A Blog About North Carolina Land Use and Zoning Law
I had long thought that one could only learn integrity in two ways: from good parenting and personal mentoring and from the examples of inspirational people. To that short list I’m tempted to add opinions from the N.C. Court of Appeals.
A recent but unpublished opinion (ExperienceOne Homes v. Town of Morrisville) does…
When it comes to the amoebic growth and prosaic functionality of the urban civitas, I am, to put it bluntly, a nerd. I was last in Florence in 1982, the same week Italy won the World Cup in a sport I could barely play and certainly didn’t follow, but it didn’t stop me from climbing…
For more than 15 years I’ve advocated for various carriers and cell tower companies so that their customers can text their boyfriends, call their offices or surf the internet. Until now, however, I never appreciated what a cellular infrastructure does for democracy.
In today’s New York Times, researchers with Rand Corporation editorialize (“Can You Hear…
2,000 years ago all roads, it was said, led to Rome. Today, all roads – or at least all major societal trends – lead, eventually, to changes in local zoning codes. Like when we adopted entirely new zoning codes to adjust to being an automobile dependent society. Like when communities adopted regulations controlling placements of…
When it comes to appellate litigation there are holdings (which are fodder for legal treatises) and there are lessons (which become fodder for life in the real world). Last week the N.C. Court of Appeals issued an unpublished opinion in Jobe, et. al. v. Town of Haw River that has a clear holding and a…
If you’ve ever been forced to make a decision or take a stand while frightened or anxious, then this blog post is for you. After all, the ownership and use and memories of land and “place” evoke strong emotions. You probably won’t study the emotional aspects of land in a law school or urban planning…
Recent protests over the mosque near Ground Zero seem to have spawned similar protests across the country, from Murfreesboro, TN to Temecula, CA to Sheboygan, WI where proposed local mosques have become lightening rods for religious intolerance expressed in the context of allowable uses of land.
An August 8, 2010 New York Times article (“Across…
Five years ago I was a guest lecturer at UNC-Chapel Hill. My anthro-laden topic was “territoriality” in the land use context. This past month, researchers in Uganda’s Kibale National Park published a paper stating “Tom Terrell was right.” Well . . . not in those specific terms, but close enough for me to exclaim “See!?!”…
A few days ago I commented upon North Carolina’s woefully inadequate protest petition statute and how the Town of Jamestown had to figure out whether protest petitions were valid (or not). I received several replies, some offering further commentary and others with questions.
In response to one of the comments I offered this reply: “I’m…
3-D technology in movies – and now TV – certainly enhances the visual experience, especially in cinematic phenomena like Avatar. But is there a 3-D element to a rezoning protest petition? I don’t think there is, and you’re thinking “what’s he talking about??”
Let me explain.
North Carolina allows property owners within a rezoning tract’s…
