Real Estate & Property Law

Zoning And Land Use Round-Up

By Robert Thomas (inversecondemnation.com)

A collection of interesting reports on land use and zoning topics:

• Mission residents reject American Apparel (San Francisco Chronicle) - "Congratulations to the residents of Valencia Street. After a rowdy and sometimes misleading campaign, they managed to stop American Apparel - a socially conscious, popular, American-run clothing store - from moving into one of the street's vacant storefronts....It's another through-the-looking-glass moment in San Francisco. They love the product but hate the store solely because there are about 260 of them worldwide. That means it's a chain and unwelcome under any circumstances."

• Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Finds Mayor Acted with Malice Intent and Violated Substantive Due Process (Law of the Land blog) - Evidence was sufficient to uphold a jury's verdict that a city violated substantive due process because the new mayor changed the way the city enforced the zoning code to "strict enforcement" and harassed a property owner who was denied a certificate of occupancy. Corr v. City of Ecorse, No. 07-1604 (6th Cir. Dec. 29, 2008).

• Panel to review housing ordinance (Maui News) - The latest chapter in the controversy surrounding Maui County's affordable housing exaction - is the County going to rethink the 40-50% donation requirement?  The latest decision from the federal court lawsuit mentioned in the article is posted and analyzed here.

• Oakland zoning rules a minefield for businesses (San Francisco Chronicle) - This story details how bureaucracy and the requirement for a Conditional Use Permit stifled at least one potential entrepreneur in Oakland, California.

Full post as published by inversecondemnation on February 09, 2009 (boomark / email).