Land Use Planning and the Environment

A Casebook

610 pages | 8.5 x 11

In Land Use Planning and the Environment, the authors have dramatically revised and updated a classic, seminal casebook, Land-Use Planning. Designed primarily for the classroom, the book takes a comprehensive approach to the teaching of planning and zoning law, regulatory takings, and environmental topics.

Throughout the casebook, the authors identify and explore intersections between land use planning law and environmental regulation. They also identify the hidden environmental “agenda” behind exclusionary zoning, the impact of urban sprawl on clean air and critical habitats, and other interconnections.

Professors, students, and law and planning practitioners with strong backgrounds and exposure to “traditional” environmental law will find these intersections a wonderful opportunity to examine familiar topics from a fresh perspective. For other users, Land Use Planning and the Environment will serve as a valuable introduction to the environmental realm, a realm that, more than perhaps any other in American law, is subject to swift and dramatic changes that require the most current teaching materials.

Contents

Table of Cases
Acknowledgments
Preface

Chapter One: Planning and Law: Shaping the Legal Environment of Land Development and Preservation
I. Figures and Lies: Appreciating the Demographic Landscape of Our Increasingly Urbanized Society
II. Meanings and Means of Planning
A. The Plan: An “Impermanent Constitution”
B. The Structure of Local Government Planning
C. The Structure of Active Statewide Planning
III. The Evolution of Planning Theory, Tools, and Techniques
A. Urban Design
B. Planning for People
C. New Urbanism: Restoration and Sustainability
D. Updating the Planning Toolbox
IV. Putting Theory and Practice Together: The Legal Effect of the Plan
State ex rel. Chiavola v. Village of Oakwood
Pinecrest Lakes, Inc. v. Shidel
V. Environmental Regulation and Land Use Planning: Common Ground and Important Distinctions
VI. The Role of the Land Use Attorney

Chapter Two: The Limitations of “Sic Utere Tuo . . .”: Planning by Private Law Devices
I. Identifying Problems With Judicial Reconciliation of Discordant Uses of Land
II. Private Nuisance: Protecting the Use and Enjoyment of Private Land
A. Distant Origins
B. The Puzzle of Reasonableness
   Amphitheaters, Inc. v. Portland Meadows
C. A Delicate Social and Economic Balance
D. But Is It Substantial?
   Rodrigue v. Copeland
E. Right Use, Wrong Place
   Powell v. Taylor
F. Covenants That Outlaw Nuisances: Mere Surplusage?
   Turner v. Caplan
G. Remedying the Wrong: From Chancellors to Coase (and Beyond)
H. New Technologies at the Boundaries of the Common Law
   Prah v. Maretti
III. Public Nuisance: Invoking the Police Power to Protect the Community From Harm
   Rex v. White & Ward
IV. Complement or Confusion?: The Relationship Between Traditional Common-Law Causes of Action and Modern Land Use and Environmental Regulation
   Gill v. LDI
V. Constitutional Protections Against Police Power Regulations That Go “Too Far”
   Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon

Chapter Three: The “Euclidean” Strategy: Authorizing and Implementing the Legislative Districting of Permissible Land Uses
I. A National Movement
II. From Where Does the Power to Zone Derive?
   Respublica v. Philip Urbin Duquet
   Kline v. City of Harrisburg
III. Judicial Acceptance by a Conservative High Court
   Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co
   Nectow v. City of Cambridge
IV. Zoning in the State Judicial Laboratory
   Arverne Bay Construction Co. v. Thatcher
   Vernon Park Realty, Inc. v. City of Mount Vernon
   Rockhill v. Chesterfield Township
   Eves v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of Lower Gwyedd Township
V. The Euclidean Zoning Trio of Height, Bulk, and Use: Seeking Judicial Checks on Arbitrary Application of Zoning Tools
A. Is Zoning About Use, Ownership, or Both?
   Clemons v. City of Los Angeles
   Norwood Heights Improvement Ass’n v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore
B. Reading Between the Lines of the Zoning Code: Which Accessory Uses and Home Occupations Are Permissible?
   Marchand v. Town of Hudson
C. Do the Equal Protection, Due Process, and Takings Clauses Provide Adequate Protection From the Alleged Government Misuse of Land Use Powers?
   Ronda Realty Corp. v. Lawton
   Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas
   Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City
   Kelo v. City of New London

Chapter Four: Accommodating Change: Departures From (and Within) the Zoning Ordinance
I. Nonconforming Uses: Preexisting Uses That Won’t Fade Away
   City of Los Angeles v. Gage
   Pennsylvania Northwestern Distributors, Inc. v. Zoning Hearing Board of Township of Moon
   Parkview Associates v. City of New York
II. Amendments: Legislating (Or Is It Adjudicating?) Small-Scale Changes
   Kuehne v. Town Council of East Hartford
   MacDonald v. Board of Commissioners
   Fasano v. Board of Commissioners of Washington County
   Board of County Commissioners v. Snyder
   Mendota Golf, LLP v. City of Mendota Heights
III. Variances and Special Exceptions: From “Safety Valves” to “Steady Leaks”
   Richard Roeser Professional Builder, Inc. v. Anne Arundel County
   City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center
   Ames v. Town of Painter

Chapter Five: The Regulatory Takings Battleground: Environmental Regulation of Land Versus Private-Property Rights
I. A New Activism? Judicial Reactions to Regulatory Overreaching (and a Suggested Response)
II. Open Space Mandates
   Agins v. City of Tiburon
   San Diego Gas & Electric Co. v. City of San Diego
III. Mining Controls
   Keystone Bituminous Coal Ass’n v. DeBenedictis
IV. Floodplain Regulation
   First English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glendale v. County of Los Angeles
V. Coastal Zone Management
   Nollan v. California Coastal Commission
   Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council
VI. Alternative Transportation Methods
   Dolan v. City of Tigard
VII. Endangered Species Protection
   City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes
VIII. Wetlands Restrictions
   Palazzolo v. Rhode Island
IX. Watershed Protection
   Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
X. On and Beyond the Horizon: Global Warming and Rising Seas
   Gove v. Zoning Board of Appeals

Chapter Six: The Centrality of Exclusion: Legal Impediments to Keeping “Undesirable” People and Uses Out of the Community
I. Excluding People I: The Mount Laurel Experiment
   Southern Burlington County NAACP v. Township of Mount Laurel (Mount Laurel I)
   Southern Burlington County NAACP v. Township of Mount Laurel (Mount Laurel II)
   Hills Development Co. v. Township of Bernards (Mount Laurel III)
II. Excluding People II: Running the Federal Gauntlet
   Warth v. Seldin
   Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp.
   City of Cuyahoga Falls v. Buckeye Community Hope Foundation
III. Excluding Profane and Sacred Uses (and Those in Between)
   Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc.
   City of Ladue v. Gilleo
   Larkin v. Grendel’s Den, Inc.
   Westchester Day School v. Village of Mamaroneck

Chapter Seven: The Holy Grail: Managing Growth While Maintaining Affordability and Protecting Natural Resources
I. Parochialism or Sprawl Control?: The Challenge of Growth Management
II. Two Enduring Templates
   Golden v. Planning Board of Town of Ramapo
   Construction Industry Ass’n v. City of Petaluma
III. Shifting the Costs of Growth: Impact Fees
   St. Johns County v. Northeast Florida Builders Ass’n.
IV. Drawing the Line With Urban Growth Boundaries
   Hildenbrand v. City of Adair Village
V. Moratoria
   Wild Rice River Estates, Inc. v. City of Fargo
VI. (Anti-)Big Box Zoning: Problems With Targeting Certain Types of Development
   Griswold v. City of Homer
   Island Silver & Spice, Inc. v. Islamorada
VII. The Backlash: State Takings Legislation as a Check on Growth Management Abuses (Real and Perceived)
   Palm Beach Polo, Inc. v. Village of Wellington
   Corey v. Department of Land Conservation & Development