T is for Takings
Planning historian Laurence C. Gerckens, FAICP, provides a short overview of key American “takings” law cases.
An understanding of basic land use law principles is essential to the job of the planner — and planning commissioner.
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Planning historian Laurence C. Gerckens, FAICP, provides a short overview of key American “takings” law cases.
Planning historian Laurence Gerckens provides an overview of the origins of zoning in America.
An overview of some of the regulatory approaches to dealing with McMansions, including a look at the design review process implemented in Stonington, Connecticut.
Planner and Planning Commissioners Journal columnist Greg Dale explores the question of how to balance community needs and individual property rights.
Takings claims can create enormous potential liability for local governments. Respected land use lawyer and planner Dwight Merriam provides an overview of basic takings principles, and addresses questions planning commissioners often have.
Can local government take private property away from its citizens and develop it for something that will generate more tax revenue? On June 23, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court said “yes.”
Regulating land use practices near streams can significantly reduce the run-off of sediment and other pollutants. How a system of “overlay zones” can help protect stream corridors, lakeshores, and watersheds.
Attorney John Ronayne provides a primer on how courts approach “takings” cases.
Attorney Terence Boga reviews the basic legal principles involved in zoning for adult businesses.
Attorney Robert Widner offers a primer on the basics of zoning variances.
Overlay zones can provide increased flexibility in local zoning codes. Attorney and planner Elizabeth Garvin covers the basics of using overlay zones.
Interested in controlling signs and billboards? Thinking about an ordinance regulating adult entertainment? Law professor Alan Weinstein provides a planning law primer on the First Amendment’s free speech clause and its relationship to local zoning regulation.
No person shall be deprived of property “without due process of law.” A primer on what this Constitutional requirement means for the process planning commissions and zoning boards need to follow in handling land use permit applications.