Zoning, Planning & Land Use, Residential Real Estate, Environmental Law

Boston Joins the Building Disclosure Bandwagon: Ordinance Will Require Reporting in 2014

by Seth Jaffe | Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 5/10/2013

On May 8, the Boston City Council approved an ordinance requiring building owners to report annual energy and water use. The final ordinance is slightly different from the one about which we posted in February. Highlights...more

Towards Not Reinventing The CEQA Wheel: Resources Agency Adopts New CEQA Guidelines For Streamlined Review of Urban Infill...

by Arthur F. Coon, Matthew Henderson | Miller Starr Regalia on 5/9/2013

Repetitive CEQA review and analysis is expensive, unnecessary, unproductive, and inimical to the goals of certainty and finality in the environmental review process. In 2011, to address these concerns in the infill...more

New Jersey Takes Emergency Action To Speed Rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy

by Barbara Casey, Ronald Varnum, Harry Weiss | Ballard Spahr LLP on 5/7/2013

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) took emergency action to reduce approval backlogs and to make it easier for those seeking to rebuild in wake of Hurricane Sandy to obtain regulatory approvals by...more

California City Enacts Law Requiring Solar Energy Systems on Most New Homes

by Jason Barglow | Foley & Lardner LLP on 5/6/2013

The city of Lancaster, California recently adopted an ordinance requiring builders of most new homes to install functional solar power generation systems on these homes prior to their sale to the public. The law is believed...more

Maryland to Impose New Stormwater Remediation Fee; Virginia Enacts Congestion Relief Fee

by Roberto Garcia | Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on 5/6/2013

Lawmakers in Maryland and Virginia have approved the imposition of certain new fees on property owners in various jurisdictions. Maryland property owners in nine counties and one city face the imposition of a Stormwater...more

Part II - How Will North Carolina Handle Forced Pooling?

by Jessica L. Kimble | Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC on 5/3/2013

As discussed in Part I, the North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission (“N.C. MEC”) will present its report on hydraulic fracturing to the Joint Legislative Commission on Energy Policy and the Environmental Review Commission...more

Site Assembly

by Hopkins & Carley on 5/2/2013

The “good old days” of formal redevelopment are over. Real estate developers no longer can negotiate to assemble development sites under the threat of condemnation. Silicon Valley developers now face serious challenges in...more

BLM Issues Right-of-Way Application Rule In An Effort To Spark Renewable Energy Development

by Ben Rubin | Nossaman LLP on 5/1/2013

As reported earlier today by a number of news outlets (see for example this KCET article by Chris Clarke), the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") will be issuing a Final Rule to facilitate right-of-way applications for lands...more

Warrantless Inspections are Not Warranted under the Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act

by Jill Richardson | Cole Schotz on 4/24/2013

The New Jersey Supreme Court recently held that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) may not conduct a warrantless administrative inspection of a residential property subject to a Freshwater Wetlands...more

Housing Development With Optional Retail Component Qualifies For CEQA Exemption For Residential Projects Consistent With...

by Jon E. Goetz, Jeffrey L. Massey, Leslie Z. Walker | Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard on 4/24/2013

A group of citizens challenged a city’s determination that a proposed residential development qualifies for an exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) as a residential project that is consistent with...more

EPA Draft Vapor Intrusion Guidance Is Now Subject To Public Comment

by William J. Walsh | Pepper Hamilton LLP on 4/22/2013

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released and is seeking comments on draft general guidance on methods of addressing indoor vapor intrusion (VI) from contaminated soil and groundwater plumes (Draft VI Guidance)...more

Equal Protection Claims Concerning Disparate Enforcement of Environmental Laws Remain an Uphill Battle

by Seth Jaffe | Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 4/17/2013

In 2000, in its 2-page per curiam opinion in Village of Willowbrook v. Olech, the Supreme Court gave hope to developers and property owners that the equal protection clause could be used to prevent local zoning and...more

Residential Project Exempt From CEQA Review Under Government Code Section 65457 As Consistent With Specific Plan For Which Program...

by Arthur F. Coon | Miller Starr Regalia on 4/11/2013

In a recently published opinion construing Government Code § 65457’s exemption from environmental review for a residential development consistent with a specific plan for which an EIR was previously certified, the First...more

Certain Residential Developments Exempt from CEQA Review: Greenhouse Gas Emission Issues Do Not Constitute New Information

by William R. Devine | Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis... on 4/9/2013

The recent California appellate court decision in Concerned Dublin Citizens v. City of Dublin, Cal: Court of Appeal, 1st Appellate Dist., 3rd Div. 2013, upheld a City's affirmation that residential developments are exempt...more

Changes in TPDES General Construction Permit Require Endangered Species Act Consideration

by Alan Glen, Brooke Wahlberg | Sedgwick LLP on 4/9/2013

On February 19, 2013, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) issued a revised Texas Pollution Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) Construction General Permit TXR150000 (Permit). This new Permit, effective...more

Court Upholds CEQA Exemption for Residential Development - Minor Project Tweaks and New Greenhouse Gas Thresholds Don’t Trigger...

by Sarah E. Owsowitz, Charity B. Schiller | Best Best & Krieger LLP on 4/4/2013

In a recent case involving the California Environmental Quality Act, a state appellate court upheld a city’s decision to exempt from environmental review a residential development because it was consistent with a broader...more

New Significance Standard For Greenhouse Gas Emissions Is Not New Information Triggering Supplemental CEQA Review

by Marc Bruner, Stephen Kostka | Perkins Coie on 4/3/2013

In an opinion published on March 28, 2013, a California court of appeal answered three questions under the California Environmental Quality Act that the published decisions have not yet addressed...more

Q&A With Bilzin Sumberg's Howard Nelson

by Howard Nelson | Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP on 3/29/2013

Originally Published in Law360 on March 28, 2013. Howard Nelson, chairman of the environmental practice group at Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP, has experience in environmental and land use law and zoning and...more

Integrating NEPA and NHPA Section 106 Reviews: New Guidance Document Provides Useful Advice, But Leaves Some Questions Unanswered

by Elizabeth Lake | Holland & Knight LLP on 3/21/2013

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), as part of its effort to modernize and reinvigorate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), released two handbooks on March 5, 2013, that provide regulatory guidance to...more

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Zoning, Planning & Land Use › Residential Real Estate › Environmental Law