Land use law

There’s a cautionary tale in the Florida District Court of Appeal’s opinion in Key Haven Associated Enterprises, Inc. v. Fla. Dep’t of Envt’l Protection, No. 1D2025-0660 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. Aug. 26, 2026), which held that a regulatory takings claim was barred by the statute of limitations. There, the owner applied to develop land in and once it received the final “no” from the State, sued for a taking. All good, right? After all, your claim isn’t ripe until the reviewing authority has given its final answer on whether or how the property might be used.
Continue Reading Between Scylla And Charybdis: Your Lucas Claim May Be Too Early … Or Too Late

Check this out, a new (to us, at least) article from lawprof Adam J. MacLeod, “Vested Rights and the Presumption of Lawful Use,” 2 Tex. A & M J. of Law & Civil Governance (2026). See if reading the Abstract doesn’t make you want to read the entire piece…
Continue Reading New(ish) Article: Adam J. MacLeod, “Vested Rights and the Presumption of Lawful Use,” 2 Tex. A & M J. of Law & Civil Governance (2026)

Worth a read: our colleague Sam Spiegelman’s latest piece that, as the title indicates, offers a theory to return Euclid and zoning laws to their harm-prevention roots, or abandon Euclid entirely. In “‘One Hundred Years of Solicitude’: Fixing the Nanny State of Zoning at Euclid’s Centennial,” 42 Touro L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2026) (working draft available at SSRN here), Sam urges a return to the “sic utere approach,” and limited to harm prevention, not social engineering.
Continue Reading New Article: Sam Spiegelman, “‘One Hundred Years of Solicitude’: Fixing the Nanny State of Zoning at Euclid’s Centennial,” 42 Touro L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2026)

A couple of weeks ago, we (along with nationally renown zoning law expert lawprof Michael Wolf), offered our thoughts on “Euclid at 100,” the most most (in?)famous zoning case, now coming up on its 100th anniversary. The session was recorded and the Federalist Society has now posted it, so if you couldn’t make it live, here’s your chance.
Continue Reading Euclid at 100: The Past, Present, and Future of Zoning (Recording)

Tomorrow, Friday, August 28, 2026, at 12 noon Eastern Time, the Federalist Society will be producing a one-hour web-based program, “Euclid at 100: The Past, Present, and Future of Zoning in America.”

Along with land use expert Professor Michael Wolf, we shall be speaking about the most (in?)famous zoning case, now coming…

It’s that time of the year again. Fall’s-a-coming, and that means that in a few days, we’re back at the William and Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia to teach two courses: Eminent Domain and Property Rights (W&M is one of the few law schools in the country that offer a course in eminent domain, just compensation, and takings) -and Land Use Controls (an especially hot topic at the moment).
Continue Reading Back To School For Dirt Law @ William & Mary, Season 9

Worth subscribing: a newer (the archives go back to this post, late 2025) from lawprof Stephen R. Miller, named “Euclid Land.” The title should give you a hint about what the topic is, “a conversation about land use reform with law professor, urban planner, and author Stephen R. Miller.”…
Continue Reading New(ish) Substack: “Euclid Land” (Prof. Stephen Miller)

Here’s the latest in our continuing series of dirt law pilgrimages, where we visit the site of some of the more important cases in our favorite area of law. As every dirt lawyer knows, you can see photos, read descriptions, and study plat maps. But when it comes to understanding about the property at issue, nothing substitutes for getting your shoes in the dirt on-site, seeing the area for yourself, smelling the air. Walking the earth.
Continue Reading Property Pilgrimage: Nectow v. City of Cambridge (1928)

It was on this day in 1928 when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its second most famous decision about zoning, Nectow v. City of Cambridge, 277 U.S. 183 (1928). We say “second” because everyone knows that the first is the Court’s decision issued just two years earlier which generally upheld comprehensive use, height, and density regulations as a valid exercise of the government’s police power to regulate property uses to further the public health, safety, welfare, or morals. See Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U S. 365 (1926).
Continue Reading You Don’t Look A Day Over 98, Nectow v. City of Cambridge