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Smart Growth or Dumb Bureaucracy?

In the west Chicago suburb of Sugar Grove—population 4,000, twice what it was 10 years ago—new large-lot developments spread spider-like from the downtown public library, police station, and village hall out into open farmland. The village has no sizeable employers or large shopping centers, and has limited recreational facilities. All those things are available close by in other suburbs and, of course, in the city of Chicago. After elementary school, children travel to neighboring suburbs for high school.

Planning Is Essential: A Reply to Bishop and Tilley

Timothy S. Bishop and Cristina C. Tilley, litigators in the Chicago office of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, offered up a Dialogue in the July 2002, issue of the Environmental Law Reporter News & Analysis entitled Smart Growth or Dumb Bureaucracy? They didn't cite the Article I wrote with my law partner of 25 years, Gurdon H. (Don) Buck, Smart Growth, Dumb Takings, which was also published in this august periodical. I don't think we own the form of the title beginning with "Smart" and linked to "Dumb," but it would have been nice to have been recognized.

Successful Community Strategies to Protect Open Space

The preservation of open space has captured the public's imagination. Taxpayers are lining up to vote in favor of referenda authorizing their local or state governments to borrow funds to purchase open land or its development rights. Environmental groups are forming coalitions to support public acquisition of open space and the adoption of laws regulating development in and around open lands. Opponents of urban sprawl target the loss of open space as one of the major impacts of runaway development.

Gardner v. New Jersey Pinelands Comm'n

The court holds that zoning regulations of a state commission that limit the use of land in an environmentally sensitive area protected under federal law do not constitute an unconstitutional taking of private property. Congress established the Pinelands National Reserve in New Jersey under the Nati...

Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt

The Court holds that an Alabama act that imposes a disposal fee on hazardous wastes generated outside the state, but not on hazardous wastes from sources within Alabama, violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The operator of a commercial hazardous waste landfill in Alabama, which is ...

Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Templet

The court upholds a district court ruling that Louisiana statutes banning the import of hazardous waste from foreign countries violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The court holds that it must affirm the district court's decision in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1992 decision in...

Government Suppliers Consolidating Servs. v. Bayh

The court rules that Indiana waste transportation and disposal laws that impose restrictions on fleet dedication, backhauling, vehicle registration, bonding, and fees to discourage disposal of out-of-state solid waste violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Indiana enacted these restri...

Hammond v. Madera, County of

The court holds that a California county, as a public entity and holder of the power of eminent domain, did not act in good faith when it entered private property to build improvements and thus must fully compensate the landowners for its own improvements. The court first concludes that the inapplic...

Bowman v. Franklin, City of

The court dismisses claims by property owners under 42 U.S.C. §§1983 and 1985 against a city, a waste management company, and a construction company for injunctive relief and monetary damages, based on alleged violations of civil rights guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S....

Diamond Waste, Inc. v. Monroe County

The court holds that a county ordinance imposing strict regulations on persons and corporations that import out-of-county waste for disposal in the county is subject to strict scrutiny under the Commerce Clause. Following the Supreme Court's holding in Ft. Gratiot Sanitary Landfill, Inc. v. Michigan...