Land Use Law Commons^™

Changing Property In A Changing World: A Call For The End Of Perpetual Conservation Easements, Jessica Owley

Journal Articles

Increasing environmental problems, including those associated with climate change, highlight the need for land conservation. Dissatisfaction with public methods of environmental protection has spurred conservationists to pursue private options. One of the most common private land conservation tools is the conservation easement. At first blush, this relatively new servitude appears to provide a creative method for achieving widespread conservation. Instead, however, conservation easements often fail to accommodate the reality of our current environmental problems. These perpetual (often private) agreements lack flexibility, making them inappropriate tools for environmental protection in the context of climate change and our evolving understanding of conservation …

Conservation Easements At The Climate Change Crossroads, Jessica Owley

Journal Articles

The essence of a conservation easement as a static perpetual restriction is coming to a head with the understanding that the world is a changing place. This demonstration is nowhere more dramatic than in the context of global climate change. In response to this conflict, users of conservation easements face the decision of either (1) changing conservation easement agreements to fit the landscape or (2) changing the landscape to fit the conservation easements. Both of these options present benefits and challenges in implementation. Where conservation easement holders’ ultimate goal is to keep a maximum number of acres under protection from …

The Enforceability Of Exacted Conservation Easements, Jessica Owley

Journal Articles

The use of exacted conservation easements is widespread. Yet, the study of the implications of their use has been minimal. Conservation easements are nonpossessory interests in land restricting a landowner’s ability to use her land in an otherwise permissible way, with the goal of yielding a conservation benefit. Exacted conservation easements arise in permitting contexts where, in exchange for a government benefit, landowners either create conservation easements on their own property or arrange for conservation easements on other land.

To explore the concern associated with the enforceability of exacted conservation easements in a concrete way, this article examines exacted conservation …

Citizen David Tames Gas Goliaths On The Marcellus Shale Stage: Citizen Action As A Form Of Dispute Prevention In The Internet Age, Elisabeth N. Radow

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

"Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink." This could soon become the lament of millions of people who derive their drinking water from sources located near the latest natural gas boom site in the East, known as the "Marcellus Shale" region. Drilling is underway in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, but not yet in New York. The focus here is New York.

2010 Annual Symposium: Keynote Speech, Joseph A. Siegel

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Thank you very much to the Board of the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution for inviting me here today. I am honored to be speaking at this conference and participating in an event with so many distinguished experts in the conflict resolution field. I spend most of my time working on the challenging issue of climate change and, as we all know, energy is both a significant part of the problem and a significant part of the solution. I often have the opportunity to speak at and attend conferences on climate and energy and I like to monitor over time …

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 …

Adult Websites And The Top-Level Domain Debate: Icann's Adoption Of .Xxx Dras Adult-Industry Ire, Robert D. Richards, Clay Calvert

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Association Of Adult Businesses With Secondary Effects: Legal Doctrine Social Theory, And Empirical Evidence, Alan C. Weinstein, Richard Mccleary

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Making A List And Checking It Twice, David Spratt

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Globalizing Conservation Easements: Private Law Approaches For International Environmental Protection, Gerald Korngold

Articles & Chapters

For the past thirty years nonprofit organizations have revolutionized open space and habitat conservation in the United States through the use of conservation easements. Pursuant to legislation, nonprofits may now acquire and hold perpetual restrictions that prevent alteration of the subject land’s natural and ecological features. These rights can be held “in gross,” with the result that the nonprofit need not own land near the restricted property and can be based in a distant location.

As a result of this success, proponents in more recent years have advocated the export of “conservation easements” from the United States to other countries. …

Enough Rope: Why United States V. White Plume Was Wrong On Hemp And Treaty Rights, And What It Could Cost The Federal Government, Lori Murphy

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Unjust Enrichment Claim For The Mistaken Improver Of Land, Hang Wu Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In recent years, the law of unjust enrichment especially in the context of restitution for mistake has developed at an unprecedented pace. The modern jurisprudence of the law of restitution for mistake is exemplified by the causative mistake approach, i.e. if the claimant's mistaken belief causes the claimant to enrich the defendant, the claimant is prima facie entitled to succeed. The principal research question in this paper is whether the causative mistake approach is applicable to a claimant who mistakenly improves the land of the defendant. Recent case law and the most prominent academic treatise in this area suggest that …

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 …

Urbanization And Land Surface Temperature In Pinellas County, Florida, Bruce Coffyn Mitchell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the early 1800's, many studies have recognized increased heat in urban areas, known as the urban heat island (UHI) effect, as one of the results of human modification to the natural landscape. UHI is related to differences in land surface temperature (LST) between rural areas and urban areas where factors of the built environment such as the thermodynamic capacities of materials, structural geometry, and heat generating activities cause increased storage and re-radiation of heat to the atmosphere. This thesis examines the correlation between factors of urbanization and differences in land surface temperature (LST) in the subtropical climate of Pinellas …

Structural Obstacles To Settlement Of Land Use Disputes, Stewart E. Sterk

Articles

In many states, legal doctrine discourages settlement of land use litigation by requiring that any settlement undergo the same review process as the decision that led to the litigation in the first place. The problem is exacerbated by broad standing rules that allow a variety of parties to challenge the settlement. As a result, municipalities and developers often have an incentive to litigate to judgment, even though both parties would prefer a negotiated or mediated solution.

On the other hand, permitting developers and municipalities to settle litigation behind closed doors could impair both the quality and the legitimacy of the …

Cityland – Vol. 7, No. 11, Center For New York City Law

CityLand - 2010

The December 2010 issue of CityLand highlights significant land use, zoning, and preservation developments across New York City. The City Council modified Extell’s Riverside Center proposal on the Upper West Side, increasing on-site affordable housing and school space. Supportive housing projects were approved in the East Village and Prospect Lefferts Gardens, with community concerns addressed through design revisions. The Board of Standards & Appeals granted variances for a three-building affordable housing project in East Tremont, Bronx, citing site constraints from an abandoned railway. Landmarks designated Paul Rudolph’s penthouse at 23 Beekman Place and two Federal-era rowhouses on Grand Street, while …

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 …

Cityland – Vol. 7, No. 10, Center For New York City Law

CityLand - 2010

The November 2010 issue of CityLand covers major land use, zoning, and preservation developments across New York City. The City Council approved modified rezonings in Auburndale, Oakland Gardens, and Hollis Hills in Queens, and contextual rezonings in the Far West Village, East Village, North Tribeca, and Central Bronx. The Culver El housing project in Borough Park was modified to retain manufacturing zoning and extend affordability terms. The Department of Sanitation withdrew a controversial garage lease proposal in East Williamsburg. The Board of Standards & Appeals upheld the Trump SoHo permit, rejecting a community challenge over floor area calculations. Landmarks designated …

Cityland – Vol. 7, No. 9, Center For New York City Law

CityLand - 2010

The October 2010 issue of CityLand covers major land use and preservation developments across New York City. The City Council approved the large-scale rezoning of Rosedale in Queens to preserve its low-density character, and adopted the CarShare Text Amendment to regulate off-street parking for car-share vehicles. Hour Children’s affordable housing project for formerly incarcerated women in Ravenswood was approved. The City Planning Commission advanced rezonings in North Tribeca, West Harlem (Sugar Hill), and East Tremont in the Bronx, all aimed at promoting mixed-use development and affordable housing. The Board of Standards & Appeals granted vested rights to a Staten Island …

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.