Land Use Prof Blog

Reviving Rural America Toward Policies for Resilience Author by Ann M. Eisenberg

Ann (Annie) Eisenberg (West Virginia COL) has recently published Reviving Rural America Toward Policies for Resilience. Details below:

We often hear that there is no way out of the modern economic and political tensions that fall along geographic lines. The media regularly declares that rural America is dying and that rural voters are driven only by anger. This narrative of hopelessness centers on the role that markets have played in abandoning rural regions and populations. In Reviving Rural America, Ann M. Eisenberg analyzes our society's laws and policies' role in the urban/rural divide to make the case for hope. She demonstrates how law and policy, as well as decision-makers acting on their own subjective values, have contributed to modern rural challenges. Each chapter debunks a common myth about rural people, places, and policies, helping reveal how we got to where we are now. Ultimately calling for our laws and policies to steward rural America holistically, as a collective resource for all, this book envisions an alternative, more resilient and more just future.

Reviews & endorsements

‘Eisenberg provides a sweeping condemnation of those tending to ridicule the rural in politics and practice, while she gives us hope for a common path forward.' Loka Ashwood, University of Kentucky

‘This important and timely book tells a story of rural America that we rarely hear. It is a story that fosters greater understanding of the structural forces that shape rural livelihoods, and thus also makes space for sympathy for the populations at the mercy of those forces.' Lisa Pruitt, University of California, Davis School of Law

‘Expansive in range, meticulously researched, and expertly argued, Reviving Rural America represents a much needed antidote to a spate of myths and misconceptions that justify the continued neglect of the rural US. In chapters that take on myths ranging from rural decline, to radicalism, to obsolescence, she illustrates how rural America's struggles are neither natural nor inevitable, but rather the direct outcomes of decades of policies and choices that resulted in the exploitation of rural resources and underinvestment into rural communities, often in the name of market supremacy and neoliberal ideals. The book goes beyond explaining why rural areas are struggling or why rural people are frustrated, to propose a framework for creating just and sustainable policy solutions for the reinvigoration and renewal of rural America. Most importantly, Reviving Rural America makes the case for why rural America matters and is worth saving. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the challenges faced by rural places and people in the twenty-first century.' Jennifer Sherman, Washington State University

Litwak and Sullivan on Oregon Land Use Law

Jeffrey Litwak (Lewis & Clark) and Edward Sullivan (Portland State) recently published the 2025 edition of their book, Oregon Land Use Law: Cases and Materials, which is available here. Here is their abstract:

Land use law is a staple in most law schools and in undergraduate and graduate planning programs throughout the United States. Occasionally, students may take a comparative land use class, and inevitably, Oregon’s innovative and unique land use planning program is taught. Students learn that Oregon enacted 19 statewide planning goals, that local governments must enact comprehensive plans and land use ordinances consistent with those goals, and that the Land Conservation and Development Commission must approve those plans and ordinances as consistent with the goals. Students learn that Oregon has established urban growth boundaries with meaningful criteria for changing those boundaries. And students learn that Oregon has a one-of-a-kind Land Use Board of Appeals to decide appeals of land use decisions. No other state in the United States has this package of statewide planning elements.

Making the Oregon way work takes ongoing effort and support of the governor, the legislature, the citizen volunteers of the Land Conservation and Development Commission and its advisory committees, the professional staff of the Department of Land Conservation and Development, other state agencies, the governing bodies, planning commissions, staff, and citizen volunteers of Oregon’s 241 cities and 36 counties, myriad special districts, nongovernmental entities, and private planning practitioners. And making the Oregon way work requires the interpretation, deference, and decisions from Land Use Board of Appeals and Oregon’s appellate courts.

Oregon’s land use planning program is more than 50 years old. There is a lifetime of reading historical and current state statutes and regulations and their legislative histories; past and current state and local administrative documents, plans, ordinances, orders, land use decisions, and other final actions; Land Use Board of Appeals and appellate court decisions; and law review and professional planning journal articles and scholarly work from Oregon’s universities and law schools, and beyond. This casebook is a teaching tool for planning and law students; we do not intend it to be a comprehensive resource on all topics relating to Oregon land use. Consequently, we do not cover all land use and related topics and we do not treat the topics in this book in the depth that each deserve if writing on them individually, and we do not treat all topics with the same level of detail. Our choices of what we cover in this book and the depth in which we cover them reflect the topics that one or both of us teach or our use of other sources and teaching tools.

Robbing the TIF to Pay the School Board?

Some local Chicago news that may be of interest... the Chicago schools are facing a budget shortfall of an estimated $500 million. The teachers' union is proposing to "close" the TIFs, which are numerous in the city, and send the money to the school board.

While the proposal seems to be gaining ground politically, I have seen little discussion of the potential legal pitfalls.

More on the story here: https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-teachers-union-cps-tif-funding-budget-deficit/

Stephen R. Miller, Northern Illinois University COL ([email protected])

 

 

 

Films for land use lovers

The Chicago Architecture Center's Architecture and Design Film Festival has a bunch of great films that any good land use lover might want to see. Some of them are already out on streaming services...

Here is a link to the festival list, and schedule with links below.

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

**Opening night pre-screening reception will be held on Wednesday, January 31, 2024**

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

• 7:00 PMWe Start With the Things We Find (2023)Gand Lecture Hall TheatreBUY
• 7:15 PMWe Start With the Things We Find (2023)Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery TheatreBUY

Thursday, February 1, 2024

• 5:45 PMTerra Forma / House of Adaptation (2023 | 2023)Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery TheatreBUY
• 6:00 PMWomen in Architecture / Clodagh (2022 | 2022)Gand Lecture Hall TheatreBUY
• 8:30 PMRadical Landscapes (2022)Gand Lecture Hall TheatreBUY
• 8:45 PMThe Promise: Architect B.V. Doshi (2023)Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery TheatreBUY

Friday, February 2, 2024

• 6:00 PMThe Genius of the Place: The Life and Work of Geoffrey Bawa (2023)Gand Lecture Hall TheatreBUY
• 6:15 PMWomen in Architecture / Clodagh (2022 | 2022)Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery TheatreBUY
• 8:30 PMEmotional Architecture 1959 / Soviet Bus Stops (2022 | 2022)Gand Lecture Hall TheatreBUY
• 8:45 PMPoint of Origin / Veins (2023 | 2023)Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery TheatreBUY

Saturday, February 3, 2024

• 1:00 PMBest in the World (2022)Gand Lecture Hall TheatreBUY
• 1:15 PMThe Genius of the Place: The Life and Work of Geoffrey Bawa (2023)Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery TheatreBUY
• 3:00 PMRehab (from rehab) (2023)Gand Lecture Hall TheatreBUY
• 3:15 PMLife, Assembled (2022)Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery TheatreBUY
• 5:15 PMThe Mies Van der Rohes (2023)Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery TheatreBUY
• 5:30 PMMy Architect: A Son's Journey (2004)Gand Lecture Hall TheatreBUY
• 8:30 PMEmotional Architecture 1959 / Soviet Bus Stops (2022 | 2022)Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery TheatreBUY
• 8:45 PMModernism, Inc. (2023)Gand Lecture Hall TheatreBUY

Sunday, February 4, 2024

• 1:45 PMModernism, Inc. (2023)Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery TheatreBUY
• 2:00 PMSkin of Glass (2023)Gand Lecture Hall TheatreBUY
• 4:00 PMThe Mies Van der Rohes (2023)Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery TheatreBUY
• 4:15 PMRehab (from rehab) (2023)Gand Lecture Hall TheatreBUY
• 6:30 PMThe Power of Utopia -- Living with Le Corbusier in Chandigarh (2023)Gand Lecture Hall TheatreBUY
• 6:45 PMPoint of Origin / Veins (2023 | 2023)Drake Family Skyscraper Gallery TheatreBUY

Midwest, West and Back Again

After 23 years living in the West--first 11 years in San Francisco, then 12 years in Idaho--my wife and I decided we'd head back to the Midwest where we grew up. 

I've been debating whether to make this public or not, in large part because I continue to teach at Idaho Law and was visiting at Iowa Law in the fall. It's complicated. My carbon footprint is too large. But it works in a way.

I wanted to start up the blog again for several reasons, perhaps mostly because I wanted a forum for my musings about the differences between places. Particularly, I wanted to write more about living in a big American city. This is my third: first New York City for three years after undergraduate; then San Francisco for 11 years; and now...Chicago for six months. Before I started writing about Chicago and the Midwest again, I thought it might make sense to explain why. And so, that is why.

I still have plenty to say about the West. I just might now have something to say about the Midwest, too.

Feb 9 - New Frontiers in Enviro Law @ UC Law SF

Excited to be part of this event...

 

Apply to be Part of Study Space, Creating Resilient Cities, in Rio de Janeiro

We are now accepting applications for Study Space XIII:  Creating Resilient Cities:  Disaster Preparedness, Climate Change Adaptation and Public Health Responses in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from June 16-21, 2024.  This weeklong workshop is being organized by the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth at Georgia State University College of Law in conjunction with FGV Direito Rio. 

Through daily lectures from leading experts and guided site visits, topics discussed throughout the week will include:

• Disaster preparedness and mitigation
• Housing and human rights
• Climate change, urban forests and biodiversity
• Land use law and urban revitalization
• Pandemic preparation and recovery

The cost of the program is $975 and includes scheduled group meals, speaker honoraria and site visits.  Hotel, airfare, and airport transportation must be purchased separately. 

For more information, contact Karen Johnston at [email protected] or Ryan Rowberry at [email protected] or visit our website.

Applications are due February 23, 2024 but early application is encouraged and space is limited.  No payments are required at the time of application.  Apply online at:  Online Survey Software | Qualtrics Survey Solutions

Download the Study Space Brazil brochure

What does it take to convert office space to housing?

A new report by SPUR, the San Francisco Planning & Urban Research organization, provides some great ideas for what it takes to convert downtown office space into housing.  The report differs from some previous studies because--importantly--it takes into account developer viability of the projects.  The take-away is that it won't be easy to do this in many markets, but it's important work:  SPUR notes that San Francisco's downtown office vacancy rate is 28% and there are up to 11,000 units that are commercially viable.  BUT...it will take a lot of policy re-invention, including:  changes to the planning and building codes; changes to impact fees; and maybe even some developer incentives and tax breaks (think TIF and property tax breaks for affordable units) to make developers begin to do this type of development at scale.

Feb 2 - Disaster Law & Policy: Global Perspectives @ GSU Law

Register for Disaster Law & Policy: Global Perspectives, a virtual (and in person) event on Thursday, February 2^nd from 9 am - 2 pm EST celebrating the release of The Cambridge Handbook of Disaster Law and Policy edited by John Marshall (GSU Law), Ryan Rowberry (GSU Law) and Susan Kuo (Univ. of SC).  Expert panelists will provide a comprehensive overview of the ways in which laws and policies at every level – public and private – leave us vulnerable to major disaster events.  They will also offer legal solutions that governments, nonprofits, businesses, and citizens can pursue to help make communities more resilient.

Please feel free to share this event with your network, faculty colleagues and students. Virtual attendance is free.

Register at:  Disaster Law & Policy: Global Perspectives Symposium (touchnet.com)  

This event is sponsored by the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth at Georgia State University College of Law. For questions, contact Karen Johnston at [email protected].

The schedule for the day is as follows:

February 2 Agenda 

  

• Registration (coffee and light breakfast), 8:30 – 9:00 am  
• Opening remarks, 9:00 - 9:15 am  
• Dean LaVonda N. Reed, Georgia State University College of Law 

• Session 1, 9:15 - 10:15 am  
• Title:  Disaster Law & Policy –Perspectives from the Global South 
• Moderator: Susan S. Kuo, J.D., Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
  Professor of Law & Class of 1969 Chair for Teaching Excellence, University of South Carolina School of Law 
• Panelists: 
• Livhuwani David Nemakonde, Ph.D., Associate Professor, North-West University School of Geo- and Spatial Sciences, Potchesfstroom Campus, South Africa  
• Romulo Sampaio, SJD, LLM, Professor of Law, Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) School of Law, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

• Break, 10:15 - 10:30 am  
• Session 2, 10:30 - 11:30 am  
• Title:  Disaster Law & Policy– European Perspectives 
• Moderator: Ryan Rowberry, J.D., Professor and Janice C. Griffith Chair in Law, Co-Director for the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth, Georgia State University College of Law 
• Panelists: 
• Asli Ceylan Oner, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Izmir University of Economics Department of Architecture, Turkey 
• Juli Ponce Sole, Ph.D., Professor of Law, University of Barcelona 
• Lunch, 11:45 - 12: 30 pm  
• Lunch Speaker, 12:15 - 12:30 pm 
• Title: Current Trends in Disaster Law & Policy 
• Lisa Grow, J.D., Howard W. Hunter Professor of Law, Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark Law School 

• Session 3, 12:45 – 2:00 pm 
• Title: Disaster Law & Policy – U.S. Perspectives from the Frontlines 
• Moderator: John Travis Marshall, J.D., Associate Professor, Co-Director, Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth Georgia State University College of Law 
• Panelists: 
• Arthur C. Nelson, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning and Real Estate Development, University of Arizona and Presidential Professor Emeritus of City and Metropolitan Planning, University of Utah  
• Edward Thomas, J.D., President Emeritus of the Natural Hazard Mitigation Association and Member of the ABA Disaster Response and Preparedness Committee Mr. Thomas manages a private practice of Law, Edward A. Thomas Esq., LLC. 
• Katie Hill, J.D., Research Professional IV, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia 

AALS - See you at the Property / S&L / CED sections' housing panel and Property WIP

I am going to be at AALS in San Diego for the first time in a long while.  I'm speaking at the Property / State & Local Government / CED sections' panel on housing on the 6th and also commenting on a junior work-in-progress on the 7th.  I'm arriving mid-day on the 5th and leaving early on the 8th.  But I never know how to make good use of my time at AALS.  If you will be there and want to grab coffee or a drink, or maybe just head to the beach...email me!

Here are the panel details...

 

January 6, 2023 10:00 am - 11:40 am Event: 2023 Annual Meeting Session Type: Section Programs Session Capacity: N/A Hotel: N/A Room: Marriott Grand Ballroom 13 Floor: Lobby Level, North Tower   The pandemic highlighted longstanding tensions with respect to who decides where and how we live. For example, local housing officials adopted disparate strategies to pandemic-era challenges, state legislatures intervened to protect the interests of tenants or landlords, and federal eviction and foreclosure moratoria and assistance funding dramatically impacted housing rights and costs. Variable approaches to housing at different levels of government is mirrored by variable reactions and responses to other hot button issues (racial equity, climate change, infrastructure, education, etc.).Key to resolving the issues is deciding who the decisionmakers should be   State and Local Government Law's business meeting held on Friday, January 6, 2023 at 7:00 am.     The Section held a virtual business meeting prior to the Annual Meeting.  Session Speakers   Andrea J Boyack Organization: Washburn University School of Law Moderator Rebecca M. Bratspies Organization: City University of New York School of Law Speaker from a Call for Papers Jade A Craig Organization: Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law Speaker from a Call for Papers Nestor M. Davidson Organization: Fordham University School of Law Speaker from a Call for Papers Stephen R Miller Organization: University of Idaho College of Law Speaker from a Call for Papers

 

January 7, 2023 3:00 pm - 4:40 pm Event: 2023 Annual Meeting Session Type: Section Works-in-Progress Session Capacity: N/A Hotel: N/A Room: San Diego Ballroom Salon A Floor: Lobby Level, North Tower This works-in-progress program brings together junior (pre-tenure or teaching for seven or fewer years) with senior property law scholars to give the junior scholars an opportunity to present and receive useful feedback on papers not yet submitted for publication. In addition to having the opportunity to share work through the panel, at least one senior scholar will be designated as a reviewer who will have read the paper ahead of time and will be prepared to lead a discussion on the paper at the program.

Session Speakers   Andrea J Boyack Organization: Washburn University School of Law Moderator Jade A Craig Speaker from a Call for Papers Danielle D’Onfro Organization: Washington University in St. Louis School of Law Speaker from a Call for Papers Elizabeth Elia Organization: University of New Mexico School of Law Speaker from a Call for Papers Paula A Franzese Organization: Seton Hall University School of Law Speaker from a Call for Papers Meghan Morris Organization: University of Cincinnati College of Law Speaker from a Call for Papers Daniel Rosenbaum Organization: Michigan State University College of Law Speaker from a Call for Papers

 

I will be commenting on Prof. Rosenbaum's article.  Excited for all of this!  See you in San Diego...

2022 Federal Land Use Law & Litigation...now edited by me!

It has been out for several months, but I wanted to note that I took over the Federal Land Use Law & Litigation treatise this year.  Although the book is dated 2022, it is current through August, 2022 and is updated to include all U.S. Supreme Court cases through the end of the term.

The treatise is a real gem for those looking for a review of federal land use issues including takings, but also a far wider assortment of claims that most lawyers tend to associate with land use in federal courts.  The "gem" nature of the treatise stems from the fact that it was started by Dan Mandelker some 40 years ago and most recently edited by Alan Weinstein and Brian Blaesser.  I'm just trying to keep up with their legacy!

Here are the notes of major changes for 2022 from the treatise's preface.

 

Preface

This 2022 edition of the treatise discusses significant developments particularly in the areas of sign regulation, religious institutions, gun regulation, housing, and environmental law affecting land use development.  

There were considerable changes in constitutional law that emerged from the U.S. Supreme Court’s last term; accordingly, background sections of the treatise are amended throughout.  In many instances, the long-term effects of the Court’s decisions on land use law remain to be seen.  Next year’s edition will be able to more fully sketch the impact since most of this term’s major decisions were released only weeks prior to this edition going to print.

Here is a brief description of major changes in this edition in order of the treatise’s organization:

Substantive Due Process.  Chapter 2 has new content discussing the potential impact of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org. on substantive due process.  Although Dobbs concerned the right to an abortion, dicta in the case cast doubt on the theory of substantive due process generally, as well as several specific fundamental rights previously recognized.  That dicta implicates the viability of substantive due process claims even in the land use context, including the right to privacy, which is covered in Chapter 1. 

Second Amendment.   Chapter 2 provides a review of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n, Inc. v. Bruen, which affects how courts interpret gun regulation under the Second Amendment going forward.  In Bruen, the Court rejected means-ends analysis in favor of a textual and historical approach to regulation, which will change analysis under future Second Amendment land use cases.  Land use cases in which the Second Amendment has been applied thus far have primarily focuses on shooting ranges, and such cases will now be subject to the new analysis driven by the historicity of such regulations now required by Bruen.

Physical Invasion Takings.  Chapter 3 offers a review of the most important set of takings cases this year:  those invoking the Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid theory of physical invasion.  Thus far, most of the Cedar Point Nursery circuit court cases have tested the theory against novel landlord-tenant provisions without much success.  More traditional land use cases are sure to follow in coming years.

Retaliation.  Chapter 4 adds a new section on First Amendment retaliation capturing several circuit court opinions on land use matters this year deciding such claims.

Sign Regulation.  Chapter 5 has several substantial new sections reflecting the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in City of Austin, Texas v. Reagan Nat'l Advert. of Austin, LLC.  An important question remaining after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Ariz. decision was whether cities sign regulations that differentiated between on-site and off-site signs were content-based and thus must withstand strict scrutiny.  The City of Austin decision held that such on-site/off-site sign regulations are not content-based, and thus intermediate scrutiny applies.  Also of importance, City of Austin repudiated the “read-the-sign” rule for deciding whether a sign regulation was content neutral, which some lower courts had interpreted Reed to mandate.  Although the Court remanded for the application of intermediate scrutiny, and thus did not provide more guidance on what that analysis should look like, the decision permits on-site and off-site regulations to continue for now, and clarifies the test for determining whether a sign regulation is content-based from Reed.

Free Exercise Clause and Establishment Clause. Chapter 7 has new content updating constitutional developments related to the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses governing religious expression.  The Court’s three religion cases decided thus far in 2022—Kennedy v. Bremerton Sch. Dist., Shurtleff v. City of Bos., Massachusetts, and Carson v. Makin—collectively appear to have substantially altered the interpretation, and relationship, between the religion clauses of the First Amendment.  The Court announced the death of the Lemon Test for determining whether an Establishment Clause violation had occurred and replaced it with a historical analysis test.  The Court emphasized a harmony between the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses based upon a review of their context in history.  This re-frames the relationship between the clauses, which was one the Court had previously viewed as one of tension.  Land use cases applying these cases had not been decided as of this writing, but will need to grapple with this new constitutional landscape.

Clean Air Act, Greenhouse Gases, and the Major Questions Doctrine.  Chapter 8 also has substantial new content updating major developments in environmental law affecting land use development.  Chief among these is the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in W. Virginia v. Env’t Prot. Agency, which utilized the major questions doctrine to strike down the primary tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which had claimed its regulatory authority from the Clean Air Act.  Greater detail on the history of this case, including prior regulatory approaches from the Obama and Trump Administrations that form the background to the ruling, also are added to this treatise.

NEPA Reform.  There were also a number of important rules promulgated by the Biden Administration this year that affect environmental regulation.  These include, as of this writing, the promulgation of the first of two phases of final rules on the National Environmental Policy Act re-establishing pre-Trump Administration regulations for conducting environmental review of federal projects under the Act.  The new NEPA final rule also addresses categorical exclusions, and separate new guidance addresses how greenhouse gas emissions should be addressed in NEPA analysis, all of which is covered in Chapter 8.  

Endangered Species’ Habitat.  The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a proposed rule that would redefine habitat under the Endangered Species Act and, for the first time, takes climate change into account in establishing that habitat.  The proposed rule is reviewed in Chapter 8.

Waters of the United States.  A proposed rule was promulgated to return the definition of “waters of the United States” in the Clean Water Act to its meaning during the Obama Administration.  Before the rulemaking could be completed, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to Sackett v. EPA, a case that will give the Court a chance to revisit whether Justice Scalia or Justice Kennedy’s opinion in Rapanos should prove controlling in evaluating what constitutes “waters of the United States” within the Clean Water Act’s statutory scheme.  The Sackett case, which is on its second trip to the U.S. Supreme Court though with a different certified question, is scheduled to be heard in October, 2022.

Fair Housing.  Chapter 9 offers a new section focusing on the Fair Housing Act’s Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH) Rule.  The chapter also covers the new proposed rule from the Biden Administration to restore the pre-Trump era definition of “discriminatory effects,” which has importance in the viability of disparate impact claims under the Fair Housing Act.

Railroad Preemption of Land Use Permitting.  Chapter 10 offers a review of a longstanding federal statute not previously covered, which is the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995.  The ICCTA provides categorical preemption for railroads and their related facilities from “preclearance requirements,” which include land use discretionary permitting.  Several recent cases are also reviewed.

In addition to these substantial changes, new citations and descriptions of important circuit court cases update the remainder of the treatise.

I hope that readers will find this latest edition of the treatise easy to us, and helpful in understanding the impact of federal law on the regulation of land use and real estate development.  Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions, comments, or proposals for updating or revising the treatise.  My email is [email protected].

Stephen R. Miller

University of Idaho College of Law

Boise, Idaho

 

Georgia State Law Review seeks energy law symposium issue submissions

The Georgia State Law Review invites you to submit articles or essays for Vol. 39, Issue 4 for publication in our Symposium Edition. We are looking for topics regarding energy law. This year’s Symposium strives to investigate the legal and regulatory infrastructure in place to handle the transition to renewable energy. Potential topics could include, but are not limited to, environmental justice in access to renewables, siting and permitting changes, and the realistic legal landscape that non-renewable energy industries must now face. Authors whose articles are selected will be invited to present their papers at the Law Review’s annual symposium on March 31, 2023, and their articles will be published in our Symposium edition in the Spring of 2023. 

While we welcome submissions of any length, our preference is for articles around 10,000 words (including footnotes) so that we are able to cover a wide array of issues. Submissions and queries should be sent either via Scholastica to the Georgia State Law Review, or directly to the Law Review Symposium Editors, Dori Butler and Paul-Michael Haley, at [email protected]. 

The submission deadline is November 11, 2022, however we will begin reviewing submissions on September 12, as so we encourage early submissions.

For more information, please see our website here. Please reach out if you have any questions.

Program Manager-Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute, Sturm College of Law

The Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute is hiring a project manager.  More details here:  https://jobs.du.edu/en-us/job/495700/program-managerrocky-mountain-land-use-institute-sturm-college-of-law 

New edition of Mandelker's Free Speech Law for Signs Handbook

Dan Mandelker has just released a new edition of his Free Speech Law for Signs Handbook.  You can download a copy below:

Download Free Speech Law for Signs Handbook

Supreme Court of North Carolina eliminates legislative/adjudicative distinction for applying Nollan/Dolan/Koontz

In what I believe is a first since the U.S. Supreme Court denied cert in the CBIA v. San Jose case, a court has held that the Nollan/Dolan/Koontz exactions tests apply to legislative as well as adjudicative actions.  In its August 19, 2022 decision, the Supreme Court of North Carolina wrote in Anderson Creek Partners, L.P. v. Cnty. of Harnett, 2022-NCSC-93, ¶¶ 50-51:

In addition, we are not persuaded that the applicability of the test enunciated in Nollan and Dolan depends upon whether the challenged condition was imposed administratively or legislatively. As at least one member of the Supreme Court has recognized, the lower courts have reached differing conclusions with respect to this issue, which the Supreme Court has yet to address. See Cal. Bldg. Indus. Ass'n v. City of San Jose, 577 U.S. 1179, 136 S.Ct. 928, 194 L.Ed.2d 239 (2016) (Thomas, J., concurring in the denial of certiorari).¹³ After carefully reviewing the relevant decisions, we agree with plaintiffs that nothing in Nollan, Dolan, or Koontz supports a view that those decisions only apply in the context of “administrative” decisions,¹⁴ with the Supreme Court having consistently described the “unconstitutional conditions” doctrine as “preventing the government from coercing people into giving up” a constitutional right rather than preventing a particular branch of government from acting in a particular manner. Koontz, 570 U.S. at 604, 133 S.Ct. 2586 (emphasis added); see also Dolan, 512 U.S. at 385, 114 S.Ct. 2309 (noting that “the government may not require a person to give up a constitutional right—here the right to receive just compensation when property is taken for a public use—in exchange for a discretionary benefit conferred by the government where the benefit sought has little or no relationship to the property”) (emphasis added).

*19 12¶ 51 Admittedly, the fact that the challenged “capacity use” fees were imposed as the result of a legislative, rather than an administrative, process, may tend to suggest that those fees “more likely represent[ ] a carefully crafted determination of need tempered by the political and legislative process rather than a ‘plan of extortion’ directed at a particular landowner.” Curtis, 1998 Me. 63, ¶ 7, 708 A.2d 657 (citing Dolan, 512 U.S. at 387, 114 S.Ct. 2309). In light of that logic, the General Assembly's recent decision to enact the Public Water and Sewer System Development Act, S.L. 2017-138, 2017 N.C. Sess. Laws 996, which provides uniform guidelines for the implementation of water and sewer system development fees on a prospective basis, suggests that, in the future, such fees are likely to satisfy the “essential nexus” and “rough proportionality” requirement enunciated in Nollan and Dolan. Even so, as a constitutional matter, we believe that a decision to limit the applicability of the test set out in Nollan and Dolan to administratively determined land-use exactions would undermine the purpose and function of the “unconstitutional conditions” doctrine. See James Burling & Graham Owen, The Implications of Lingle on Inclusionary Zoning and other Legislative and Monetary Exactions, 28 Stan. Envtl. L. J., 397, 438 (2009) (observing that “[g]iving greater leeway to conditions imposed by the legislative branch is inconsistent with the theoretical justifications for the doctrine because those justifications are concerned with questions of the exercise [of] government power and not the specific source of that power”); David L. Callies, Regulatory Takings and the Supreme Court: How Perspectives on Property Rights Have Changed from Penn Central to Dolan, and What State and Federal Courts Are Doing About It, 28 Stetson L. Rev. 523, 567–68 (1999) (finding “little doctrinal basis beyond blind deference to legislative decisions to limit [the application of the test enunciated in Nollan and Dolan] only to administrative or quasi-judicial acts of government regulators”); see also Town of Flower Mound v. Stafford Ests. Ltd. P'ship, 135 S.W.3d 620, 641 (Tex. 2004) (expressing skepticism that “a workable distinction can always be drawn between actions denominated adjudicative and legislative” and noting that the conditions under consideration in both Nollan and Dolan were imposed pursuant to authority granted by state law). At the end of the day, we conclude that the applicability of the test enunciated in Nollan and Dolan hinges upon the fact that the government has demanded property from a land-use permit applicant, either through a dedication of land or the payment of money, as a pre-condition for permit approval rather than the identity of the governmental actor that imposed the challenged condition. See Koontz, 570 U.S. at 619, 133 S.Ct. 2586.

If anyone knows of another post-CBIA v San Jose case where a court reached the same holding as in North Carolina, I'd love the cite!

 

 

Idaho Law hiring for a tenure-track Housing Clinic position

Hi,

The University of Idaho College of Law is hiring for a tenure-track Housing Law Clinic professor, which would be located in Boise.  I am happy to discuss with folks, in addition to the search committee director.  The announcement is below.

Housing Clinic

The University of Idaho College of Law seeks to hire a tenure-track faculty member to direct a Housing-Related Law Clinic. The successful candidate could be an entry-level Assistant Professor rank on a tenure track, or an Associate or Full Professor rank with tenure, depending on the candidate's qualifications. This position involves directing a housing-related clinic, which could include landlord-tenant, reentry, veterans, or benefits issues. The faculty member must supervise the clinic, teach one additional course on a related subject, mentor and advise students, produce scholarship, and conduct community outreach. Applicants must have a J.D. from an accredited school or the equivalent; a distinguished academic record; five years of post-J.D. practice or clerking experience; active membership in at least one state bar and ability to obtain Idaho State Bar admission as a supervising attorney by November 1, 2023; a record or the promise of teaching and scholarly excellence. Preferred qualifications include more than two years of post-J.D. practice or full-time teaching experience in the law clinic setting and/or serving clients in housing-related matters. This position is located in Boise. Interested candidates should submit an application, including a statement of demonstrated commitment to fostering an inclusive community, at https://www.uidaho.edu/human-resources. Please direct questions to Samuel Newton, the search committee chair, at [email protected]. Priority will be given to applications received by September 15, 2022.

Job Posting - Fellow in Urban Design and Housing - Yale Urban Design Workshop

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
Fellow in Urban Design and Housing
Yale Urban Design Workshop
Note: For immediate hire
Posted July 29, 2022

Yale School of Architecture seeks applications for a Fellow in Urban Design and Housing at the Yale Urban Design Workshop, to begin immediately. Intended for an early- to mid-career urban planner, urban designer, architect, lawyer, or real estate developer interested in new, synthetic approaches to affordable housing and neighborhood development in an interdisciplinary, academic, clinical setting, the 2022 Fellow will help design, support, and coordinate the clinical activities of the Yale Urban Design Workshop (YUDW), the School of Architecture's community design center. Central to this fellowship will be support of the UDW's new affordable housing clinic, entitled Housing Connecticut: Developing Healthy and Sustainable Neighborhoods. Offered in collaboration with the School of Management, School of Law, and the Connecticut Department of Housing (DOH), this clinic will pair interdisciplinary groups of graduate students with local non-profit housing developers in Connecticut, asking them to develop novel but practical solutions to the affordable housing crisis, while also addressing other pressing neighborhood challenges, such as community health, air quality, environmental equity, or resilience. Working under the supervision of the Yale Urban Design Workshop's faculty directors and affiliates, the fellow will develop supporting research, mapping, supervise student clinical projects, engage with community members, politicians, policy makers, and local non-profits, and provide ongoing logistical and administrative support both during and after the clinic ends. It is expected that the fellow will assist in the development of one or more academic white papers on the clinic and assist in the publication of results. Clinical projects will have the opportunity for fast-track funding from DOH, and the fellow will provide ongoing implementation support to the local non-profit partners as projects progress. This may include supervising student independent studies during the spring 2023 semester. The fellow will also collaborate with UDW faculty and affiliates on independent research and writing in the areas of affordable housing, urban and neighborhood history, neighborhood development, and social and environmental equity, and will develop research on architectural clinical models in support of the development of additional UDW clinical courses and projects. In addition, there may be opportunities for the Fellow to be involved in other ongoing community-based UDW projects.

The ideal candidate will have the following qualifications: * Advanced professional degree in planning, law, management, urban design, or architecture from an outstanding program. * Minimum 3 year's professional experience in community design and/or development, neighborhood or urban planning, affordable housing, or related fields, working in particular with underserved communities. * Experience in urban research and description, including geography, history, demographics, culture and economics; publication preferred * Interest in working in an intensive academic environment with graduate students; some prior teaching experience preferred * Strong research, organizational, and interpersonal skills * Collaborative and team-oriented, while also independent and self-motivating * Strong written and communication skills in English * Experience developing maps and research using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) preferred but not required * Fluency in Spanish preferred but not required

This is a full-time position, and physical presence in New Haven is required. Evening and weekend hours may be required to attend community meetings and events. The salary for this position is $63,000, plus full Yale benefits. The fellow will be appointed at Yale at the faculty rank of Instructor with an initial appointment of one year, renewable for one additional year. The fellow will be located at the off-campus offices of the Yale Urban Design Workshop, and will be part of the larger Yale community. Letters of interest, along with resume or CV, and portfolio if applicable, should be sent to Andrei Harwell, [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position has been filled.

Anika Singh Lemar
Clinical Professor of Law | Yale Law School
P.O. Box 209090
New Haven, CT 06520-9090
T: (203) 432-4022 | F: (203) 432-1426
E: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>

Prospects for a Unified Approach to Housing Affordability, Housing Equity, and Climate Change

I just posted on SSRN an article I wrote for the Vermont Law Review, which might be of interest to some of you.  The article is "Prospects for a Unified Approach to Housing Affordability, Housing Equity, and Climate Change," and is available here.  The abstract is below:

This symposium Article investigates competing tensions among housing activists today and proposes several solutions around which those activists could unite that may also be attractive to the development community. First, the Article defines and investigates three types of housing advocates operating today: the affordability activists, which are primarily concerned with increasing housing affordability; the equity activists, which are concerned with providing homes in areas that assist with de-concentrating poverty and its ill effects; and the environmental activists, which today focus increasingly on reducing climate change effects through land use planning. While these activists have overlapping goals, they are often at odds on policy prescriptions, which this Article analyzes. The Article then investigates how the dissonance between the housing activists can be resolved by considering development through the lens of the entity that is charged with building housing: the private developer subject to real-life market demands. Several proposals are discussed, as well as why certain fashionable concepts of the day--such as eliminating single-family districts--are unlikely to result in significant new housing production.

April 21-22 - Zoom in to Idaho Law Review symposium on growth and development in the American West

Joins us for a discussion on growth and development in the American West!  Congratulations to Idaho Law Review symposium editors Charlotte Cunnington, Natalie Lussier, and Victoria Wright for putting together a great mix of local and national leaders.  The panels are all online, and I will be moderating the two panels on Thursday.  (And if you are an Idaho attorney, get 5.5 CLE in the process...)

Schedule and link below.

 

The Idaho Law Review presents . . .

Boomtown! Growth & A Clash of Identity in the American West

All panels will be hosted via zoom at: https://uidaho.zoom.us/s/81635495822

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Financing Growth

Time: 9:30 - 11:00 AM MT

Introductory remarks by Dean Kalb & Professor Stephen Miller

Panelists: Robert McQuade; Justin Ruen; Seth Grigg; Nicholas Warden; William Doyle

 

Growth in Other Cities & Lessons Learned

Time: 12:00 – 1:30 PM MT

Panelists: Brian Connolly; Edward Sullivan; Daniel Dansie; Thomas Dansie; Robert Liberty

Friday, April 22, 2022

Homelessness & Issues with Affordable Housing

Time: 9:30 – 11:00 AM MT

Panelists: Jodi Peterson-Stigers; Howard Belodoff; Susan Bennett

 

Eviction Moratorium: Landlord/Tenant Law & COVID

Time: 12:00 – 1:30 PM MT

Panelists: Jim Cook; Zoe Anne Olsen; Evan Stewart; Morgan DeCarl

 

Land Use Issues in Idaho

Time: 2:00 – 3:30 PM MT

Panelists: Jaap Vos; Elizabeth Koeckeritz; Meghan Sullivan Conrad

Panelist Biographies

 

FINANCING GROWTH 

Robert McQuade 

Rob McQuade serves as the General Counsel to the Association of Idaho Cities (AIC) where he provides education, training, and advocacy services to Idaho’s 199 cities. Rob has the unique perspective of practicing law at the federal, state, and local level and uses that experience to problem solve on behalf of his client.  Prior to joining AIC, he worked for the Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses where he practiced administrative law and oversaw the implementation of the Red Tape Reduction Act for 29 regulatory bodies, helping to achieve a historic reduction in Idaho’s Administrative Code.  Rob’s first exposure to municipal law was at the City of Boise, where he spent five years advising the City on a variety of matters, including land use and procurement.  After graduating from the University of Idaho, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked on Capitol Hill for Senator Larry Craig and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.  

Rob attended the George Mason University School of Law and the University of Baltimore School of Law, where he received his juris doctorate.  

Justin Ruen 

Justin Ruen has served as a Policy Analyst for the Association of Idaho Cities for 21 years.  He is responsible for monitoring the state policy process, reviewing bills that affect city governments, and providing resources and technical assistance to help city officials to govern and serve their communities more effectively.  

Mr. Ruen is a graduate of the University of Idaho, B.A. in Political Science, where he taught Political Science 101 while in graduate school.  

Seth Grigg 

Seth Grigg is the Executive Director for the Idaho Association of Counties, where he carries out the objectives as set by the IAC Board of Directors by providing overall strategic and operational oversight of IAC’s staff, member service programs, financial operations, and legislative advocacy. Prior to this position with the IAC, Mr. Grigg was the Executive Director for the Association of Idaho Cities and a Policy Analyst for the Idaho Association of Counties.  

Mr. Grigg holds an MPA from Boise State University. 

Nicholas Warden  

Nick Warden is an attorney at Bailey Glasser, where he predominantly practices commercial litigation, including employment litigation and complex business litigation. Prior to this position with Bailey Glasser, Mr. Warden spent three years with the Civil Litigation Division of the Idaho Office of Attorney General representing employers in cases involving claims of civil rights violations, discrimination, harassment, whistleblower claims, and wrongful discharge.

Mr. Warden received his J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law and B.A., Master of Science from the University of Oxford, and B.A. from the University of Southern California.  

William Doyle –   forthcoming

GROWTH IN OTHER CITIES & LESSONS LEARNED  

Brian Connolly 

Brian Connolly is an attorney at Otten, Johnson, Robinson, Neff & Ragonetti, P.C., where he practices a broad range of land use matters, including zoning compliance, rezonings and other regulatory amendments, planned unit developments, development agreements, private covenants and restrictions, land use and zoning litigation, initiatives and referenda associated with land use approvals, and real estate transactions. Mr. Connolly serves as an adjunct professor of law at both the University of Colorado School of Law and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where he teaches land use planning.

Mr. Connolly holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, and a B.S. in urban and regional studies and Master of Regional Planning degrees from Cornell University. 

Edward Sullivan 

Ed Sullivan specialized in land use law for over 45 years and is now retired from practice. Before going into private practice, he served as Assistant County Counsel and County Counsel for Washington County, Oregon, and as Legal Counsel to the Governor of Oregon. Over the course of Mr. Sullivan’s career, he has taught and mentored countless law and land use planning students, as well as published a body of work that aims to explain land use law in Oregon and beyond.

Mr. Sullivan holds an L.L.M. from University College in London, a J.D. from Willamette University College of Law, a Diploma in Law from University College in Oxford, an M.A. from Portland State University and the University of Durham, and a B.A. from John’s University. 

Daniel Dansie 

Daniel Dansie is an attorney at Kirton McConkie in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is licensed to practice in Utah and Idaho and focuses his practice on real estate. For three years he practiced at Holden, Kidwell, Hahn & Crapo in Idaho Falls. He received a J.D. from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law and a B.A. from Brigham Young University. 

Thomas Dansie 

Thomas Dansie is the Director of Community Development for Springdale, Utah. Prior to this position, Mr. Dansie was a Planning Consultant for Leeds, Utah. His expertise includes land use policy analysis, ordinance development, design and development review, and public outreach. He received an M.S. from the University of Arizona and a B.S. from Brigham Young University. 

Robert Liberty 

Robert has almost forty years of experience with the design, implementation, evaluation and politics of land use and transportation plans at the local, regional, and state levels. His advice has been sought from places as different as Bozeman, Montana, and Beijing, China. Robert has a JD from Harvard Law School, an MA from Oxford University, a BA from the University of Oregon Honors College, and was a Loeb Fellow at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard. 

HOMELESSNESS & ISSUES WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING 

Jodi Peterson-Stigers 

Jodi Peterson-Stigers is the co-director of Interfaith Sanctuary, an overnight shelter that serves 164 men, women and families with children each night in Boise. Ms. Peterson graduated from Boston University with a degree in communications and sociology and for many years worked in marketing, communications, and public relations. 

Howard Belodoff 

Howard Belodoff is the Associate Director for Idaho Legal Aid Services where he provides free civil legal representation to low-income Idahoans. Mr. Belodoff began working at Idaho Legal Aid Services after graduating law school. His cases primarily concern the civil rights of low-income persons, prison and jail inmates, adults and children who suffer from mental illness, persons who are homeless, disabled and people with HIV/AIDS, Native Americans, and farm workers. 

Mr. Belodoff has practiced advocacy work at ILAS for his entire career. He received his JD from the University of Idaho College of Law. 

Susan Bennett 

Susan Bennett is a Professor of Law Emerita at American University Washington College of Law, where she founded and directed the Community and Economic Development Law Clinic, through which students provide transactional representation to non-profit organizations, small businesses, and affordable housing cooperatives in under-served neighborhoods in D.C. and the metro area.  

She held the position of Director of Clinical Programs for the Washington College of Law from 2003 to 2006. In addition to her clinical teaching, she taught first year Property, Law and Poverty, and seminars on community development, and law and homelessness. Before coming to WCL, she specialized in housing and consumer litigation at the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau. 

Ms. Bennett holds a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, as well as an M.A. and A.B. from Yale University. 

EVICTION MORATORIUM: LANDLORD/TENANT LAW AND COVID 

Jim Cook 

Jim Cook is the Executive Director for Idaho Legal Aid Services where he provides free civil legal representation to low-income Idahoans. Prior to his time at ILAS, he was an Associate Attorney at Thompson, Ashcraft and Burnham, where he practiced in state and federal litigation with an environmental law emphasis.  

Mr. Cook received his J.D. from the University of Idaho College of Law, where he spent his third year participating in a law school clinic project with Idaho Legal Aid Services to provide free legal representation to low-income Native Americans on the Nez Perce Reservation. Mr. Cook also has his B.S. from the University of Idaho. 

Zoe Anne Olsen 

Zoe Anne Olsen is the Executive Director for Intermountain Fair Housing Council. Prior to this position, Ms. Olsen was an attorney for Idaho Legal Aid Services. She has extensive housing law experience, including the Fair Housing Act (FHA), Idaho State housing law, reasonable accommodations and modifications, public housing cases, wrongful evictions, repairs, security deposits, mobile home park cases, foreclosures, and predatory lending.  

Ms. Olsen received a J.D. and M.P.A. from Seattle University and a B.A. from the University of Washington. 

Evan Stewart  

Evan Stewart is a Program Manager for Jesse Tree, an organization that provides financial assistance and case management to households at risk of eviction and homelessness who are unable to pay rent. 

Mr. Stewart is from Missoula, Montana where he earned a doctorate degree in Applied Anthropology at the University of Montana. During his time at the University of Montana, he conducted his dissertation project in the high Himalayas of Nepal working with local communities and addressing water, sanitation, and hygiene needs in the region. Mr. Stewart also worked as an anthropology instructor for the university.  

After graduating in May 2019, Mr. Stewart remained in Missoula working as a social worker at a child abuse prevention agency where he provided direct services, taught the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACEs), family education classes, and resilience-building to members of the community. 

Morgan DeCarl 

Morgan DeCarl is an Eviction Court Program Manager. Before coming to work for Jesse Tree she worked as a case manager for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and fell in love with social work and the impact it has on the quality of life of others as well as their communities. Ms. DeCarl became a Professional Mediator in 2019 upon moving to Idaho and has experience providing mediation services in Ada County eviction court. 

Ms. DeCarl has a Bachelor of Science in Human Development from Purdue Global, and is starting her Masters in Social Work this year. 

LAND USE ISSUES IN IDAHO (AOI) 

Jaap Vos 

Jaap Vos is a professor of Planning and Natural Resources at the University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources. At the University of Idaho, he teaches courses about community planning, sustainable communities, and rural planning issues. He also teaches a community assessment course and the advanced class of the Northwest Community Development Institute. He is the founding co-chair of APA Idaho’s Ag Chat, a group of planners and other stakeholders from throughout Idaho that meet monthly to discuss emerging planning issues in rural communities. 

His research is focused on planning for rural places. Most recently he and his students wrote an article about how traditional planning practices lead to the fragmentation of rural places. He was the lead author for the Infrastructure Section of the McClure Center for Public Policy Research’s Idaho Climate-Economy Impacts Assessment. He is currently analyzing driver’s license surrender data from ITD’s DMV from 2011-2021 to get a better understanding of population changes in different areas of Idaho. 

Mr. Vos has a Ph.D. in regional planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and an M.S. in Environmental Science from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. 

Elizabeth Koerckeritz  

Elizabeth Koerckeritz is a Partner at Givens Pursley and provides advice to developers and businesses on the acquisition, entitlement, financing, and development of both large and small scale projects. She helps clients obtain economic incentives and entitlements from all levels of the government and represents clients on judicial reviews and administrative hearings before state agencies. She also assists airports in a wide range of federal regulatory matters and the negotiation of complex airport transactions. 

Prior to joining Givens Pursley, Ms. Koerckeritz was the senior managing attorney for the Boise City attorney’s office, where she supervised all of the attorneys and staff providing advice to the municipal departments within the City. In addition to her supervisory responsibility, she served as the attorney for the Boise Airport and was the lead attorney in the City’s efforts aimed at reducing homelessness and increasing affordable housing within the City. Ms. Koerckeritz has also been a solo practitioner, was a deputy attorney general for the State of Idaho specializing in criminal appeals, and a prosecutor in Jackson, Wyoming. 

Ms. Koerckeritz received her law and MBA’s degrees from the University of Colorado – Boulder. She graduated from Colorado College with a degree in anthropology. 

Meghan Sullivan Conrad 

Meghan Sullivan Conrad’s practices at Elam & Burke and focuses on local economic development with extensive representation to urban renewal agencies throughout the state on issues including structuring of private-public partnerships, government contracts, tax increment financing, litigation, appeals and governmental relations. Ms. Conrad’s practice also includes representation of a commodity promotion and research program, consumer and commercial lenders in foreclosures and collections, and she participates in insurance defense litigation. Ms. Conrad represented issuers in connection with both tax-exempt and taxable bond transactions and has worked as special Idaho counsel on a large energy (solar) financing project. 

Ms. Conrad has had the opportunity to speak at numerous conferences on the topic of urban renewal.  In 2014, Ms. Conrad was recognized by the Idaho Business Review as a Leader in Law, Firm Associated: Associate.  She is currently the Vice-Chair of the University of Idaho College of Law Advisory Council and is a member of State Law Resources, Inc., Idaho Women Lawyers and the Idaho Association of Defense Counsel.  

Ms. Conrad received her J.D. at the University of Idaho and graduated from Colgate University with a B.A. in International Relations and French. 

Student Note on housing appeals

Dan Mandelker forwarded a note by one of his students that might interest readers.  The note is by Bob Neel and entitled, "Combating Exclusion & Achieving Affordable Housing:  The Case for Broad Adoption of Housing Appeals Statutes."  The note was published in Washington University's law review.  You can download the note below.

Download Housing Appeals Boards Note