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The Land Use Scholar program, run by Professors John and Jennie Nolon, recently turned its focus to promoting student scholarship. Through the program, 1Ls learn research and writing, while 2Ls learn how to write and publish legal academic pieces. LLMs are also eligible for the Land Use Scholar Program. The scholar program incorporates mentorship too. Recently, alumni who worked with the Land Use Law Center as students came back to speak to the newest group of Land Use Scholars. The alumni are now attorneys at Cuddy & Feder. The alumni spoke about their experiences as Land Use Scholars - which ranged from working on low carbon land use, form-based zoning codes, anti-displacement measures and more.

Over the past two years, the Land Use Law Center’s students developed the Land Use, Human Health, and Equity project. The initiative involves strategies for mitigating the public health impacts of four critical pandemics – inequity, viral disease, housing insecurity, and climate change. These strategies can contribute to communities’ healthy and resilient futures while also reinvigorating cities’ climate change management capabilities. Through a team of two dozen student researchers led by Professor Nolon and managed by his research assistant, Bailey Andree, this project addresses climate change and COVID-19 by discovering local solutions. The 1Ls in the program spent their first year volunteering time to research and write blogs on their research. The team produced 40 blogs for the Haub Environmental Law Program’s GreenLaw Blog. This year students were also published in several national law reviews and professional journals.

Motivated 1Ls and interested LLMs are invited to apply to become and use scholars in their final two years of law school. This year, four Land Use Scholars published work originally developed as part of the Land Use, Human Health, and Equity project in national law reviews and journals.

Land Use Scholar National Publications

Racial Impact Assessments in Land Use and Zoning
William West presented his paper at the ABA mid-year meeting of the Section of State and Local Government where he compared local land use racial impact assessments with RIAs in criminal law, federal administration, and not-for-profit advocacy. The article ends by raising issues for future implementation in land use policy and regulation. It will be published this summer in Thomson Reuters’ Zoning and Planning Law Report.

Equity-Based Comprehensive Plans (eCPs) – The First Generation
Rhea Mallet wrote on local government acknowledgments of racist land use practices contributing to current inequities. She notes that these governments are promoting land use policies to help redress this discrimination by adopting eCPs, comprehensive plans that center goals and objectives on equity principles. Her article was published in the spring issue of Zoning and Planning Law Report.

The Aerial View of Land Use: Preempting the Locals for Improved Housing Access
Bailey Andree co-authored with Professor Shelby Green an article on state housing policy, arguing that states should use preemption to require localities to take action on affordable housing development. It is accepted for publication by the ABA Journal of Probate and Property.

Gentrification and The Cycle of (In)Equity – Using Land Use Authority to Combat Displacement
Gabriella Mickel wrote on land use strategies for preventing displacement as municipalities attempt to address historical inequities. Her article will be published by the ABA’s Urban Lawyer, the law review of the Section on State and Local Government.

Low-Carbon Land-Use Laws
A fifth article was produced by Meg Byerly Williams, a former land use scholar and Haub Law graduate, on low-carbon land use strategies that were developed by the Land Use Law Center. It was published in this month’s issue of APA’s Zoning Practice as part of the project.

The Land Use Law Center has just announced its new Land Use Scholar team members and begun its new project on Climate Resilient Development, which is the focus of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report on climate change resilience, adaptation, and mitigation. The Pace Environmental Law Review will publish an article during the next academic year written by these students who will also be encouraged to publish their work in other national journals and advocacy and local government media. Read the blog post introducing the topic.