A community benefits agreement (CBA) is a private contract negotiated between a prospective developer and community representatives. In essence, the CBA specifies the benefits that the developer will provide to the community in exchange for the community's support, or quiet acquiescence, of its...

Published just weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court handed down their controversial decision on Kelo v. City of New London in 2005, this article, in correctly predicting the outcome of the Supreme Court opinion, explores in Section I how the concept of what constitutes a public use has evolved...

With the rapid increase in the senior population due to the aging of the baby boomers, communities can no longer rely on federal and state government programs to deliver the necessary affordable housing stock to meet demands. Federal subsidized housing programs simply cannot add enough units to...

This commentary explores recent reported cases involving conflicts of interest from around the country to provide planners and land use attorneys with practical insights into how courts assess these conflicts within the context of planning and zoning. Conflicts involving consultants, board...

Environmental justice goes to the core of traditional land use decisions: choosing sites for locally unwanted land uses (geographic equity); the process for deciding where to site these unwanted land uses, including the location and timing of public hearings (procedural equity); and sociological...

With almost ten years of nationwide dialogue and experimentation with the legal implementation of smart growth concepts at the state and local levels, this paper pauses to consider whether and to what extent success has been realized. The one certainty in this dynamic intersection of land...

This article provides an overview of some of the strategies that have been used to increase the use of small-scale renewables, focusing on non-commercial renewable energy systems installed at the home or business level. The article begins in Part II with a discussion of various renewable energy...

With a significant volume of litigation focused on the subject of nonconforming uses, this article offers practical strategies for drafters of local zoning ordinances and laws on the subject of abandonment, discontinuance and amortization of nonconforming uses

Following allegations of corruption and unethical conduct on the part of both wind farm developers and municipal officials, the New York Attorney General unveiled a voluntary code of ethics for wind energy companies. Perhaps recognizing the gaps in municipal ethics laws and regulations at the...

People have been trying to exclude chain stores from their communities for decades. This includes quot;big-boxquot; chains - the behemoth retailers that prefer an architecture of rectangular, single-story unadorned structures reaching 200,000 square feet or more - as well as national and...