Publications

16-Apr-2021

MUNICIPAL REGULATION OF GOVERNMENTAL USES

by victor@cixxfive.com By Terry S. Welch Municipal Law Theories

In day-to-day municipal land use practice, attorneys and planning staff often are required to address and evaluate whether a city’s land use regulations apply to other governmental entities. While we generally assume municipal zoning powers do not apply to the United States, state or county governments, and there is limited authority relative to public schools, is that actually correct?

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23-Apr-2020

HOT TOPICS IN LAND USE LAW

by victor@cixxfive.com By Terry S. Welch Municipal Law Theories

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.

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25-Apr-2019

WE CAN’T REGULATE THAT?

by victor@cixxfive.com By Terry S. Welch Municipal Law Theories

As attorneys who regularly confront land use issues, we often encounter certain areas where local governmental regulatory authority is either completely or significantly circumscribed by state or federal statutory authority. As a result, local governments are not free to undertake regulation without facing the potential that they may have just acted contrary to state or federal law.

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23-Mar-2018

POLITICAL HOT TOPICS IN THE LAND USE WORLD

by victor@cixxfive.com By Terry S. Welch Municipal Law Theories

As attorneys, we often encounter hot land use issues at local levels of government. While those issues may include the zoning application du jour or some other topic that results in droves of constituents descending on city council hambers or a county commissioners court meeting, there are a few issues out there that recently have become the subject of intense public debate.

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06-Apr-2017

LAND USE ISSUES IN THE SHARING ECONOMY

by victor@cixxfive.com By Terry S. Welch Municipal Law Theories

“Sharing economy” is an umbrella term with a wide range of meanings, often used to describe economic and social activity involving online transactions. As the Federal Government writes, a variety of new business models have emerged in the past few years and are dramatically reshaping how services and products are provided in an expanding number of sectors. Fundamentally, sharing economy platforms use internet, smartphone and software technologies to create marketplaces that facilitate transactions between numerous peers—decentralized buyers and sellers who are frequently individuals or small entities.

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