State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Opportunity In Ohio: Rethinking Northeast Ohio's Opportunity Zones With Local Legislation, Patrick J. Lipaj

Cleveland State Law Review

Welcome to Census Tract 1186.02! Here, in a small sliver of Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood, tucked between Superior and Hough Avenues, you will uncover a lot. You will discover a rich history of the city’s ethnic and cultural roots. You will also find gang violence, underperforming schools, a median household income of $9,526, and a poverty rate of 66.5 percent. Something you will not find in 1186.02 is investment. Private or public, money is not flowing in to 1186.02 and it has not for a long time. The substantial toll of continuous underinvestment on the residents of this neighborhood, one of …

Living Landmarks: Equipping Landmark Protection For Today’S Challenges, Kyle Campion

Journal of Law and Policy

The past few decades have brought tremendous change to New York City as gentrification continues its march through many of the city’s neighborhoods. This change has transformed formerly neglected neighborhoods into highly desired locations. While these changes have introduced potential benefits to the transformed areas, they have also put immense economic pressure on important local establishments, such as diners, bars, and other informal gathering spaces that played an important role in their communities before the neighborhoods became “hot.” Increasingly, this pressure has resulted in the shuttering of many such local establishments. Their disappearance represents not only a loss of an …

Environmental Justice In Little Village: A Case For Reforming Chicago’S Zoning Law, Charles Isaacs

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Chicago’s Little Village community bears the heavy burden of environmental injustice and racism. The residents are mostly immigrants and people of color who live with low levels of income, limited access to healthcare, and disproportionate levels of dangerous air pollution. Before its retirement, Little Village’s Crawford coal-burning power plant was the lead source of air pollution, contributing to 41 deaths, 550 emergency room visits, and 2,800 asthma attacks per year. After the plant’s retirement, community members wanted a say on the future use of the lot, only to be closed out when a corporation, Hilco Redevelopment Partners, bought the lot …

Screened Out Of Housing: The Impact Of Misleading Tenant Screening Reports And The Potential For Criminal Expungement As A Model For Effectively Sealing Evictions, Katelyn Polk

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Having an eviction record “blacklists” tenants from finding future housing. Even renters with mere eviction filings—not eviction orders—on their records face the harsh collateral consequences of eviction. This Note argues that eviction records should be sealed at filing and only released into the public record if a landlord prevails in court. Juvenile record expungement mechanisms in Illinois serve as a model for one way to protect people with eviction records. Recent updates to the Illinois juvenile expungement process provided for the automatic expungement of certain records and strengthened the confidentiality protections of juvenile records. Illinois protects juvenile records because it …

Cities And Citizens Seethe: A Case Study Of Local Efforts To Influence Natural Gas Pipeline Routing Decisions, Heidi Gorovitz Robertson

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This Article explores the reasons local governments find difficulty influencing pipeline-routing decisions. For example, federal law controls interstate natural gas pipeline permitting, which is complicated and inaccessible. State law, particularly in Ohio, heavily favors utilities, in part by preempting local efforts to make local decisions regarding oil and gas development. Finally, the information gaps are enormous between what local governments need to influence pipeline-routing decisions and what is accessible.

This Article addresses barriers to local influence by discussing the efforts of citizens and local governments to influence the routing of NexusSpectra's natural gas transmission pipeline, which was recently constructed and …

Legal Issues Affecting Blue Carbon Projects On Publicly-Owned Coastal Wetlands, Read Porter, Cody Katter, Cory Lee

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

Coastal wetlands play an important role in sequestering atmospheric carbon, but these ecosystems are under threat from sea level rise, land use conversion, and other causes. Restoration projects in coastal wetlands can provide a range of benefits for habitat and ecosystems, including by increasing sequestration of “blue carbon.” Coastal wetland restoration projects that effectively sequester carbon and meet the requirements of the voluntary carbon market can generate tradeable carbon offsets, which have a monetary value and can be used to finance all or part of the restoration needed to generate them. Blue carbon offsets thus represent a promising tool to …

In Memory Of Professor James E. Bond, Janet Ainsworth

Seattle University Law Review

Janet Ainsworth, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law: In Memory of Professor James E. Bond.

Dispossessing Detroit: How The Law Takes Property, Mary Kathlin Sickel

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Introduction for the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform's Symposium “Dispossessing Detroit: How the Law Takes Property,” hosted on November 9 and 10, 2019.

Real Property, J. Richard White, Amanda Grainger

SMU Annual Texas Survey

No abstract provided.

Caveat Emptor: Real Property Law’S “Get Out Of Jail Free” Card V. The Property Condition Disclosure Act, Alessandra E. Albano

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Zoning For Families, Sara C. Bronin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Is a group of eight unrelated adults and three children living together and sharing meals, household expenses, and responsibilities—and holding themselves out to the world to have long-term commitments to each other—a family? Not according to most zoning codes—including that of Hartford, Connecticut, where the preceding scenario presented itself a few years ago. Zoning, which is the local regulation of land use, almost always defines family, limiting those who may live in a dwelling unit to those who satisfy the zoning code’s definition. Often times, this definition is drafted in a way that excludes many modern living arrangements and preferences. …

Dispossessing Resident Voice: Municipal Receiverships And The Public Trust, Juliet M. Moringiello

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The residents of struggling cities suffer property dispossessions both as individual owners and as municipal residents. Their individual dispossessions are part of a cycle that often begins with industrial decline. In Detroit, for example, more than 100,000 residents have lost their homes to tax foreclosure over a four-year period that bracketed the city’s bankruptcy filing. Falling property values, job losses, and foreclosures affect municipal budgets by reducing tax revenues. As individual dispossessions exacerbate municipal financial crises, residents can also face the loss of municipal property. Struggling cities and towns often sell publicly owned property—from parks to parking systems—to balance municipal …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

“Fair Enough”? Revising The Yellowstone Injunction To Fit New York’S Commercial Leasing Landscape And Promote Judicial Economy, Gabriel W. Block

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The Yellowstone injunction is an equitable remedy that tolls any applicable cure period and gives tenants a better opportunity to maintain their leasehold when they have defaulted under their lease. The remedy is available to commercial tenants in New York City and to commercial and residential tenants throughout the State. This Note examines the Yellowstone injunction in the context of New York City’s commercial tenants, who employ it most frequently and benefit most from its protections. This Note examines the development and application of the Yellowstone injunction and proposes changing the doctrine to exclude cases of monetary defaults and expired …

Virginia Uranium, Inc. V. Warren, Nyles G. Greer

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Supreme Court of the United States recently ruled that the Atomic Energy Act did not preempt a Virginia law prohibiting uranium mining in the Commonwealth. The Court held that although the Act delegated substantial power over the nuclear life cycle to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it offered no indication that Congress sought to strip states of their traditional power to regulate mining on private lands within their borders.

From Animal Control To Zoning: 2019 Local Government Law Update, Tyler C. Southall

University of Richmond Law Review

The goal of this Article is to review significant recent developments in Virginia local government law. First, this Article discusses a number of Supreme Court of Virginia and Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals cases published between July 1, 2018 and July 1, 2019. These cases involve questions of the First Amendment and social media, the First Amendment and employment law, attorney client privilege and Freedom of Information Act requests, vested rights issues in zoning ordinances, the powers of the Virginia State Corporation Commission, and public finance. Second, this Article addresses new laws from the 2019 General Assembly. It is impossible …

Researching And Keeping Up To Date With Real Estate Law In Virginia, Frederick W. Dingledy

Library Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

The State Of Exactions, Timothy M. Mulvaney

William & Mary Law Review

In Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, the Supreme Court slightly expanded the range of land use permitting situations in which heightened judicial scrutiny is appropriate in a constitutional “exaction” takings case. In crafting a vision of regulators as strategic extortionists of private property interests, though, Koontz prompted many takings observers to predict that the case would provide momentum for a more significant expansion of such scrutiny in takings cases involving land use permit conditions moving forward, and perhaps even an extension into other regulatory contexts, as well.

Five years on, this Article evaluates the extent to which …

Not Everybody Loves Raymond: How The Case Of Raymond V. Raymond Made A Shambles Of Interspousal Gift Presumptions And The Parol Evidence Rule In Matters Of Texas Community Property, Pamela E. George

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Body" Building: Expanding Arkansas's Standard For Holographic Wills, Andrew L. Lawson

Arkansas Law Review

In times past, entirely handwritten documents represented the vast majority of holographic wills. These homemade testaments included dense pages of text that the drafter diligently memorialized by hand, carefully crafted letters with testamentary directions to the author’s loved ones, and unassuming notes tucked away in a drawer, perhaps with names, proportions, and shorthand property descriptions. If a probate court encountered a holographic testament, odds were that it resembled these traditional examples.

The Short-Term Rental Economy In Rural Maine Communities: An Opportunity For Economic Growth Instead Of A Target For Regulation, Nicholas E. Anania

Maine Law Review

State and local governments across the country are grappling with the rise of short-term housing rentals and how to enact effective regulation regarding their use. The increase of short-term rentals (STRs) is almost entirely the result of online platforms that make STRs easy, efficient, and accessible. While STRs undoubtedly have positive economic outcomes for both property owners and local economies, there are also many negative repercussions which must be effectively regulated. Regulation in this area reflects differing priorities and viewpoints of states and municipalities. Specifically, rural Maine municipalities, many of which are popular seasonal destinations, face not only the challenges …

Municipal Annexation Reform In Texas: How A Victory For Property Rights Jeopardizes The State’S Financial Health, Julie Polansky Bell

St. Mary's Law Journal

Municipal annexation is the expansion of city boundaries. The greatest motivator behind municipal annexation is maintaining and improving economic prosperity of the annexing authority. The issue of annexation involves a balance of rights between property owners and municipalities of the state. Historically, Texas cities had broad annexation authority under an involuntary annexation scheme. However, in recent years the power has shifted as lawmakers have given property owners greater control over the annexation process. This trend culminated in the passage of the Municipal Annexation Right to Vote Act (MARVA) by the 85th Texas Legislature, which severely limits annexation authority.

Texas municipalities …

Due Process Supreme Court Rockland County

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tenant-Victims, Abusers, And No Way To Escape: The Need For An Amendment To The Florida Residential Landlord And Tenant Act, Adam Bent

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Under the Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, there is no right to early lease termination for tenants who must move to escape domestic, stalking, sexual, or dating violence. Florida’s failure to grant a right to early lease termination compounds the physical and psychological harm that victims face; abusers often live with the victim or know where the victim lives. In turn, abusers can return to the victim’s home and harm the victim; often, this results in serious physical harm or death. This Article explains why existing criminal and civil law does not adequately protect victims from their abusers. The …

Defining Fishing, The Slippery Seaweed Slope, Ross V. Acadian Seaplants Ltd., Rebecca P. Totten

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

In Maine, the intertidal zone has seen many disputes over its use, access, and property rights. Recently, in Ross v. Acadian Seaplants, Ltd., the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that rockweed seaweed in the intertidal zone is owned by the upland landowner and is not part of a public easement under the public trust doctrine. The Court held harvesting rockweed is not fishing. This case will impact private and public rights and also the balance between the State's environmental and economic interests. This Comment addresses the following points: first, the characteristics of rockweed and the …

Shells Of The Stores They Once Were: Returning Vacant Retail Property To Productive Use In The Midst Of The "Retail Apocalypse", Mairead J. Fitzgerald-Mumford

Notre Dame Law Review

This Note intends to address responses to retail vacancies by local governments in nonurban areas where land is relatively cheap and low-density development predominates. Its purpose is to assist these municipalities in motivating owners of vacant retail structures to return the property to productive use, thereby significantly reducing the number of empty retail shells that litter the landscapes of many communities. Alternatively, in cases where the owner is unable or unwilling to mitigate the negative externalities imposed on the community by a vacant retail structure, I propose solutions tailored to commercial properties that will allow local governments to intervene in …

Reconciling Police Power Prerogatives, Public Trust Interests, And Private Property Rights Along Laurentian Great Lakes Shores, Richard K. Norton, Nancy H. Welsh

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The United States has a north coast along its ‘inland seas’—the Laurentian Great Lakes. The country enjoys more than 4,500 miles of Great Lakes coastal shoreline, almost as much as its ocean coastal shorelines combined, excluding Alaska. The Great Lakes states are experiencing continued shorefront development and redevelopment, and there are growing calls to better manage shorelands for enhanced resiliency in the face of global climate change. The problem is that the most pleasant, fragile, and dangerous places are in high demand among coastal property owners, such that coastal development often yields the most tenacious of conflicts between public interests …

Domestic Asset Protection Trusts: A Debtor's Friend And Creditor's Foe, Nora Hood

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In 1997, Alaska enacted the first law in the United States legalizing Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (DAPTs), also referred to as self-settled asset protection trusts, as valid legal entities. Under traditional trust law, a debtor cannot shield assets from creditors by placing them in a trust for his or her own benefit. Alaska’s statute allowing DAPTs calls the traditional rule into question. This Note will examine use of DAPTs in the United States, including whether or not the recently amended Uniform Voidable Transaction Act would consider any transfer to a DAPT voidable per se, and discuss an approach that intends …

Air Banned And Barred: Why New York City's Affordable Housing Crisis Has No Room For Short-Term Rentals, Wilson Chow

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In August 2018, New York City passed a law that required short-term rental websites to disclose information about their users who host in the city. Airbnb, the largest short-term rental company, filed suit with hopes of having short-term rentals legalized. The law stems from the city’s efforts to amelioerate its affordable housing crisis. With over 8.5 million residents living in a tight housing market, New York City should not allow home owners or rental tenants to commercialize their property into de facto hotels that will likely provide accommodations to tourists. This Note will examine the recent law’s impact on New …