Linking land use with climate change and sustainability topped state legislative land use reform agenda in 2008. The only discernible state land use reform trends in 2008 have focused primarily on themes surrounding sustainability. Many states pursued statutory reforms to address the strong...

This article provides a critical examination of land use reform in New York. It is designed to educate newcomers to the political territory and dimensions involved in achieving land use reform. Additionally, this article illustrates a path of reform, which could result in a major overhaul of...

This article focuses on smart growth issues and opportunities in New York with a specific focus on regionalism. Part I of this article addresses the work of the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources to modernize state land use statutes. Part II examines Governor Pataki's Quality Communities...

This article is intended to shift attention away from the growing literature on state smart growth issues and focus on the continuing interest at the federal level with respect to land use planning and smart-growth issues. Although the article does not advocate a national land use policy, it...

This article examines the relationship of smart growth, Growing Smart and local environmental law with a particular focus on what states can do to empower and encourage the enactment of meaningful local environmental land use laws. Part I briefly discusses the history of land use reform in the...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...