Land Use Law Commons^™

A Sand County Tax Shelter: Syndicated Conservation Easements And Their Toll On The American Taxpayer, Jimmy Godin

Utah Law Review

The conservation easement is a powerful tool for conserving private land in the United States and beyond. Among the many incentives for encouraging conservation easement donations are tax deductions, which largely depend on the conservation value of the donated land. But groups of wealthy taxpayers, accountants, attorneys, and appraisers are manipulating the conservation easement tax framework and receiving large tax deductions for conservation easements that are practically worthless in a conservation sense—transactions known as 'syndicated conservation easements.' Syndicated conservation easements have generated substantial controversy, in part because they cost American taxpayers billions of tax dollars annually. While the Internal Revenue …

Equitable, Affordable And Climate-Cognizant Housing Construction, Shelby D. Green

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The almost universal sentiment by a growing body of physical and social scientists is that climate change--with its floods, drought, heat, and cold-- portend losses of life, communities, property, and the rhythms of living. Some are more vulnerable to these impacts than others: individuals and the poor, who through official government policy and self-interest in the housing markets, have been relegated to live in poorly-constructed and poorly-placed structures--in the wake of ocean surges; in the path of strong winds; near hazardous and noxious facilities; stranded in urban heat islands. Failing to heed climate change omens will lead to a world …

Adaptive Rezoning For Social Equity, Affordability And Resilience, Shelby D. Green

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In this Article, I will show how the legacies of the institutional barriers to housing still persist to deprive many of the predicates for economic thriving and personal flourishing and how existing zoning philosophy cannot be justified by the need to protect health and safety. Righting the inequities of the past and of the present will require dismantling some of the institutions, apparently legitimate and well-meaning, but operating devilishly to create and perpetuate hardship and exclusion. This will require laying bare the institutions to reveal their ignoble essence. We need a radical overhaul of the historic zoning regime from one …

“Over-Stressed” Vines Produce No Wines, Whereas “Under-Stressed” Vines Mass Produce: Consolidation, Anti-Competition, And The Fall Of The Family Winery, Elyse Gottschalk

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Contentious Crop: Exploring The Regulatory Debate Of Solar Power Production Facilities In Kittitas County, Washington, Daphne Condon

All Master's Theses

Between 2010 and 2018, Kittitas County, Washington faced an influx of Solar Power Production Facility (SPPF) proposals that challenged its traditional rural land management governance. Despite state support of decarbonized energy, variegated interpretations of project permitting procedures induced heated contentions amongst stakeholders. To explore this, this research constructs a multijurisdictional legal framework for SPPF advancement. It uses these laws to divulge the permitting processes of three case study projects founded in Kittitas County’s renewable energy history: The Wild Horse Wind Facility, the Iron Horse Solar Project, and the Columbia Solar Projects. Through a mixed methodology of project archival analysis and …

Don't Bet The Farm In Litigation Before Considering Mediation: The Case For Agriculture Mediation Program Implementation, John Schmitz

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

The American farmer wears several hats throughout each day. Each is a farmer, mechanic, businessperson, chemist, accountant, and economist. An ill-timed dispute resulting in litigation can cause farmers to miss planting or harvesting, lose property, or be denied credit. Agriculture mediation provides a unique opportunity for disputes-both big and small, and centered around agriculture-to be resolved in a timely manner.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Enforcing Conservation Easements: The Through Line, Nancy Mclaughlin

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In enforcement cases, courts tend to treat conservation easements as if they were traditional servitudes. This poses a major risk to the effectiveness of conservation easements as land protection tools. If, for example, courts extinguish conservation easements via merger, or bar holders from enforcing them on laches or estoppel grounds, or interpret them in favor of free use of property, many of the conservation gains made in the United States over the last three decades could end up being ephemeral.

This article tackles this problem by providing a solid foundation for the next chapter in conservation easement enforcement. It clearly …

Protecting The Sublette Antelope Migration: An Analysis Of The Evolution Of The Legal Tools Employed To Protect The Sublette Antelope Herd From Fencing Obstructions, Colin Reynolds

Lewis & Clark Law Review

A biological marvel of the natural world, each year a small herd of pronghorn antelope—called the Sublette herd—migrate over 300 miles through a mix of public and private land in Wyoming. The Sublette herd’s annual movement constitutes one of the largest remaining “big game” migrations within the continental United States. Unfortunately, this migration faces an increasing number of obstacles threatening its long-term viability; chief among them being fencing obstacles. This Comment examines the evolution of the legal tools the federal government, the state of Wyoming, and everyday citizens can use to protect the Sublette herd’s migration.

Four Perspectives On A Sustainable Future In Nosara, Costa Rica, Greg Munno, Álvaro Salas Castro, Tina Nabatchi, Christian M. Freitag

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The town of Nosara on Costa Rica’s Nicoya peninsula is home to a vibrant community of diverse residents and is adjacent to an important turtle nesting site. However, tensions between lifelong residents, more recent transplants, visitors, and developers have increased as more of the world discovers this once-isolated haven. Climate change, income inequality, and alienation from a distant government apparatus have further complicated effective land-use planning and fractured social cohesion. Using a mixed-method approach of in-depth interviews (n = 67), Q methodology (n = 79), and public deliberation (n = 88), we explored residents’ priorities for the future of their …

Land Costs And New Housing, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

Restrictive zoning limits housing supply, which (according to the law of supply and demand) increases housing costs. But some commentators argue that more permissive zoning would actually increase housing costs by increasing land costs. This article points out that if the latter claim was true, land costs would have risen in places that allowed lots of new housing and fallen in more restrictive regions such as San Francisco. In fact, land costs increased in both types of metro areas. More importantly, overall housing costs increased more rapidly in more restrictive metros.

Intentional Discrimination And Haredi Jews, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Theft, Extortion, And The Constitution: Land Use Practice Needs An Ethical Infusion, Michael M. Berger

Touro Law Review

There are many ways in which property owners/developers interact with regulators. To the extent that texts and articles deal with the ethical duties of the regulators, they tend to focus on things like conflicts of interest. But there is more. This article will examine numerous other ways in which regulators may run afoul of ethical practice in dealing with those whom they regulate

Land Options For Housing: How New Property Rights Can Break Old Land Monopolies, Roderick M. Hills Jr., Shitong Qiao

Faculty Scholarship

The world today is afflicted by inequality of wealth created in large part by monopolistic ownership of land. Hong Kong, with the least affordable housing in the world, provides a particularly apt example of how property law protects such monopolies—and also how the creation of new property rights can break them up.

In this Article we use Hong Kong as a case study to suggest both a diagnosis and a solution to two aspects of property law that slow down the creation of housing. First, the division of property rights between private owners and the government creates a bilateral monopoly …

Does Democracy Justify Zoning?, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

One common argument for restrictive zoning is that zoning is more democratic than allowing landowners to build what they please. This article critiques that claim, suggesting that free markets are equally democratic because they allow for self-rule. Moreover, zoning is less democratic than other forms of government decisionmaking, because zoning hearings are often sparsely attended, and commenters at public meetings are unrepresentative of the public as a whole.

The Changing Landscape For Billboard Regulation, Daniel R. Mandelker

Scholarship@WashULaw

Expectation turns to the Supreme Court as it once more takes up a free speech dispute about billboard regulation. On June 28, 2021, the Court granted the City of Austin’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari in Reagan National Advertising of Austin, Inc. v. City of Austin, 972 F.3d 696 (5th Cir. 2020), in which the Fifth Circuit struck down the city’s ban on digitizing off-premises signs. Billboards have a long history of legal contention, and billboard intolerance is historic. Billboards have their place, but they can overpower the aesthetic environment and threaten traffic safety. Before they were regulated at the …

Understanding Urban Renewal: History Forgotten, Daniel R. Mandelker

Scholarship@WashULaw

Urban renewal is an important feature of urban life, but judicial, statutory, and constitutional backlash followed a U.S. Supreme Court decision that held constitutional the use of eminent domain to acquire land for redevelopment in an urban renewal project. Urban renewal got its start in the federal urban renewal program, which influenced state legislation but had a weak planning requirement and did not include blight as a requirement for urban renewal. This weakness was a factor in the problems that occurred in urban renewal and that created the backlash to the Supreme Court decision.

Tanggung Jawab Notaris Terhadap Pembuatan Akta Jaminan Fidusia Dalam Jumlah Yang Tidak Wajar Dengan Bantuan Sistem Milik Pt Sm, Emeralda Valerie

Indonesian Notary

Penelitian ini membahas mengenai tanggung jawab Notaris terhadap pembuatan akta jaminan fidusia dalam jumlah yang tidak wajar dengan bantuan sistem milik PT SM. Sistem membantu proses pembuatan akta jaminan fidusia dan pendaftaran dalam waktu singkat. Penggunaan sistem tidak mengindahkan syarat formal akta autentik. Penelitian ini mengangkat masalah mengenai autentisitas akta jaminan fidusia yang dibuat menggunakan bantuan sistem; tanggung jawab Notaris terhadap akta jaminan fidusia yang kehilangan autentisitasnya; dan peran Dewan Kehormatan Notaris (DKN) dalam pelanggaran atas batas kewajaran jumlah pembuatan akta. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian hukum normatif dengan studi dokumen dan wawancara. Analisis penelitian menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif. Hasil penelitian …

Peran Dan Tanggung Jawab Notaris Terhadap Akta Wasiat Yang Dibatalkan Oleh Hakim Yang Berisikan Erfstelling Atau Legaat Kepada Cucu (Studi Putusan Mahkamah Agung Nomor 295 Pk/Pdt/2020), Devka Octara Putera Akbar Girindrawardhana

Indonesian Notary

Penelitian ini terkait dengan akta wasiat umum yang dibatalkan oleh hakim dengan pertimbangan akta wasiat berbentuk wasiat fidei commis serta melanggar hak para ahli waris. Berdasarkan pada pengertian wasiat ialah surat yang berisikan kehendak yang dibuat oleh pewaris yang merupakan tindakan hukum yang ingin dilakukan apabila yang bersangkutan meninggal dunia dan dalam pembuatan akta wasiat umum ini dilakukan di hadapan seorang notaris yang mengakibatkan notaris juga dijadikan sebagai turut tergugat sebagai pihak yang membuatkan akta yang dianggap tidak sesuai dengan hukum di indoneisa. Permasalahan yang diangkat dalam penelitian ini adalah mengenai akibat batalnya akta wasiat umum yang dibatalkan oleh hakim …

Keabsahan Perjanjian Pengikatan Jual Beli Yang Objeknya Sama Dengan Perjanjian Jual Beli Dengan Hak Membeli Kembali (Studi Putusan Mahkamah Agung Republik Indonesia No. 509 K/Pdt/2020), Sem Sanjaya

Indonesian Notary

Penelitian ini membahas mengenai pengikatan jual beli di hadapan notaris, yang mana objek jual belinya sama dengan objek jual beli dalam perjanjian jual beli dengan hak membeli kembali. Jual beli dengan hak membeli kembali diakui oleh hukum perdata barat sebagaimana diatur dalam Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Perdata, namun eksistensinya tidak dikenal dalam hukum tanah nasional yang mengadopsi hukum adat. Dalam kaitannya dengan hukum positif, hak membeli kembali tidak diperkenankan apabila dimanfaatkan sebagai upaya kreditur untuk menguasai benda jaminan milik debitur. Adapun permasalahan yang diangkat dalam tesis ini adalah bagaimana keabsahan perjanjian pengikatan jual beli sebagai suatu akta otentik apabila dalam persidangan …