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    January 12, 2022 Section News

    Highlights from the 2021 Land Use Institute: 35th Annual Event Held in October

    Frank Schnidman and Patricia Salkin

    Introduction

    The 35th Annual Land Use Institute was held virtually on October 19, 20, 26 and 27, over four afternoon webinar sessions. This year’s program was sponsored by the Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, and co-sponsored by, among others, the American Bar Association Section of State and Local Government Law, and the New York State Bar Association Local and State Government Law Section. More than 100 participants joined faculty and moderators for the sessions to get the latest information on cases and regulatory activity, affordable housing, “hot topics,” and ethics, diversity, inclusion, and bias.

    The annual Land Use Institute program is designed for attorneys, professional planners, and government officials involved in land use planning, zoning, permitting, property development, conservation and environmental protection, and related litigation. It not only addresses and analyzes the state-of-the-art efforts by government to manage land use and development, but also presents the key issues faced by property owners and developers in obtaining necessary governmental approvals. In addition, the entire approach of the program was to provide practice pointers that gave immediate “take-home value,” and the 2021 program truly delivered that!

    Program Summary

    During the four afternoon webinar sessions, the preeminent faculty of practitioners and academics provided a nationwide perspective without losing sight of state-specific issues. There was critical review and analysis of the most important new cases, extensive practice-oriented discussion of basics and “hot” topics, as well as guidance on routine and complex procedural issues.

    Webinar 1 on October 19 included a panel on Update on Planning, Land Use, and Eminent Domain Decisions, and one on Federal Laws, Regulations, and Programs Affecting Local Land Use Decision-Making.

    Webinar 2 on October 20 included the Annual Richard F. Babcock Faculty Keynote Address. Richard Babcock was one of the 20th century’s greatest land use attorneys, and the first Chair of the predecessor course to the Land Use Institute. In his honor each year, a faculty member is selected to present a major address on a topic of substantial current interest. Faculty member and Professor Michael Allan Wolf presented Challenges and Opportunities for New Affordable Housing Construction in the President Biden Administration. Commentators to the presentation were Professor Daniel Mandelker and retired New Jersey Judge Peter Buchsbaum. The second panel of the afternoon was Redevelopment: Repurposing Excess Office and Retail Space.

    Webinar 3, on October 26, covered hot topics, and included a panel on Addressing Challenges of Climate Change, and one on Jurisdiction Over Native American Tribal Lands.

    Webinar 4, on October 27, opened with a panel on Ethical Considerations for the Land Use Practitioner and Governmental Lawyer, and closed with one on Diversity, Inclusion, and Bias Considerations Facing Practitioners.

    Plans are already underway for the 36th Annual Land Use Institute, and if COVID-19 concerns are behind us, tentatively planned is a mid-summer live program at Touro Law Center, Central Islip, Long Island, New York.

    Access to Land Use Institute Video and Course Materials

    All webinar sessions were recorded and will be available in early 2022 on the Touro Law Center Institute for Land Use and Sustainable Development Law web page. Later in 2022, the course materials and PowerPoint presentations from all four sessions will also be available on the web page in PDF format. Access to all this material will be at no cost. The link to this web page is: http://www.tourolaw.edu/academics/institute-land-use-sustainable-development-law

    In addition, Co-Chair Patty Salkin will be providing a link to this material on her Land and the Law blog when it is available. It will be available at https://lawoftheland.wordpress.com/links-of-interest/

    A future edition of State & Local Law News will provide the links to the 2021 Land Use Institute material, as well as the save-the-date information for the 2022 program.

    Faculty and Moderators

    The Planning Chair for the 35th Annual Land Use Institute was: Frank Schnidman, former Distinguished Professor of Urban and Regional Planning; and former John M. DeGrove Eminent Scholar Chair, Florida Atlantic University, DeLand, Florida. He also served on Faculty.

    The Planning Co-Chair was Patricia E. Salkin, Senior Vice President, Academic Affairs, Touro College and University System, and Provost, Graduate and Professional Divisions, Touro College, New York, New York. She also was on Faculty.

    Faculty and Moderators were:

    • Paul Boudreaux, Professor of Law, Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, Florida
    • The Hon. Peter Buchsbaum, Judge, New Jersey Superior Court (ret.), Stockton, New Jersey
    • Jennifer Casey, Casey Law Group, Chair, Suffolk County Planning Commission, Huntington Station, New York
    • Stan Eichelbaum, CEO/President, Planning Developments, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Florida
    • Richard Eisenberg, Of Counsel, Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, PC, Garden City, New York, and Adjunct Professor of Law, Touro Law, Central Islip, New York
    • Alyse Delle Fave, Rigano, LLC, Melville, New York
    • Beth Gazes, Taylor, Eldridge & Endres, PC, Smithtown, New York
    • Christopher J. Gobler, Ph.D., Stony Brook University, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Southampton, New York
    • W. Andrew Gowder, Jr., Austen & Gowder, LLC, Charleston, South Carolina
    • Felix Jimenez, Inspector General for the Miami-Dade County Office of the Inspector General, Miami
    • Wendie L. Kellington, Kellington Law Group PC, Lake Oswego, Oregon
    • Kathy Kinsman, Former Utah Assistant Attorney General, Santa Ynez, California
    • A. Thomas Levin, Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klien, P.C., Garden City, New York
    • Michael Lewyn, Associate Professor, Touro Law Center, Director of the Institute on Land Use and Sustainable Development, Central Islip, New York
    • Daniel R. Mandelker, Howard A. Stamper Professor of Law, Washington University, St. Louis
    • Victor Marquez, Squire Patton Boggs, San Francisco
    • Dwight Merriam, Weatogue, Connecticut
    • Jim Montes, Assistant Dean, Office of Career & Professional Development, Touro Law Center, Central Islip, New York
    • James F. Murley, Chief Resilience Officer, Miami-Dade County, Miami
    • Erica Edwards-O’Neal, Founder, EEO Consults, New York, New York
    • Robert Osley Saunooke, Former President, National Native American Bar Association, Cherokee, North Carolina
    • Deborah Rosenthal, FitzGerald Yap Kreditor, LLP, Irvine, California
    • Robert H. Thomas, Joseph T. Waldo Visiting Chair in Property Rights Law, William & Mary Law School, Williamsburg, Virginia
    • Michael Allan Wolf, Professor of Law, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
    • Richard Zapolski, Associate Partner, Cameron Engineering & Associates, New York, New York
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    Frank Schnidman and Patricia Salkin

    Frank Schnidman is a former distinguished professor of Urban and Regional Planning, and is former John M. DeGrove Eminent Scholar Chair, Florida Atlantic University. He practiced law with the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig after serving as director of the University of Miami School of Law Graduate Program in Real Property Development. Patricia Salkin is the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Touro College & University System, and Provost, Graduate and Professional Divisions, Touro College. She is former dean of the Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, where remains a professor of law. She is a nationally recognized scholar on land use law and zoning.