A builder contracts to buy land for a development project and comes to realize either before orshortly after taking title that its proposed development project has diminished in value or even become worthless as a result of unanticipated government regulations. The builder wishes to dissolve the...

Home sellers in the 1950s had no obligation to mention property defects to their buyers as long as they resisted the temptation to conceal latent defects or to lie about the condition of the property. By the mid-1960s the consumer-protective norms applicable to the sale of goods were being...

In order to prevent the avoidable environmental degradation that often accompanies new development, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires state and local decision makers to consider the potential environmental impacts of their discretionary approvals, even when they are voting...

This paper describes how redevelopment in California came to an end with the California Supreme Court's decision in California Redevelopment Association v. Matosantos and how redevelopment could be resuscitated. The first part of the paper highlights the precipitating events leading up to the...

Cities large and small across the country are utilizing redevelopment powers to become land developers, transforming underutilized areas into desirable commercial and mixed use enclaves, improving the appearance of the city and shoring up sagging tax bases. In using their eminent domain powers...

Demographers predict that the US population will grow by one hundred million in 2050. Newcomers will settle in suburbia, particularly to the fast growing big cities of the south and west, cities in the resurgent heartland of the country, exurbia and ‘superstar cities'.Communities eager to...

When economic development or urban redevelopment is funded by tax increment financing (TIF), local government officials, in their haste to pump up local tax receipts, may become overzealous in displacing some private land users to make way for private developers They are also tempted to hog...

Having saturated the less populated heartland of America, Wal-Mart is carrying its supercenter expansion program to major urban areas. Wal-Mart supercenters merge discount retail with full service grocery stores under the same roof. Because supercenters compete head-on with unionized...