Land Use Law Commons^™

Deals In The Heartland: Renewable Energy Projects, Local Resistance, And How Law Can Help, Christiana Ochoa

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Informed by original empirical research conducted in the Midwestern United States, this Article provides a rich and textured understanding of the rapidly emerging opposition to renewable energy projects. Beyond the Article’s urgent practical contributions, it also examines the importance of formalism and formality in contracts and complicates current understandings.

Rural communities in every windblown and sun-drenched region of the United States are enmeshed in legal, political, and social conflicts related to the country’s rapid transition to renewable energy. Organized local opposition has foreclosed millions of acres from renewable energy development, impeding national and state-level commitments to achieving renewable energy targets …

Developing American Wine Law – Lessons From European Wine Regulation In The Face Of Climate Change And Growing Demand, Kyle Amendt Shimomura

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Corporate Governance And Gender Equality: A Study Of Comply-Or-Explain Disclosure Regulation, Aaron A. Dhir, Sarah Kaplan, Maria Arabella Robles

Seattle University Law Review

In 2020, the Nasdaq Stock Market filed a proposal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking permission to adopt a board diversity-related disclosure requirement for its listed companies. In 2021, the SEC approved the proposal, thus entrenching Nasdaq’s position as the most significant stock exchange to date to mandate listing rules that reflect the intention of diversifying corporate boardrooms. Nasdaq’s movement into the diversity space is not the first attempt to address homogeneous boards in the U.S. In 2009, the SEC adopted a rule requiring publicly traded firms to report on whether they consider diversity in identifying director nominees. …

Judicial Ethics And The Eradication Of Racism, Dontay Proctor-Mills

Seattle University Law Review

In 2020, the Washington Supreme Court entrusted the legal community with working to eradicate racism from its legal system. Soon after, Washington’s Commission on Judicial Conduct (hereinafter the Commission) received a complaint about a bus ad for North Seattle College featuring King County Superior Court Judge David Keenan. Along with a photo of Judge Keenan’s face, the ad included the following language: “A Superior Court Judge, David Keenan got into law in part to advocate for marginalized communities. David’s changing the world. He started at North.” The Commission admonished Judge Keenan for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct, in part …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Why Corporate Boards Should Include Lgbtq+ People, Jeremy Mcclane, Darren Rosenblum

Seattle University Law Review

Corporate boardrooms sit at the heart of most of society’s most consequential decisions but fall far short of the diversity of our society. The current movement toward board diversification aims to remedy the underrepresentation of marginalized groups on corporate boards. More recently, some efforts have included LGBTQ+ people, even though the basis for their inclusion on corporate boards remains largely unstated. This Article examines both the normative and instrumental bases for LGBTQ+ inclusion in board diversity initiatives, articulating unspoken assumptions and linking LGBTQ+ people to the broader inclusion effort. In so doing, it begins to surface the unique issues LGBTQ+ …

Singling Out Single-Family Zoning, John Infranca

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

Single-family zoning is increasingly under attack in both the popular press and scholarly journals. Critics highlight how zoning districts that allow only detached, single-family homes exacerbate racial and economic segregation and perpetuate wealth disparities. Although a few local and state legislatures have eased regulations to permit denser development in existing single-family neighborhoods, such neighborhoods remain the dominant component of American zoning. The power of local governments to impose zoning derives from the police power—traditionally understood as the power to legislate in furtherance of health, safety, and the public welfare. These traditional concerns seem to provide little justification for prohibiting duplexes …

Growth ≠ Density: Zoning Deregulation And The Enduring Problem Of Sprawl, Christopher Serkin, Kelsea Best

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

According to its many critics, zoning bears significant responsi- bility for the housing crisis in America andfor promoting unsustain- able development patterns. Reformers argue that zoning reduces the supply of new housing and therefore drives up prices in thriving communities. Zoning also increases carbon emissions by restricting density in the urban core and promoting carbon-intensive, land- consuming, automobile-dependent sprawl in single-family suburbs. A growing chorus calls for relaxing zoning limits in order to pro- mote growth in the urban core as a response to the twin crises of housing costs and climate change. Relaxing zoning limits will al- most certainly …

Forests Up In Smoke: An Analysis Of The Washington State Legislatures 2016-2021 Actions To Combat And Reduce Wildfires, Mckaylin Hughes

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

“Forests Up in Smoke: An Analysis of the Washington State Legislatures 2016-2021 Actions to Combat and Reduce Wildfires” examines and scrutinizes recent legislation passed by the Washington State Legislature that is specifically focused on preventing and combatting wildfires across the State of Washington. Over the last decade, Washington State has experienced several of the worst wildfire seasons in the state’s history, and with this increase in wildfires, Washingtonians need more action from the State Legislature to manage, protect, and restore our forests.

One way Washington can take a more proactive approach to combatting wildfires is by utilizing alternative methods for …

America Is Watching, But Are They Listening?, Nancy Kartos

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The note examines the persistent issue of violence against Black people, particularly at the hands of police, and how social media has become a significant factor in hindering accountability. It draws historical parallels between past racial violence, such as lynchings during the Jim Crow era, and contemporary police brutality, highlighting how social media amplifies yet polarizes public discourse. The analysis critiques the legal system's failure to hold police accountable, with a focus on the doctrine of qualified immunity, and explores how political polarization exacerbates the problem. The note ultimately argues that without addressing these systemic and technological challenges, meaningful reform …

New York Environmental Legislation In 2022, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan

Faculty Scholarship

Several significant environmental bills were enacted by the New York legislature and signed by Gov.Kathy Hochul in 2022, and several others were vetoed. As a result of measures enacted last year, New York will see $4.2 billion invested in environmental protection, restoration, climate resiliency and clean energy projects; potential disproportionate and inequitable impacts on disadvantaged communities will become a key factor in determining whether environmental permits are issued; and apparel containing intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) will no longer be sold in the state. In addition, important changes were made to New York’s brownfield and wetlands laws. These …

Cuba's Energy Future: Options Based On Renewables And Non-Carbon-Based Sources, Colin Crawford

FIU Law Review

My intention is to research and write on article on Cuba's energy future. Specifically, I plan to consider the options for a sustainable energy future using renewable energy sources and not carbon-dependent sources. This analysis will require both an examination of the island's historical energy challenges as well as consideration of the options for developing a sustainable energy infrastructure with international governmental (e.g. UN, World Bank etc.) and regional governmental (e.g. EU) support- an analysis that will also require consideration of the island nation's socialist political system and its willingness to engage internationally. The topic is one, clearly, with implications …

Corporate Consolidation Of Rental Housing & The Case For National Rent Stabilization, Brandon Weiss

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Rental housing in the United States is increasingly owned by corporate landlords that operate under a different set of incentives, behind a level of anonymity previously unavailable, and pursuant to practices that often exacerbate an already precarious housing landscape for tenants. Marketsensitive and nuanced rent stabilization laws have reemerged at the state and local level as a viable policy option to help regulate escalating rents and prevent tenant displacement. These laws, when well drafted, can address outdated critiques of strict rent caps and can complement alternative approaches, like those of the politically popular Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) movement, which …

The Case Against The Case For Zoning, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

Critiques an article defending zoning. In particular, the article notes that a traditional justification for zoning is that it conserves community character. This argument fails because when people priced out of exclusive neighborhoods move to other areas, they change the character of the receiving area. Similarly, the argument that zoning prevents infrastructure from being overloaded overlooks the fact that if people priced out of one area move to a cheaper area, the latter area's infrastructure is equally burdened. A third argument is that zoning allows local governments to push the costs of growth to developers- but the sluggish growth of …

Approaches To Sea Level Rise And International Law: A Comparative View Of Emerging Policy Responses By The African And The Americas Regions, Charles Chernor Jalloh

Articles

No abstract provided.

Intentional Discrimination And Haredi Jews, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

A discussion of case law involving discrimination suits by Haredi Jews, especially in the land use context.

Using Youtube To Explain Housing, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

In 2021, the author ran for Borough President of Manhattan, New York. The author tried to his scholarship into his campaign by producing over twenty Youtube videos, most of which addressed land use and housing policy. The article describes the videos, and evaluates their usefulness.

Commentary: Dan Mandelker—A Land-Use Legacy Unlike Any Other, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

It is an honor to share thoughts about the importance of Professor Daniel Mandelker’s legacy to the field of land-use and zoning law. The word “legacy” means, among other things, “something that is part of your history or that remains from an earlier time.” At ninety-two, he was the longest actively teaching land use law professor in the United States. His academic career began in 1949 when he was appointed an Assistant Professor at Drake Law School, with relatively short stints at the University of Indiana Law School and Columbia Law School, followed by his appointment at Washington University School …

New York’S Professor John R. Nolon: A National Leader In Land Use Law With A Large Impact Across The Hudson Valley And The State Of New York, Patricia E. Salkin, Samuel Stewart

Scholarly Works

As Professor John R. Nolon steps down from active law teaching, this article reflects not only on his contributions as a national thought leader in the field, but also on how he has a hand in changing the land use and conservation patterns in New York while promoting affordable housing and combating discrimination.

Zoning And The Bar Exam, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), which develops American bar examinations, recently released a proposed outline of the subjects to be tested on future examinations. NCBE's property outline omits zoning law. This article argues that the NCBE's proposal is unwise, because zoning law is more frequently litigated than many subjects included in the NCBE outline.