A worthwhile article in the latest edition of The Urban Lawyer about settling land use disputes with processes that may not adhere strictly to the usual permit consideration procedures. Here’s the summary from the ABA’s site:
Paul D. Wilson, Of Synagogues and Nude Juice Bars: Can a Municipality Settle Land Use Litigation Without a …
To all those who attended today’s seminar, thank you. Here are the links to the cases I mentioned. From the morning session on Case Law Update:
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While not exactly on the usual topics of this blog, the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Card v. City of Everett, No. 05-35996 (Mar. 26, 2008) is worth a read. It involves the question of whether the placement of a reproduction of the Ten Commandments (the tablets, not the movie) on the grounds of Old…
In a case at the intersection of Kelo-style eminent domain and First Amendment church-state issues, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in In re Condemnation of 1839 North Eighth Street, No. 36 EAP 2006 (Dec. 29, 2007), held that the taking of property designated as “blighted” pursuant to a redevelopment plan, and for a nominal…
Visit the New Jersey Eminent Domain Law blog and read “RLUIPA, Redevelopment, and Eminent Domain,” a report about Lighthouse Institute for Evangelism, Inc. v. City of Long Branch, No. 06-1319 (Nov. 27, 2007), a recent decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware…
In a case discussed earlier here and here, Congregation Etz Chaim has filed a Petition for Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc in the Ninth Circuit in The League of Residential Neighborhood Advocates v. City of Los Angeles, No. 06-56211 (Aug. 21, 2007).
In that opinion, a three-judge panel of the Ninth…
In Westchester Day School v. Village of Mamaroneck, No. 06-1464-cv (Oct. 17, 2007), the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). The decision has been analyzed extensively by others, so I won’t repeat the details, just provide some links to…
The Ninth Circuit panel summarizes its decision:
A Latin cross sits atop a prominent rock outcropping known as “Sunrise Rock” in the Mojave National Preserve (“Preserve”). Our court previously held that the presence of the cross in the Preserve—which consists of more than 90 percent federally-owned land, including the land where the cross is situated—violates…
In The Access Fund v. United States Dep’t of Agriculture, No. 05-15585 (Aug. 27, 2007), the Ninth Circuit upheld the prohibition by the US Forest Service of recreational rock climbing at the culturally and religiously significant Cave Rock on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe. The rock is many things to many people:
To…
In The League of Residential Neighborhood Advocates v. City of Los Angeles, No. 06-56211 (Aug. 21, 2007), which I first discussed here a few days ago, the Ninth Circuit invalidated an agreement between the city of Los Angeles and a congregation to settle the congregation’s federal RLUIPA claim. As part of the settlement, the…
