An eye-opening exploration of one of the little-known levers that controls our world—zoning codes—and a call-to-arms for using them to improve American society at every level. Zoning codes dictate how and where we can build housing, factories, restaurants, and parks. They limit how tall buildings can be and where trees can be planted. They have become the most significant regulatory power of local government, ultimately determining how we experience our cities. Yet zoning remains invisible. In Key to the City, legal scholar and architect Sara C. Bronin examines how zoning became such a prevailing force and reveals its impact—and its potential for good. Outdated zoning codes have maintained racial segregation, prioritized cars over people, and enabled great ecological harm. But, as Bronin argues, once we recognize the power of zoning, we can harness it to create the communities we desire, and deserve. Drawing on her own experience leading the overhaul of Hartford’s zoning code and exploring the efforts of activists and city planners across the country, Bronin shows how new codes are reshaping our cities—from Baltimore to Chicago, Las Vegas to Minneapolis, and beyond. In Boston, a law fought for by a passionate group of organizers, farmers, and beekeepers is transforming the city into a haven for urban farming. In Tucson, zoning codes are mitigating the impacts of climate change and drought-proofing neighborhoods in peril. In Delray Beach, Florida, a new code aims to capture and maintain the town’s colorful spirit through its architecture. With clarity and insight, Bronin demystifies the power of an inscrutable organizing force in our lives and invites us to see zoning as a revolutionary vehicle for change. In Key to the City, she puts forward a practical and energizing vision for how we can reimagine our communities.

The casebook is the second edition of the first comprehensive set of teaching materials for this fascinating and increasingly important area of law. Historic preservation law encompasses many topics, from urban revitalization to Native American cultural sites to international heritage, which are vital to contemporary practice in property, land use, and real estate law. The casebook contains carefully selected and edited cases, statutory and regulatory provisions, scholarly analysis from diverse fields, and original explanatory text. The authors include illuminating photographs throughout the casebook. Historic Preservation Law gracefully supports teaching a specialized law school course or an introductory law course in a planning, historic preservation, or architecture school.

This brief to the Texas Supreme Court was filed by the Amici Curiae, including local, state, and national preservation organizations and legal scholars, to inform the court about background legal principles regarding zoning and historic preservation law. The Amici lay out reasons why the Historic Preservation Ordinance (the “HPO”) adopted by the City of Houston (the “City”) is a straightforward, valid exercise of municipal powers pursuant to Texas law and any rational interpretation of longstanding principles of land use regulation. The Amici Curiae focus on three issues, based on their expertise and their deep knowledge of the law, policy, and practice of historic preservation and zoning. First, the Amici Curiae show the important distinctions between historic preservation and zoning law. These areas of law can be distinguished from each other in several ways. Zoning and historic preservation law emerged for different reasons, at different times. They regulate different activities: zoning law necessarily regulates uses, as well as the general bulk and placement of buildings, while historic preservation law regulates architectural appearance and the character-defining features of historic properties. And historic preservation law only regulates properties designated as historic (individually or within a designated historic district) - which is not the case with zoning, which regulates all properties within a jurisdiction, whether historic or not. Second, the Amici Curiae explain how historic places can be regulated by zoning law, historic preservation law, both, or neither. The fact that a place, like the Houston Heights Historic District East at issue in this case, is regulated by historic preservation law has no bearing on whether that place is also subject to zoning law. The petitioners' illogical argument that regulation by historic preservation law is necessarily regulation by zoning law has never been adopted by any other court. Third, the Amici Curiae show that the HPO is not zoning, let alone spot zoning. Analyzing the HPO in light of the differences between historic preservation law and zoning law, it is very clear that the HPO is not zoning, nor it is spot zoning resulting from unreasonable or irrational singling out of individual owners, as the State of Texas argues in its Amicus Curiae brief.

In response to Jamie France's note, "A Proposed Solar Access Law for the State of Texas," Professor Bronin urges future commentators to focus on three additional areas of inquiry related to proposed solar rights regimes. Bronin argues that such proposals would be strengthened by discussion of potential legal challenges to the proposals, related political issues, and renewable energy microgrids. Ms. France's proposal for the State of Texas includes the elimination of preexisting private property restrictions that negatively affect solar access. Bronin argues that this proposal would be strengthened by a discussion of potential challenges under federal and state takings clauses. Additionally, Ms. France's suggestion that zoning ordinances protect homeowners' solar access would benefit from a discussion of challenges that might be raised by home rule cities in Texas. Furthermore, to provide a full perspective, a discussion of possible alternative rules for Houston, which lacks a zoning ordinance, might add to Ms. France's proposal, according to Bronin. Bronin also emphasizes that proposals for solar rights regimes, such as that of Ms. France, often affect various interest groups, and commentators should address the political issues that this creates. Specifically, in discussing Ms. France's proposal for the State of Texas, Bronin identifies the lack of political support for small-scale renewable energy installations as opposed to large-scale projects, Texas's current budget shortfall, and powerful interests groups that are affected by the proposal. Finally, Bronin encourages other commentators to consider advocating for renewable energy microgrids. Bronin has described these as "small-scale, low-voltage distributed generation between neighbors for energy derived from sources such as solar collectors, wind power systems, microturbines, geothermal wells, and fuel cells, which have minimal negative impact on the environment." Bronin believes that renewable energy microgrids "should be a key part of solar access regimes in any state."

Softbound - New, softbound print book.

This Article argues that a well-conceived policy approach to building-related renewable energy (“BRRE”) -- that is, renewable energy incorporated into inhabited structures and used by those structures' occupants -- could transform the way we produce and consume energy by maximizing efficiency while simultaneously minimizing energy sprawl. The vast majority of Americans favor renewable energy, at least in concept. Yet private property owners still face significant obstacles in trying to incorporate renewable energy into their projects. This Article analyzes barriers faced by the project team for 360 State Street, an award-winning, mixed-use LEED® Platinum building in downtown New Haven, Connecticut. Among other features, the project incorporates one of the first fuel cells in a multifamily residential building in the world, uses 55 percent less electricity than a standard code-compliant building, must abide by a development agreement with the municipality requiring certain commitments to sustainability, and has become a poster child for the LEED® for Neighborhood Development program. It is an ideal case study because information about it is readily available; the project team considered multiple types of BRRE and coupled one type of BRRE with significant energy efficiency measures; and its primary funding comes from a single private source, meaning that the impact of renewable energy financing rules on decision-making can be more easily discerned than it might be in other projects that involve primarily public, or multiple private, sources. A case study can help confirm or rebut assumptions in the legal literature about the impact of BRRE-related law and policy on private decision-making. As this Article shows, the case study suggests that while legal scholars have focused primarily on issues related to the installation of BRRE, issues related to the operation of BRRE may be just as, if not more, significant to prospective BRRE developers. BRRE can be expanded if scholars and policymakers address barriers, particularly at the state level, to fully utilizing BRRE capacity once it is installed.

This treatise provides detailed coverage of zoning and planning with case law, including constitutional and statutory limitations on government zoning and planning powers, remedies for wrongful land use regulation, rezoning issues, and subdivision restrictions. It discusses tort actions and governmental immunities, especially beneficial in litigation, and provides extensive footnoting for state-specific referencing. It also examines evolving issues such as: floodplain and wetlands regulation, growth management, regulation of hazardous wastes, historic preservation laws, variances, building permits, housing laws, restrictions on manufactured housing, private covenants, regulation of adult entertainment businesses, and regulation of religious land use. Finally, it provides procedural information, detailed index, and a Table of Cases.

This casebook offers a concise, user-friendly presentation of land use law which incorporates a focus on critical thinking and practice throughout. The casebook devotes an entire chapter to complex and realistic scenarios that provide students an opportunity to bring to bear what they have learned throughout the semester to solve challenging legal and strategic problems. New materials in the second edition ensure that students will become familiar with the latest trends in land use law.

In the last year, two major cities -- Buffalo, New York, and Hartford, Connecticut -- have changed their zoning codes to eliminate minimum parking requirements. Despite seeming mundane, this change may become the single most impactful zoning regulatory reform of the 21st century.