Land Use Law Commons^™

Active Water Resource Management: Tools For Better Water Management, John D'Antonio

Publications

No abstract provided.

Water For Energy In The Southwest: Finding Water For Mohave, Stanley M. Pollack

Publications

No abstract provided.

Water For Energy In The Southwest: Where Will It Come From?, Marilyn C. O'Leary

Publications

No abstract provided.

Fear And Loathing: Combating Speculation In Local Communities, Ngai Pindell

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Local governments commonly respond to economic and social pressures on property by using their legal power to regulate land uses. These local entities enact regulations that limit property development and use to maintain attractive communities and orderly growth. This Article argues that government entities should employ their expansive land use powers to limit investor speculation in local markets by restricting the resale of residential housing for three years. Investor speculation, and the upward pressure it places on housing prices, threatens the availability of affordable housing as well as the development of stable neighborhoods. Government regulation of investor speculation mirrors existing, …

Amending Perpetual Conservation Easements: A Case Study Of The Myrtle Grove Controversy, Nancy A. Mclaughlin

University of Richmond Law Review

This article explores the issue of amending perpetual conservation easements by examining the Myrtle Grove controversy, in which the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States (the "National Trust")" "conceptually approved" a request made by a successor owner of land encumbered by a perpetual conservation easement to substantially amend the easement. Several months later, as a result of public opposition to the amendments and a reassessment of its position, the National Trust withdrew that approval. The owner of the encumbered land subsequently filed a suit for breach of contract, and the National Trust and the Attorney General of …

Rehabilitating Rehab Through State Building Codes, Sara C. Bronin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Building codes are not neutral documents. Traditional codes have the effect of deterring the rehabilitation of older structures. But rehabilitation - which can have many positive effects, especially on cities - should be encouraged, not deterred. One promising method of encouraging rehabilitation has been the adoption of rehabilitation codes: building codes that establish flexible but clear requirements for renovators. After analyzing traditional building codes and three different rehabilitation codes, this Note concludes that more states should adopt rehabilitation codes on a mandatory basis.

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.

Productive Preservation And The Reinvention Of Industrial America, Jonathan Flynn

Georgetown Law Historic Preservation Papers Series

This paper explores the problem of why the traditional model preservation, characterized by a strict and inflexible interpretation of the law, often fails in struggling communities. Particular emphasis is given to early industrial cities, where the existing urban infrastructure and difficult economic situation often conspire to make preservation exceptionally challenging. A solution is proposed for making preservation productive these distressed communities. Through a broader, and more flexible reading of existing law, a major preservation problem may be solved, and history can used as a valuable tool for growth and positive change.

Cityland – Vol. 3, No. 3, Center For New York City Law

CityLand - 2006

The April 2006 issue of CityLand centers on the City Council’s approval of the new Yankee Stadium project in the Bronx, which includes a new stadium, 15.82 acres of new parkland, four parking garages, and a Yankees museum. The Council also held a hearing on the controversial designation of the Fieldston Historic District in the Bronx and approved a modified upzoning for two lots in East Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn. The Planning Commission approved the conversion of the Toy Center in Chelsea to residential use, a rezoning of 82 blocks in Bayswater and Far Rockaway, and a new DOT maintenance yard …

The Law Of Sprawl: A Road Map, Michael Lewyn

ExpressO

In the fall of 2004, I taught a seminar on “The Law of Sprawl” at Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Law. This essay seeks to guide would-be teachers of a course on sprawl by showing how I taught the course.

Specifically, the article asserts that a seminar on sprawl belongs in law school curricula as well as planning school curricula, because a wide variety of legal rules contribute to sprawl. The article then goes on to discuss those legal rules and how I addressed them in my course. For example, the article discusses land use regulations that encourage automobile-dependent …

Thou Shalt Love Thy Neighbor: Rluipa And The Mediation Of Religious Land Use Disputes, Jeffrey H. Goldfien

ExpressO

Religious land use disputes are characterized by high levels of conflict and the potential to seriously undermine social capital in affected communities. Contemporary land use procedures reflect an antiquated heritage and reliance upon adversarial means that are inadequate to successfully resolve these socially complex local conflicts. While there are practical obstacles, mediation holds advantages over these existing procedures in terms of dispute resolution, and has greater potential to preserve and build social capital at the local level. This article examines the theoretical justification for mediation in this context, and argues for moving beyond the status quo.

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.

Supreme Guidance For Wet Growth: Lessons From The High Court On The Powers And Responsibilities Of Local Governments, Michael Allan Wolf

UF Law Faculty Publications

Before the merger of water law and land use planning can occur, local and state regulators need strong guidance from experts in the field, not only in extra-legal fields such as planning, hydrology, geology, engineering, biology, and transportation, but also in mainstream legal areas including legislation (local, state, and federal), administrative law, and enforcement. The purpose of this article is to identify a somewhat unorthodox source of guidance - the United States Supreme Court, specifically the Rehnquist Court from October, 1984, through June, 2005, a period of remarkable stability for the nation’s highest tribunal.

"Don't Know What A Slide Rule Is For:" The Need For A Precise Definition Of Public Purpose In North Carolina In The Wake Of Kelo V. City Of New London, Michael Mcknight

Campbell Law Review

This comment, in Part I, traces the gradual erosion and decline of the public purpose doctrine in North Carolina from its roots in the Constitution of 1868 to recent North Carolina court decisions interpreting its meaning and scope. In examining the public purpose doctrine as it is addressed in North Carolina case law, four distinct categories of cases where the term has been invoked and applied are analyzed. Part II proffers a definition of "public purpose" as set forth by the cases discussed in Part I and proposes a more stringent test for courts and public bodies to apply in …

New Paradigm: Indian Tribes In The Land Of Unintended Consequences, Sam Deloria

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Formal Versus Informal Allocation Of Land In A Commons: The Case Of The Macarthur Park Sidewalk Vendors, Gregg Kettles

ExpressO

Sidewalk vendors are becoming a more common presence in cities in Latin America and the United States. Vendor demand for the best sidewalk vending spots increasingly exceeds supply, making necessary a system to allocate space in what is essentially an open access commons. This paper presents an empirical study of two very different systems of allocation that have been adopted in the city of Los Angeles, California, a formal one imposed by the city on legal vendors when they were unable to come up with one on their own, and a second that was embraced by illegal vendors across the …

Cityland – Vol. 3, No. 2, Center For New York City Law

CityLand - 2006

The March 2006 issue of CityLand covers a wide range of land use and preservation developments across New York City. The City Council approved rezonings in Sheepshead Bay and Homecrest, Brooklyn, and adopted follow-up corrective actions (FUCAs) for the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning. The Planning Commission approved rezonings in Midwood, Pelham Bay, Westchester Square, and Middle Village/Glendale, as well as modifications to the High Line/West Chelsea district and the establishment of Flight 587 Memorial Park in Far Rockaway. A special permit for a parking garage in Gramercy was approved despite opposition from new Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. The Bay Ridge 5th …

The "Public Use" Requirement In Eminent Domain Law: A Rationale Based On Secret Purchases And Private Influence, Daniel B. Kelly

ExpressO

This article provides a rationale for understanding and interpreting the “public use” requirement within eminent domain law. The rationale is based on two factors. First, while the government often needs the power of eminent domain to avoid the problem of strategic holdout, private parties are usually able to purchase property through secret buying agents. The availability of these buying agents makes the use of eminent domain for private parties unnecessary (and indeed, undesirable). The government, however, is ordinarily unable to make secret purchases because its plans are subject to democratic deliberation and known in advance. Second, while the use of …

The Takings Clause, Version 2005: The Legal Process Of Constitutional Property Rights, Mark Fenster

ExpressO

The three takings decisions that the Supreme Court issued at the end of its October 2004 Term marked a stunning reversal of the Court’s efforts the past three decades to use the Takings Clause to define a set of constitutional property rights. The regulatory takings doctrine, which once loomed as a significant threat to the modern regulatory state, now appears after Lingle v. Chevron to be a relatively tame, if complicated, check on exceptional instances of regulatory abuse. At the same time, the Public Use Clause, formerly an inconsequential limitation on the state’s eminent domain authority, now appears ripe for …

Supreme Power To Seize Land Goes Too Far, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Localism's Ecology: Protecting And Restoring Habitat In The Suburban Nation, Jamison E. Colburn

ExpressO

There is wide agreement among conservation activists and scientists alike that loss and alteration of habitat are the leading threats to biodiversity in America. Suburbs and exurbs, though, are only beginning to acknowledge that they are the problem in the struggle to stem the tide of “sprawl” and other economic processes producing ecosystem-wide habitat degradation today. A recent resurgence in academic and activist attention to local governments in America is reconsidering them as viable solutions to this problem. But most of this dialogue is being based upon a mistaken conception of local governance. Much of the legal scholarship on local …

Exactions And Burden Distribution In Takings Law, Carlos A. Ball, Laurie Reynolds

William & Mary Law Review

In the last several decades, there has been a marked shift in local government financing away from the use of general revenue taxes and toward nontax revenue-raising devices such as exactions. This Article argues that the Supreme Court, in its exaction cases, missed a golden opportunity to slow this troubling trend toward the greater privatization of local government financing. In addition, it explains how the Court's exaction cases are inconsistent with the goal of burden distribution as reflected in the Court's takings jurisprudence. The Article proposes that the constitutional standard applied to exactions be reformulated to account explicitly for burden …

Cityland – Vol. 3, No. 1, Center For New York City Law

CityLand - 2006

The February 2006 issue of CityLand highlights major land use and preservation developments across New York City. The City Council approved the redevelopment of the Bronx Terminal Market into a one-million-square-foot retail center and down-zoned 311 blocks in Whitestone, Queens. Staten Island saw three commercial rezonings and a text amendment to restrict residential-only development in commercial districts. The Council also approved zoning changes for Metropolis Studios in East Harlem and adopted 17 corrective amendments to the Hudson Yards revitalization plan. The Planning Commission approved rezonings in Baychester, Woodlawn, Ferry Point, Sheepshead Bay, and Homecrest. BSA decisions included variances for a …

Making Main Street Legal Again: The Smartcode Solution To Sprawl, Chad Emerson

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Global Issues In Property Law, John G. Sprankling, Raymond R. Coletta, M.C. Mirow

McGeorge School of Law Teaching Materials

This title is designed to introduce comparative law perspectives that help students understand domestic property law concepts, in areas including adverse possession, the right to exclude, estates in land, future interests, marital property, the landlord-tenant relationship, eviction of tenants, low-income housing, land sales transactions, title assurance, nuisance, and land use. It also introduces students to areas of international law that are beginning to affect domestic property law, including the human right to property, international regulatory takings, and global land sales transactions.

Where The Streets Have Many Names: Zoning, Community Power, And The Future Of Shaw, Washington, D.C. , Parag Khandhar

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

Hurricane Katrina And The Toxic Torts Implications Of Environmental Injustice In New Orleans, 40 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1 (2006), L. Darnell Weeden

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

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 …

Wood Measurement Rules, Maine Department Of Agriculture, Food & Rural Resources

Maine Collection

Wood Measurement Rules

Maine Department of Agriculture, Food & Rural Resources, Division of Quality Assurance & Regulations, Augusta, Maine, 2006.

Contents: Chapter 380: General Provisions / Chapter 381: General Requirements for Wood Transactions / Chapter 382: Measurement of Wood and Declaration of Quantity / Chapter 383: Measurement and Prompt Furnishing of Measurement Tally Sheets / Chapter 384: Complaints and Investigations / Chapter 385: Licensing of Wood Scalers / Appendix