This post was authored by Matthew Loescher, Esq.
Charlestown Township, a municipality in Chester County, enacted a zoning ordinance that permits outdoor, off-premises advertising signs in a particular district. A statewide regulation concerning roadside billboards promulgated by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (“PennDOT”) had the practical effect of barring that use. The property owner Charlestown Outdoor, LLC appealed the decision of the township zoning board, which denied the property owner’s challenge to the validity of the township’s zoning ordinance that permitted the construction of billboards in the zoning district. The Court of Common Pleas, Chester County, affirmed the zoning board’s…
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…
EV Tax Credits and the Shift Towards Electrification
Kate MeulemansAs Americans begin to shift toward cleaner energy, the demand for electric vehicles has skyrocketed, but not without a similar spike in the political attitude surrounding electric cars. Switching from gas to electric cars is no longer just a fad among progressive elites and is in fact becoming embedded into the mainstream vernacular. But even so, buying a new car solely for fuel efficiency is not something that most people are financially stable enough to do. In this respect, it is important not only to prioritize a political push that…
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…
This post was authored by Amy Lavine, Esq.
in Extenet Systems, LLC v. Village of Kings Pointthe Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of eight residents’ motion to intervene in a lawsuit brought by ExteNet against the village for violations of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
The court rejected the residents’ claims that intervention was necessary to protect their properties from the alleged aesthetic and economic impacts that would be caused by the installation of wireless cellular equipment on nearby properties. As the court explained, it was reasonable for the district court to conclude that the residents’ interests…
This post was authored by Tyler Doan, Esq.
Petitioner owns real property on a short dead end roadway in the City of Ithaca abutting Summit Avenue. An adjacent property, that Summit Ave is on, has been owned by various entities during the relevant period. In 2017, after the then owner of the subject property blocked a portion of Summit Ave on the property in preparation for constructing an apartment complex there, the Petitioner commenced and an action contending, among other things, that it had a right of unobstructed access to Summit Ave because the roadway was either a public street…
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 Sebastian Perez, Esq.
In 1997, Blinkoff filed a lawsuit against the City of Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission (the “Planning & Zoning Commission”) and several members, alleging discrimination and denial of equal protection. Blinkoff inherited a parcel of land that had been operated as a gravel bank and excavated since the 1950s. She claimed that use of the land as a quarry had been exempt from the City of Torrington’s (the “City”) zoning regulations. Blinkoff alleged that she faced restrictions and selective enforcement based on her gender and religion. The 1997 case went to trial…
