HOT TOPICS IN LAND USE LAW
23-Apr-2020
Local governments are often an incubator for novel land use practices— sometimes not because local governments themselves are necessarily innovative, but because local governments must respond to proposed innovative land uses. For example, most local governments did not adopt short-term rental ordinances in advance of the Airbnb or VRBO phenomenon; rather, short-term rental ordinances usually were adopted in response to the burgeoning short-term rental business already occurring in the community. The purpose of this paper is to identify several current hot-button land use topics and analyze how cities across Texas and the nation have endeavored to address these issues. In no particular order, I have attempted to provide a synopsis of those topics.