This blog, maintained by Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Touro Law Center Dean and Professor of Law Patricia Salkin, is designed to provide a forum for the discussion of current laws, policies and decisions that affect the use of land. It highlights new court decisions, new state and federal laws and policies, and actions at the local government level that guide and/or impact land use and community development. Current contributors to the blog include Touro Law graduate Matthew Loeser and Touro Law student Heidi Kolence.
Readers may use this blog to keep current on trends in land use law by subscribing to the daily email to bring news of the “case or development of the day,” and readers may also watch developments in specific areas of the law by using the categorical tags to review all recent posting relating to a particular topic. All views and opinions are welcome in the form of comments to individual postings. Check back periodically to see whether others have posted comments to cases of interest to you and and/or your clients.
Faculty and students of law and planning may use this blog to stimulate classroom discussion on new developments in the law, as well as to generate ideas for paper topics and course presentations. Students are welcome to contribute to the comments on the postings including providing perspectives and observations based upon other related cases you may be reading in your coursework.
LAW OF THE LAND 
Hi Patty,
Looks great! I’ll be a frequent visitor and let my JD, Planning and dual degree students know about it.
Good luck.
Alan
By: Alan Weinstein on August 7, 2007
at 9:02 am
Indeed. Great blog! Keep up the good work, and I’ll keep reading.
By: www.CEQABlog.com on June 23, 2011
at 1:14 am
Another land use blog — excellent news. I’ve subscribed, and suggested my readers do the same. Look forward to visiting often.
— Robert Thomas
By: Robert Thomas on August 18, 2007
at 6:11 am
Patty
This is terrific. While I am not surprised by the quality of the site, I am continually amazed by your prodigious efforts and volume of work. Don’t you sleep?
By: Howard Protter on August 27, 2007
at 3:07 pm
Patty-
Another feather in your cap!! I agree, you must never sleep! I never could keep up with in my days at Albany Law! Good work, I will be sure to share with others interested in land use and planning!
By: Karin McArthur on September 13, 2007
at 12:23 pm
Dean Salkin:
I’ve taught land use law for 25+ years and wish there had been a site like this during all that time. It is terrific and will be a staple reading source for my graduate students for the next 25 years. 🙂 Congratulations on a great endeavor.
By: Jim Cornehls on September 16, 2007
at 6:03 pm
our firm’s land use attorneys and their consultants will find this a wonderful resource…well done
By: Scott Fein on October 3, 2007
at 12:46 pm
Patty: Great Blog. I especially appreciate it as an ALS alumni. I practice in Maine. You may be interested in recent legislation in Maine that regulates big box retail development. The law just became effective this past September. The “Informed Growth Act” can be found at http://janus.state.me.us/legis/LawMakerWeb/externalsiteframe.asp?ID=280024788&LD=1810&Type=1&SessionID=7. If that doesn’t send you there you can look up LD 1810 on the Maine Legislature’s website at Maine.gov.
The law requires developers to pay $40,000 to have the municipality hire an expert to perform an economic benefit analysis that becomes part of the municipal site plan approval. The planning board then must make a determination not only on land use criteria, but also on economic benefit criteria. I worked (unsuccessfully) on behalf of a Maine real estate trade association to try to prevent enactment of the bill, but politically the anti Walmart and anti big box advocates had the ear of the legislature.
We have yet to see the impact of the bill, and it has not yet been tested in the courts.
Great Blog. Keep up the good work.
By: Gary Vogel on December 3, 2007
at 10:58 pm
Terrific site! And I agree with all the kudos! Great job and very interesting-a real benefit to the ALS community and the legal profession.
By: Molly Wilkinson on December 26, 2007
at 12:44 am
Can’t wait to spend a while here getting caught up on old posts. This looks great.
By: Mitchell on October 22, 2009
at 5:33 am
Great BLOG Patty… glad I found it. I will share it with my planning collegues and visit it often.
By: Chuck Voss, AICP on February 23, 2010
at 4:30 pm
You are a very thoughtful author. This is a great site. Thank you for addressing this and helping people see it this way. I have loved looking over your blog posts.
By: MN Oakdale Lawyer on January 29, 2011
at 8:25 pm
Great site, I plan on checking in regularly.
By: Ann Hope Ruzow Holland, Ph.D. on March 1, 2011
at 5:14 pm
Very interesting blog, Patty. Thanks for all the hard work you are doing to make this resource for all of us.
By: John on July 29, 2011
at 12:22 pm
The Environmental Council of Sacramento and Sierra Club filed a lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court in March 2013. It is challenging the board of supervisors’ approval in January/2013 of a low-density development known as Cordova Hills. The case may be a key legal test for SB 375, a 2008 state law requiring regional governments to meet GHG-reduction targets established by the Air Resources Board. Can a global issue wag local land use policy?
Hoping to find something more about it here
By: rex on January 17, 2014
at 2:09 pm