This post was authored by Sebastian Perez, JD
Proposed intervenors sought to challenge AT&T’s application for a wireless facility at St. Peter’s chapel (the “Chapel”) as violative of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (“TCA”). The judge had previously ordered Plaintiff’s and Defendant’s proposed settlement agreement (“Settlement Agreement”), but the Court granted the Proposed Intervenors’ motion (the “Motion”) finding all of the factors in FRCP 24(a)(2) governing intervention were met: (1) timeliness of the motion; (2) the movant’s interest related to the property or transaction that constituted the subject of the action; (3) absent intervention, the movant’s ability to protect its…
This post is authored by Andrew LW Peters originally appeared on the Rocky Mountain Sign Law Blog and is reposted with permission
The first federal circuit court opinions applying Reagan National Advertising of Austin, Inc. v. The city of Austin is flowing in, and local governments may perhaps breathe a sigh of relief: normalcy has returned. Just last week, the Seventh Circuit upheld Madison, Wisconsin’s regulations on “advertising signs,” the definition of which used the same on/off-premises distinction at issue in City of Austin.
The story there was typical of the genre. Madison has regulated billboards since at least the…
This post was authored by Matthew Loescher, Esq.
Representatives of the City of Paris, Kentucky, applied for a zoning map amendment to rezone the 47 acres of property from a conservation district to light industrial. The Paris City Commission and its representatives entered into a non-disclosure deal with a prospective corporate purchaser to conceal its identity. A bourbon distillery was to be built on the property, but the local Planning and Zoning Commission held a hearing during which evidence was presented, and then voted six to three to deny the zone map amendment. The Planning Commission was overruled by a…
This post was authored by Julie Tappendorf and Tyler Smith of Ancel Glink and originally posted in the Municipal Minute and reposted with permission
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled against a billboard company in its First Amendment challenge to a county’s sign code. GEFT Outdoors, LLC v. Monroe County.
A billboard company sought to install a digital billboard which did not comply with the county’s sign code regulations. The company applied for a variance from the County’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZOA). After the BZOA denied the variance request, the billboard company sued the county under a…
Conscious Consumerism, Class Actions, and Carbon Offsets
Rina ZhangA growing segment of environmentally-minded consumers choose to spend their money on brands and products that signal their commitment to sustainability.”[1] However, as more companies label their products with environmental sustainability claims like “green,” and “carbon neutral”, there are increasing concerns that some of these terms are misleading and misrepresent practices that fall short of consumer perceptions.[2] As more corporations turn towards carbon offsets to reduce their environmental footprint, recent greenwashing class actions highlight issues that arise when voluntary carbon markets and marketing intersect.[3]
In October 2022, plaintiffs filed a class…
This post was originally published on the RLUIPA Defense blog by Evan Seeman, Esq. and Madeleine Laffitte, Esq. of Robinson Cole and is reposted with permission.
On December 30, 2022, a district court dismissed a Catholic high school’s RLUIPA challenge, granting summary judgment on all claims in favor of the City of Madison, Wisconsin and various other city officials (the City). As ruled by the court, the City did not discriminate against Edgewood High School of the Sacred Heart, Inc. on the basis of religion when it was denied Edgewood’s latest conditional use permit application for outdoor lighting at the…
UCLA Extension’s annual Land Use Law and Planning Conference is the leading networking event and source of information on California land use legislation, case law, and the emerging issues that frame land use and development practices in the nation’s most popular state.
The program’s unique cross-disciplinary approach explores the full range of perspectives drawn from land use planning, legal, development, and environmental communities, and demonstrates how these factors influence the day-to-day work of planners, developers, environmental regulators, and attorneys .
Now in its 37th year, the UCLA Extension conference offers a big-picture view of land use law and planning practice,…
Agency Delegation to External Parties: An Unexplored Challenge
Benjamin LehmanThe Supreme Court recently declined to grant cert in Texas v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, a case from the 5thth Circuit. However, the three justices said the decision was driven by threshold issues of mootness and statute of limitations, but they would grant a review on the delegation issues in a future case.[1] The case revived two major questions about the constitutional limits on delegation and presented a third issue for the first time. First, the petition challenged the extent to which legislative power can be constitutionally delegated away from…
