In Georgetown, for instance, Eastbanc has proposed to replace the Canal Rd. Exxon with a five story condo building. From a true historic preservation perspective, there’s not much of a case against the project. It wouldn’t break up the rhythm of the block and the proposed style, while not particularly elegant, was at least not discordant.

But neighbors along Prospect Street would lose a part of their fabulous view across the Potomac. So they argued vociferously during the design review process that the project should be reduced to preserve their views. This had little to nothing to do with genuine historic preservation. … This pattern is repeated frequently in Georgetown and in other historic districts.

The local opponents have thus far blocked the project, which means the historic district is still adorned with the Key Bridge Exxon. One might ask the neighbors whether they feel a gas station enhances the neighborhood’s quaint Nineteenth Century ambiance, except that, taking a leaf from lower Manhattanites, they might say it does.

More: David Schleicher, Prawfs, on the municipal political economy of zoning.

Historic preservation as tactical bludgeon is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

April 18 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Urban development, the NYC way is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

December 19 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Glendale bans fake grass is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

A bill before the Montgomery County Council would force big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target to negotiate with neighborhood groups as a condition for getting their new stores approved. This is such a spectacularly bad idea, on so many levels, that it’s hard to imagine how it came to be taken seriously in the first place.

By contrast, the nearby District of Columbia, often seen as a challenging place to do business, seems to be making its peace with Wal-Mart, which has announced plans to open six new stores there.

Privatizing retail permitting is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

This was a lawsuit challenging a housing project on environmental grounds some 30 years after the subject property was zoned for housing development, 20 years after the developer’s request for a permit, and after 10 years of planning and environmental review, plus a nearly one-half reduction in the number of permitted dwellings, a five-fold increase in open space, and after millions of dollars were exacted for in-lieu payments. The city approved the project in 2007.

Then the NIMBYs attacked in court. To its credit, the court in effect said “enough already” and rejected the NIMBY challenge. But the court also said that this was a case in which environmental laws “worked.” I would hate to see what it would take for their Lordships to acknowledge a case in which those laws didn’t work.

For more of a flavor of the Clover Valley case, see the write-up from the Meyers Nave law firm.

California’s CEQA, cont’d is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

• David Bernstein’s Rehabilitating Lochner, recently praised by George Will, is part of Cato series challenging constitutional law myths [Roger Pilon, earlier; Bernstein's recommended-books list]
• Constitutional conservatism: the forgotten history [Johnathan O'Neill, Heritage] “Progressive originalism” a development to be welcomed, but faces uphill slog [Damon Root, Reason] Tim Lynch: constitution is too hard to amend ["Amending Article V", Tennessee Law Review] Toobin’s “startling reappraisal” of Clarence Thomas in The New Yorker [Walter Russell Mead]
• When it comes to abortion clinics, left and right swap usual positions on regulatory burdens [A. Barton Hinkle, Richmond Times-Dispatch] I’m quoted on courtroom battles over state anti-abortion enactments [Steve Weatherbe, National Catholic Register]
• Exhaustion of remedies: “Property Rights Are Not Second-Class Rights” [Ilya Shapiro, Cato at Liberty]
• Property ordinance in San Juan Capistrano bars Bible study groups and even regular bridge foursomes. Bill of Rights violation? [CBS-LA]
• For those in the D.C. area, a George Mason U. event Monday at 5: Roger Pilon (Cato) vs. Ed Whelan (Ethics and Public Policy Center) on judicial activism [Fed Soc]

Constitutional law roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Many attorneys, planners, architects, engineers, scientists, developers, small businesses, business associations and governments in the state, and many environmentalists are agreed that CEQA needs major reform. Delays in the system are causing projects to suffer delays of 2 to 9 years to get EIRs approved, especially for (but not limited to) the failure to compare the project with all “feasible” alternatives, establish vague baseline analysis for existing mitigation, and the tricky determination as to which parts of regional, general and specific plan EIR findings can be incorporated, to eliminate duplication of effort and cost. The law is so confused on these points that it is a miracle that any EIR can survive its first round in the courts without a remand to do it over again. Complicating this result is the establishment of a specialized group of attorneys that initiate litigation at the drop of a hat, primarily because the statute authorizes attorney’s fees for any remand or reversal. Many community associations and no growth environmentalists use the EIR litigation process to delay and in many cases kill projects for little or no environmental substance.

California’s sclerotic CEQA is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Urban farming is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system