

Local Government Land Use Restrictions And Selected First Amendment Issues, Barbara Jo Nelson

LLM Theses and Essays

A local government's power to enact zoning regulations falls within the general power to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of its citizenry. This thesis addresses a few selected First Amendment issues as they apply to zoning and land use restrictions in Georgia. Free speech review of zoning ordinances applies to zoning for adult sex businesses, such as adult book stores and cinemas. The First Amendment balancing test that is applicable to adult entertainment ordinances is discussed in Chapter One. The free speech impact of restrictions on signs and billboards is discussed in Chapter Two. Finally, in Chapter Three, …

Group Homes, Families, And Meaning In The Law Of Subdivision Covenants, Robert D. Brussack

Scholarly Works

Part I of this Article discusses two questions central to a general account of the problem of meaning in the law of subdivision covenants. First, whose meaning ought to count? The answer to this question is developed principally by contrasting the meaning problem in covenants law with the related problem in other legal realms such as contractual and statutory interpretation. Second, what should be the role in contemporary covenants law of the traditional rule requiring that ambiguity in covenant language be resolved in favor of the free use of land. Here the Article explores the nature of ambiguity and critiques …

The Hidden Crisis In Georgia Land Use, J. William Futrell

Scholarly Works

As will be more fully developed, the primary defect in the existing legal basis for land use planning is its fragmented and incomplete nature. The consequences of the improper and uncontrolled use of land spill over the narrow boundaries of the political subdivision in which the development occurs. Furthermore, natural areas of statewide or national importance may be lost because of local apathy.

These same conflicts in land use exist in Georgia, and the prevailing legal institutions in Georgia are just as inadequate as those in other states; but, in Georgia, the debate on legal solutionis has been muted. While …

Open Space Legislation: Suggestions For A Model Act, A. D. B.

Georgia Law Review

In recent years municipal and state governments have become aware of the conservational and recreational value of natural land expanses located near urban centers. These virgin areas are generally referred to as "open space lands." Governmental interest in open space land may be attributed to a variety of factors: the radical growth of urban areas, the gradual intensification of air and water pollution, and the phenomenon of the population explosion. Furthermore, open space land disappears at a rate of about one million acres a year.' The problem, however, is more severe than this statistic would indicate due to the irregular …

A Manual On Land Registration, Arthur Gray Powell

Historical Treatises

Excerpt from the preface:

I decided that my labors would prove most useful if I attempted to write a practical, rather than a learned treatise on the subject. While the subject is one that might bear much fruit under learned treatment, still what the present moment most demands is a practical handbook which will inform the profession and the officers who are to administer the law what to do and how to do it, when a landowner comes seeking to register his land.

There has been no effort at style, except that I have striven to state matters in a …