It’s been a couple of weeks, but we’re still trying to wrap our head around the Iowa Supreme Court’s opinion in Singer v. City of Orange City, No. 23-1600 (Dec. 20, 2024).
The court rejected a facial challenge under the Iowa Constitution’s search-and-seizure clause to a city ordinance requiring the owner of rental units
In what might be the most cliched “New York City” land use situation, check out the Appellate Division’s opinion in Coalition For Fairness v. City of New York, No. 2023-05338 (Dec. 5, 2024).
Want to convert your SoHo-NoHo artist live/work space to unlimited residential use? Be prepared to pony up and pay to the
‘Tis the season for TV holiday movies. Here’s one to add to your list, as it is on-brand for us dirt lawyers. “Christmas at the Drive In” is described thusly:
“A property lawyer works to prove that her town’s Drive In Theater, a local institution, is not closed down at the holidays, finding
98 years old, and still going (for better or worse)
On this day in 1926, the United States Supreme Court issued its landmark opinion in Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365 (Nov. 22, 1926).
You know this one (and can you call yourself a dirt lawyer if you don’t?
Lake Worth: the “lago” in Mar-a-Lago
You know his name. He’s taken on the City of Riviera Beach twice at the U.S. Supreme Court. And won both times. The houseboat that isn’t a boat. The government can’t shut you out from speaking your mind simply because you irritate them.
That’s right, it’s Fane
Here are the cases and other materials we discussed in today’s Section of State & Local Government Law Land Use group meeting on takings:
Justice Sutherland asks:
whadda mean, you don’t like apartments?
Check out this uncharacteristically-lengthy opinion from New York’s Appellate Division (and entire 6 pages!).
In Bennett v. Troy City Council, No. CV023-0709 (Oct. 24, 2024), the court invalidated a municipal upzoning (from single-family residential to Planned Development — which would permit apartments) because the city’s
Here’s the latest takings cert petition, in a case involving a California county’s refusal to rezone property back to its former zoning to allow residential development. The only uses permitted on the property presently are “scientific research facilities uses” and hiking trails. Or, at the petition puts it, “only public, park-like uses.” Pet. at
Our outfit (Pacific Legal Foundation) has put out a call for papers. on the topic of land use exactions and housing law. Honorarium included for accepted papers, and there will be a workshop to follow.
Here’s the description:
This workshop seeks to build on the result of Sheetz v. County of El Dorado and
A new student-authored journal article worth reading, Christine Dong, “Vacancy Taxes: A Possible Taking?,” 91 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1725 (2024).
Here’s the Abstract:
Vacancy taxes are an increasingly popular solution to the paradoxical problem of high housing demand coupled with high vacancy. Cities across the country facing housing shortages have either implemented