PuEnAf 323

 Land Use Controls

  Spring 2005

 

Laurel Phoenix

Office: MAC A324

http://www.uwgb.edu/phoenixl/index.htm

Email: phoenixl@uwgb.edu

Office Hours: TBA  

                        or by appt.

 

This course looks at land use from a variety of perspectives: methods of land use controls, legal foundations, social implications, environmental impacts, civil and property rights, cumulative impacts, etc.  The various forms of public land-use controls in planning and administration are analyzed.  Land use is currently a contested topic due to the increase of growth pressures, shifting populations, and the more conditions placed on personal or property rights.  You will be pleasantly surprised at how interesting this course is!

 

This course has been designated a Writing Emphasis (WE) course.  A written assignment in the first two weeks of class will be used to establish a standard of reference.  All written materials are subject to the Writing Policy of UWGB.

 

Reading assignments relevant to lecture material will be assigned during class.

 

Required Texts:

 

The Citizen's Guide to Zoning.  1983.  Herbert H. Smith.  APA Press.

Land Use in America.  1996.  Henry Diamond w/ P. Noonan.  Island Press.

Other readings will be placed on reserve at Cofrin Library.

 

Course Outline

 

A.  Laying the Groundwork for Land Use Controls

 

Systems Theory

 

History of Property, Rights, and Responsibilities

 

Growth Pressures

Urban

Rural

Edge cities

 

The State Role in Land Use Control
Growth of the role
Degrees of state control
State variations
Right to farm laws

The “public interest”

Legislation

 

Regional Role in Land Use Control

Bottom-up – State examples

Top-down – Tug Hill’s pragmatic approach

Public Lands movements

 

Citizen Role in Land Use Control
Public hearings and notice
Citizen suits
Representative participation

 

Zoning Stakeholders
Stakeholders
Stakes

Threshold Legal Questions

Constitutionality
Limits on police power
Limits on power of local government
The takings issue and general zoning actions
Inverse condemnation--the Agins decision
Takings and vested rights
Anti-trust and zoning

 

B. The Art and Science of Zoning

 

Zoning Techniques and Problems
Zoning tools
Nonconforming uses
Floating zones, contract and conditional zoning
Floodplains
Comprehensive plans

 

Subdivision Techniques and Problems
Relationship to zoning
Planning requirements
Dedication requirements
Bargaining for public improvements
Site plan reviews
Regulation of division or development of land
Vacation of subdivisions

 

PUDs (Planned Unit Development) and New Communities Trends
Zoning and subdivision merge
Flexible planning and PUDs
PUD problems--open space control and homeowners associations
The New Urbanism and other New Towns

Disneyworld’s “Celebration” Community – cons and symbols

 

Phased Development
Cases
Fairness and phasing

 

Procedural streamlining
Land development permit systems
One-stop concept
Responsibility for decisions
Efficiency in decision-making
American Law Institute Model

 

Capital Improvements - Provision of Services
Petaluma revisited--the developer loses
Boulder--the developer wins
The performance-based approach
Fiscal zoning
Policy problems--public facilities and growth management

 

C. Issues in Land Use

 

Ecological Footprint & Unnecessary Development
More is better

Prairie mansions

Metropolitan development trends
Fragmentation of the built and natural environment

 

Exclusionary Practices
Origins
Court
-made law
New Jersey’s Mt. Laurel case
U.S. Supreme Court muddles through a mess:
  1) Belle Terre decision
  2) Arlington Heights

 

Impact on Housing Costs
Quality improvements
Cost-shifting
Over-specification
Friction costs

Indirect effects
 

Impact on Property Rights
New techniques and the takings issue
Compensable regulations
Windfall for wipeouts

New perspectives on property

 

Distributive Impacts of Land Use Decisions

 

Land Development and the Environment
Environmental problems--the community perspective
Environmental problems--the developer's perspective
Partial solution--information
Regulatory approach ("Solution")--critical areas control
Regulatory approach ("Solution")--environmental impact statement
Regulatory approach and a solution--performance standards

Land development and transportation

 

Land Development and Energy
Problems
Opportunities
Legal basis
Approaches

 

Legal Standing for Natural Objects?
Rights for natural objects
Impact on land use determinations


Preserving Prime Agriculture Land
Resources
Growth pressures, global economy pressures
Constituency
Demonstration programs

 

Transfer of Development Rights
Short term, long term costs
TDR's to protect history--New York and Chicago
TDR's to protect land

Land Trusts

Definition, case studies

Limitations

Links with Planning

 

Wisconsin Shoreland Management Act
Case Analysis:  Shoreland Regulation of Seven Oconto County Lakes

 

Zoning on the Waters

Surface Zoning of Lakes and Rivers

Recreational trends, impacts on wildlife, aquatic flora and fauna, tourism, water quality

 

D.  Economics of Land Use

Economic Growth and Planning

Growth Management Plans

 

Property Taxes and Land Use
Economics
Assessment and preferential assessment
 

Development Bankruptcy and the Public Interest
Public costs
 

 

 

Grading                                               Due dates:

Participation                 15

3 papers                       25                    TBA

First Mid-term              20                    Feb 25
Second Mid-term         20                    April 8
Final                             20                   
                                  100 pts.

Students with Disabilities

 

Note:

Consistent with the federal law and the policies of the University of Wisconsin, it is the policy of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to provide appropriate and necessary accommodations to students with documented physical and learning disabilities. If you anticipate requiring any auxiliary aids or services, you should contact me or the Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities at 465-2841 as soon as possible to discuss your needs and arrange for the provision of services.

 

 

LAND USE WEB SITES

 

www.mlui.org/                                      Michigan Land Use Institute

http://landuse.org/lufsys                         Land Use Network

www.clui.org                                                    Center for Land Use Interpretation

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/`pppm/~landuse/land_use.html                                                                                                                   Oregon Land Use Information Center

www.sustainable.doe.gov/landuse/luintro.shtml  Land Use Planning

www.policy.rutgers.edu                                    Center For Urban Policy

www.1000friendsofwisconsin.com/                   1000 Friends of Wisconsin

www.plannersweb.com/index.html                    Planners Web

www.sierraclub.org                                          Sierra Club

http://www.lta.org/                                            Land Trust Alliance

 

GOOD BOOKS AND ARTICLES

 

Smith, Herbert H.  1993.  The Citizen's Guide to Planning. APA Planner's Press.

 

Stone, Christopher D.  1996.  Should Trees Have Standing?  Oceana Press. 

 

MacCleery, D.W.  2000.  Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic: Is it only Half a Loaf Unless a Consumption Ethic Accompanies it?  Forest History Today, Spring 2000: 39-41.

 

Sax, Joseph L.  1971.  The Public Trust: A New Charter of Environmental Rights.  In Defending the Environment.  Knopf Publishing.

 

Leopold, Aldo.  1949.  The Land Ethic, pp. 201-226, In Sand County Almanac.  Oxford University Press.

 

Meck, Stuart and Edith Netter, eds.  1983.  A Planner’s Guide to Land Use Law.  APA Planner’s Press.

 

Wright, Robert R. and M. Gitelman.  2000.  Land Use in a Nutshell.  West Publishing.

 

Hunter, David B.  1988.  An Ecological Perspective on Property: A Call for Judicial Protection of the Public’s Interest in Environmentally Critical Resources.  Harvard Environmental Law Review, 12: 311-383. 

 

Hagman, Donald G. and Dean J. Misczynski, eds.  1978.  Windfalls for Wipeouts: Land Value Capture and Compensation.  APA Planner’s Press.

Geisler, Charles and Gail Daneker, eds.  2000.  Property and Values: Alternatives to Public and Private Ownership.  Island Press.

 

Fustanski, Julie Ann and Roderick Squires, eds.  2000.  Protecting the Land: Conservation Easements Past, Present, and Future.  Island Press. 

 

Meltz, Robert, Merriam, Dwight, and Richard Frank.  1999.  The Takings Issue: Constitutional Limits on Land Use Control and Environmental Regulation.  Island Press. 

 

Hanna, Susan S., Carl Folke, and Karl-Goran Maler, eds.  1996.  Rights to Nature: Ecological, Economic, Cultural, and Political Principles of Institutions for the Environment.  Island Press. 

 

Freyfogle, Eric T.  1998.  Bounded People, Boundless Lands: Envisioning a New Land Ethic.  Island Press.