This post was authored by Gabriella Mickel, JD Candidate 2024, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.

Defendant-landowner Sisters & Brothers Investment Group, LLP (SBIG) appealed an environmental-division enforcement order that prohibited them from using a property in the City of Burlington as a parking lot, requiring them to address site-improvement deficiencies as per an agreement with the prior owner and the City, and imposing fines of $66,759.22.

SBIG purchased the property, a gas and service station (a preexisting, nonconforming use), in 2004, which had existing violations. An agreement was signed between the prior owner and the City, specifying

This post was authored by Robert Thomas, Esq. and originally appeared on the InverseCondemnation Blog and is reposted with permission. See, https://www.inversecondemnation.com/inversecondemnation/2023/05/ca6-legislative-conditions-are-subject-to-nexus-and-proportionality-requirements.html

The 6^th Circuit Court of Appeals in Knight v. Metro. Gov’t of Nashville, No. 21-6179 (May 10, 2023) held that conditions imposed on every development — and not just ad hoc administratively-imposed conditions — must conform to the Nollan-Dolan-Koontz close nexus and rough proportionality standards.

The Sixth Circuit has added to the growing split in the lower courts about whether legislatively-imposed conditions on development which cover everyone are, as some courts characterize them, mere land use regulations

This post was authored by Tyler Doan, Esq.

Plaintiffs filed applications with the City of Austin to digitize existing traditional billboards and to upgrade signs with less sophisticated digitization. The Defendant denied their application because the signs would advertise for things not located on the site where the sign was installed. “In sum, off-premises signs could not be upgraded.”

A lawsuit ensued and the Sign Code was upheld in the district court and initially reversed in the Fifth Circuit as unable to survive strict scrutiny. The case was then appealed to the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court held that

This post was authored by Amy Lavine, Esq.

The NY Appellate Division, Second Department, issued a pair of SEQRA decisions in March, 2023 involving the Village of Chestnut Ridge’s 2019 “House of Worship Law,” which sought to allow additional gathering places and houses of worship in residential districts.

in the first case, Matter of Kogut v Village of Chestnut Ridge, 2023 NY Slip Op 01283 (2d Dept. 3/15/23), the court held that the petitioners were timely in filing the proceeding pursuant to the savings provision of CPLR 205(a). The court found that the requirements in that section were satisfied

This post was authored by Amy Lavine, Esq,

A recent decision from the Suffolk County Supreme Court, Matter of Save Sag Harbor v Village of Sag Harbor, involving the village’s adoption of a local law that expanded the definition of an apartment building in order to allow more affordable housing. The village attorney had drafted a negative declaration pursuant to SEQRA, which was given to the village board members at the public hearing, but there was no discussion by the board members or public commenters about the law’s potential environmental impacts.

After closing the public hearing, the board simultaneously

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Former Douglas Anderson teacher Jeffrey Clayton is facing multiple criminal charges for inappropriate behavior with a student after years of allegations.

Some people voiced that the current superintendent, Dr. Diana Greene, should be held accountable for the delay in action against Clayton.

A local attorney told News4JAX the principals and superintendents during Clayton’s 23 years of working for the school district could be held liable too if negligence was found.

On Friday, News4JAX obtained nine reports filed against Clayton going back all the way to 2006.

It’s been exactly one month since Jeffrey Clayton, a longtime music