Portending what is likely to be a significant legislative session for local government powers and real property rights in North Carolina, the first "substantial" bill introduced in the 2015-2016 session of the North Carolina...more
We've blogged in the past about the City of Raleigh's massive zoning re-mapping process, which is meant to migrate all properties in the City's land use jurisdiction into the reach of the new Unified Development Ordinance. ...more
The City of Raleigh, growing at a seemingly undeniable pace, is aiming to "get ahead" of the governance challenges such growth portends by splitting the City's Department of Planning and Development into two separate...more
Former Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline was removed from office by Court order in the first half of 2012. The story behind her efforts to return to the office has been detailed at great length by the local Raleigh and...more
A post-Great Recession treat, the North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed today a ruling that the Town of Black Mountain is entitled to enforce subdivision performance bonds originally in the name of Buncombe County, after...more
How broadly will the appellate courts interpret a restrictive covenant applicable to real property? Not so broadly as to prohibit a parking lot to be used by customers for an otherwise expressly prohibited use....more
The North Carolina Court of Appeals issued a fractured ruling today on the manner of service and the interpretation of North Carolina Rule of Procedure 4(j1). The case is In re Powell, No. COA14-498 (December 2, 2014)....more
Thanks to the internet, is this a golden age of direct-to-consumer, everyday necessities like living quarters -- think AirBnB or Couchsurfing -- to transportation -- think Uber and Lyft? Is laundry next? What about eating? ...more
In 2011, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted the following statute allowing payment of attorney fees in the face of certain local government acts...more
Today, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued a decision giving legal operation to the common, catchall zoning ordinance provision stating that “[u]ses not specifically listed in the Table of Permitted Uses are...more
It's rare that an ordinary commercial lease term can make national news, at least indirectly.
Some higher-profile stores are bucking the Holiday trend this year and refusing to open on Thanksgiving day. Costco, Lowe's...more
We've blogged in the past about the efforts of Dominion Resources, Inc. to construct a natural gas pipeline from West Virginia, through Virginia, leading to southern North Carolina. We've also blogged about the anticipated...more
We've been quiet these past few weeks but the world has not been. We'd like to talk today about two entirely unrelated but fascinatingly fun topics: (1) the North Carolina Department of Transportation's ("NCDOT") idea to...more
Mortgage lenders beware. -
In late August, the D.C. Court of Appeals rendered a decision in Chase Plaza Condominium Association, Inc. v. J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., CA-5826-10 (August 28, 2014) determining that a...more
10/16/2014
All are presumed to know about the recent activity around the legal issue -- not the human issue, the legal issue -- of same-sex marriage.
In Asheville, in response to the coming legal change, the City Council earlier...more
As any good business knows, a good website is critical. A good website provides an impression, serves at a repository for information, functions as a means of communication and works as a vehicle for a transaction, among...more
Our regular readers will know that this blog is as much about land use, specifically, as it is about local government powers, generally, and the direct and indirect impacts on land use....more
We blogged last week about an innovation district coming to Durham, North Carolina, to be affectionately called "Durham ID".
Asheville, North Carolina, is poised to designate three innovation districts of its own in...more
This past session, the North Carolina General Assembly replaced the existing Underground Damage Prevention Act with the Underground Utility Safety and Damage Prevention Act, which took effect on October 1, 2014....more
The Interstate Renewable Energy Council reports in its U.S. Solar Market Trends 2013 that North Carolina ranks third among U.S. states in solar power installations in 2013. The 261 megawatts installed, which is how these...more
So many great ideas sound so simple, so obvious after development and actualization, right?
Velcro. Tupperware. The cheeseburger. Buying a condo in Manhattan's West Village in 1987....more
The Durham Innovation District, or Durham ID, is coming to downtown Durham, North Carolina. The project envisions the redevelopment of 15 downtown acres to include one million square feet of new office and laboratory space,...more
We've blogged in the past about the dance between the City of Raleigh and the State of North Carolina over the City's 300-plus acre Dorothea Dix campus, which belongs to the State, leased to the City, returned to the State,...more
Much of land use law involves questions over the breadth of local government powers.
Today, we're looking at a spat between two units of local government: a municipality and a school board. The decision in Gurba v....more
It was reported back in May 2014 that Dominion Resources, Inc. was considering at the time, an "extremely preliminary" prospect, the construction of a 450-mile underground natural gas pipeline from West Virginia, through...more