American Bar Association considering model land development act

[Whose Yur Planner]

Got this via Law of the Land Blog. Wonder if they will include any planners?

Under the leadership of Edward J. Sullivan, immediate past chair of the ABA State and Local Government Law Section, and a member of the Portland, Oregon, firm of Garvey Schubert Barer, the State and Local Government Law Section and the Administrative Law Section created a joint task force to focus on developing fair procedures for the enactment and administration of land use regulations. This multi-year effort, with input from Association members and others in the field, has resulted in a proposed model act that will be the subject of discussion in August 2008 as the matter is reviewed by the ABA House of Delegates.

Ed Sullivan eloquently explained in a recent Section newsletter:

About three-quarters of the states have adopted some version of the Standard State Zoning Enabling Act, which was drafted in 1926 by a blue-ribbon committee under the then Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, and set out the broad outlines by which local governments could adopt and administer zoning regulations. That same committee also drafted the Standard City Planning Enabling Act in 1928, which was adopted by three-quarters of the states. While the benefits of uniformity were apparent, the Standard Acts suffered from a number of deficiencies.

Among those deficiencies was a lack of detail on local procedures. First, it was unclear as to whether a zoning map change was, like the adoption of the overall map, a legislative act to which judicial deference was owed. Second, the Standard Zoning was vague, outdated, and was a problem to those seeking court assistance in assuring fair procedures. As a result, applicants found themselves in the midst of multiple layered hearings, facing inadequate procedures before local boards and commissions that were not always competent to handle decision making in a discretionary environment. Judicial review was uncertain, uneven, and costly.

On top of all this statutory confusion was the fact that the only U.S. Supreme Court cases in the land use field before 1972 were a quartet decided between 1926 and 1928, that used the now discredited doctrine of substantive due process, which has virtually disappeared in federal jurisprudence since 1940. Nevertheless, lawyers and state and lower federal courts all looked to, cited, and used this precedent, keeping substantive due process alive in the land use field when it had become a museum piece elsewhere.

There have been two major efforts to revise the Standard Acts, the first being that of the American Law Institute in its Model Land Development Code in the 1970s, which was used only by Florida. The second was the American Planning Association’s Growing Smart™ project, which has been adopted by several states.

Building on these efforts, under the leadership of Professors Daniel Mandelker of Washington University of St. Louis and Michael Asimow of the University of California at Los Angeles, the Joint Task Force developed model enabling legislation regarding procedures, using the Growing Smart™ final report as a template.

Here is the link: http://www.abanet.org/statelocal/doc...andUseCode.pdf

[Gedunker]

Thanks for posting this interesting topic!

Having recently been through the adversarial leagal process with a couple of zoning cases, I'm very interested in reading the report (but don't have time right now). Have you read it, Whose Yur Planner? Anybody else? Thoughts?

[Whose Yur Planner]

Originally posted by Gedunker

Thanks for posting this interesting topic!

Having recently been through the adversarial leagal process with a couple of zoning cases, I'm very interested in reading the report (but don't have time right now). Have you read it, Whose Yur Planner? Anybody else? Thoughts?

I've browsed it, but nothing in depth. They do bring up a valid point. The Standards act is from the 1920's is outdated now. My hope is that lawyers actually allow those in the planning profession to help shape it. Then again, I'm a Cubs fan and an enviromentalist, so I'm big into hopeless causes. BTW, thanks for the help in posting this.

[B'lieve]

Ah, very interesting (the Model Land Development Act, that is.) A quick skim suggests it mainly addresses permitting and appeal procedures; i'll have to set down and read it thoroughly later. Did those two old Standard Enabling Acts have a similar focus, or did they also address policy-type issues, like the kinds of uses that "should" be allowed in various general zoning categories?

[kay sieverding]

Well I looked up Colorado statutes and there are no Colorado state laws regarding variances or zoning that I could find at least. This is in a state that has a public university Colorado University that offers PHDs in urban planning. It seems that law is what the local home rule government says, which varies from year to year. Who you know and who you pay is what I believe is the law in Colorado, at least in Steamboat Springs.

You are off-topic. This is a warning: one more off-topic post in this thread and you will be suspended for 48 hours.