The Land Use Law Center’s 14th Annual
Alfred B. Delbello Land Use and Sustainable Development Conference
Reflecting on the Past, Planning for the Future Celebrating 100 years of Zoning December 11, 2015
THANK YOU TO OUR CONFERENCE SPONSORS BREAKING GROUND SPONSORS
WELL GROUNDED SPONSORS
GAINING GROUND SPONSORS
NEW GROUND SPONSORS
MORNING BREAK SPONSOR
AFTERNOON BREAK SPONSOR
McCarthy Fingar LLP
Counselors at Law
The Land Use Law Center’s 14th Annual Alfred B. Delbello Land Use and Sustainable Development Conference
Reflecting on the Past, Planning for the Future Celebrating 100 years of Zoning WELCOME The Land Use Law Center’s annual Land Use & Sustainable Development Conference is a significant educational event in the region, with more than 250 attorneys, business professionals, and local leaders learning about national, regional, and local innovations, challenges, and best practices. This year’s theme of the conference is Reflecting on the Past, Planning for the Future: Celebrating 100 years of Zoning. The Conference will discuss transformative land use, zoning, and sustainable development laws and policies that are shaping communities in the Tri-State Region, as they respond to current challenges. Conference panels will use zoning’s centennial as a broad framework to discuss various land use topics and their promise for the future. The Conference will bring together national, regional, and local land use experts to highlight how communities are transitioning towards sustainability, disaster recovery, and revitalization. This year’s conference is dedicated to the legacy of Alfred B. DelBello, who was instrumental in creating many significant and lasting land use initiatives during his tenure as Mayor of Yonkers, Westchester’s County Executive, New York’s Lieutenant Governor, and as an innovative legal practitioner: a career of over four decades of innovation and accomplishment. Thank you for joining us for this exciting event!
ABOUT THE LAND USE LAW CENTER Established in 1993, the Land Use Law Center at Pace Law School is dedicated to fostering the development of sustainable communities through the promotion of innovative land use strategies and collaborative decision-making techniques, as well as leadership training, research, education, and technical assistance. Through its many programs, the Center offers municipalities, land use leaders, citizens, advocates, planners, attorneys, real estate industry leaders, and other land use professionals assistance that enables them to achieve their development and conservation goals at the local and regional levels. Its activities provide opportunities for students of Pace Law School to gain in-depth, practical experience that allows them to become practice-ready attorneys serving private, public, and non-governmental clients. The Land Use Law Center offers extensive research and consulting services; conferences, seminars, and clinics; law school courses; practitioner and citizen-leader training programs; continuing legal education programs; multimedia resources; and frequent publications on sustainable land use and community development.
Learn more about the Land Use Law Center at www.law.pace.edu/landuse or connect with us on our social media pages. See Center updates, photos, videos, event information, and more. Look for us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @LandUseLC.
8:00 – 10:00 am Registration and
Continental Breakfast
8:30 – 10:00 am
Land Use Workshops
Session 1 – JI-Omni Room Planning Ethics in a Changing Environment (for Professional Planners) Join in this session and learn about the AICP Code of Ethics and how it affects planners and the planning profession. Participate in an engaging discussion as the speakers address the implications of the Code through the use of sample ethical scenarios and personal anecdotes. Examine underlying questions of ethics that frequently pose dilemmas for practicing planners in the political context in which they operate and the impacts that may have on the “public interest”.
Gina Martini, AICP, Director of Planning, VHB Valerie Monastra, AICP, Senior Project Manager, VHB
Session 2 – Ottinger Hall-101 Ethics in Land Use: Guiding Principles for Attorneys and Land Use Board Members This program will focus on how to recognize and resolve ethical issues and avoid conflicts of interest in the land use context.
Patricia E. Salkin, Esq., Dean and Professor of Law, Touro Law Center Lester D. Steinman, Esq., Partner, McCarthy Finger LLP
10:00 – 10:10 am
Opening Remarks
JI-Lecture Hall
Jessica A. Bacher, Esq., Executive Director, Land Use Law Center Tiffany B. Zezula, Esq., Deputy Director, Land Use Law Center
10:10 – 10:40 am
Plenary Session
JI-Lecture Hall
Reflecting on the Past, Planning for the Future: Celebrating 100 years of Zoning The morning plenary will discuss transformative land use, zoning, and sustainable development laws and policies that are shaping communities in the Tri-State Region, as they respond to current challenges. Panelists will reflect on zoning’s past, its deficiencies given today’s challenges, and its tendency to embrace and respond to change.
Donald L. Elliott, FAICP, Director, Clarion Associates, LLC Dwight H. Merriam, FAICP, Esq., Partner, Robinson & Cole LLP John R. Nolon, Esq., Counsel, Land Use Law Center & Professor of Law, Pace Law School Patricia E. Salkin, Esq., Dean and Professor of Law, Touro Law Michael Allan Wolf, Esq., Professor of Law & Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law
10:40 – 11:00 am
Break
11:00–12:15 pm
Breakout Sessions
Session 1 – Ottinger Hall-101 Driving to a New Destination – Strategies for Reducing Car Use in Low Density Areas Land use planners have increasingly embraced transit-supportive land use regulations in order to encourage the use of alternative modes of transportation including transit, walking, and biking. Less clear, however, is the effectiveness of these regulations on actually changing travel behavior and reducing vehicular dependency. Join transportation engineer, Sam Schwartz (aka Gridlock Sam), who recently published a new book titled “Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and The Fall of Cars,” in a close one-on-one dialogue with urban planner, Kevin Dwarka. This conversation will focus on Sam’s insights regarding travel behavior, road congestion, street design, parking policy, and the use of alternative transportation. Although this session will draw upon Sam’s unique insights as an engineer to cities all over the world, this session will also address the unique transportation challenges affecting the Hudson Valley region.
Kevin Dwarka, J.D., Ph.D., Managing Principal, Kevin Dwarka Land Use & Economic Consulting Samuel Schwartz, P.E., President & CEO, Sam Schwartz Consulting, LLC
Session 2 – Ottinger Hall-201 Facilitating Clean Energy Deployment through Local Land Use Law Reform: A Detailed Roadmap New York plans to lead the nation in transforming the energy industry, relying in the process on local governments to define and include various clean energy facilities, from solar to geothermal to microgrids, in their zoning ordinances and to remove barriers to their approval. This panel will create a roadmap for how this can be accomplished by local governments, real estate developers, their attorneys and planners, as well as by energy providers.
Emily Chessin, Consultant, Meister Consultants Group Jordan Gerow, Esq.,Staff Attorney, Pace Energy and Climate Center, Pace Law School John R. Nolon, Esq., Counsel, Land Use Law Center & Professor of Law, Pace Law School Karl R. Rábago, Esq.,Executive Director, Pace Energy and Climate Center, Pace Law School MODERATOR: Josh Galperin, Esq., MEM, Clinical Director and Lecturer in Law, Environmental Protection Clinic, Yale Law School Environmental Law and Policy Program Director, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
Session 3 – JI-Lecture Hall Integrating Sustainability in Policy, Planning and Zoning Meet four Hudson Valley communities and learn how they are integrating various sustainability elements for green infrastructure, transit-oriented development, solar installations, and the coordination of capital infrastructure projects into their respective policies, plans, and zoning codes. The panel will provide specific recommendations to overcome barriers and to advance the regional Sustainability Plan. Join us to learn from these municipalities who can share their experience and lessons learned so that your local government can take advantage of future funding opportunities.
Michael Blum, Chair, Energy Environment Committee, Town of Somers Jeffrey P. LeJava, Esq., Associate Counsel, Open Space Institute James Pinto, Economic Development Specialist, City of Peekskill Nancy Seligson, Supervisor, Town of Mamaroneck Gregg Swanzey, Director, Office of Economic Development & Strategic Partnerships, City of Kingston
12:15 – 2:00 pm Lunch –
Keynote and Award Presentation
JI-Omni Room
Luncheon Keynote Address The Evolution of Smart Growth Gov. Parris N. Glendening, President of Smart Growth America’s Leadership Institute and the Governors’ Institute on Community Design Given the 100 year history of zoning, smart growth’s emergence in the 1990s makes it the new kid on the block. With largely philosophical and ideological roots, smart growth began with a focus on fighting sprawl and preserving open space. Today, the country faces rapidly changing demographics, a serious need for economic competitiveness, and tough fiscal realities. Pressing issues like economic inequality and natural disasters have brought many Americans to realize the importance of communities that are sustainable, equitable, and connected. Governor Glendening will review this transformation of smart growth and its implications for the future.
2:00 – 3:15 pm
Breakout Sessions
Session 1 – Ottinger Hall-101 Retooling Economic Engines: Building Waterfronts for the 21st Century Industrial waterfronts powered local economies for hundreds of years. Today, however, many of these waterfronts have lost their economic importance as heavy industry has given way to the creative economy. This session will demonstrate how modern zoning, local partnerships and smart investments can retool these outdated economic engines and prepare them for 21st Century challenges.
Paul Beyer, Director of Smart Growth, NYS Department of State Division of Local Government Joseph Cotter, President, National RE/Sources Gregg Swanzey, Director, Office of Economic Development & Strategic Partnerships, City of Kingston Nava Tabak, Conservation Science, Scenic Hudson, Inc. Eoin Wrafter, AICP, Commissioner, Dutchess County Planning and Development MODERATOR: Jeff
Hudson, Inc.
Anzevino, AICP, Director of Land Use Advocacy, Scenic
Session 2 – Ottinger Hall-201 Missing Middle Housing: A Key to Affordable Walkable Neighborhoods Once upon a time, zoning codes assumed that there were four basic types of housing – single-family homes, duplexes, attached townhomes, and apartment buildings. But a look at any healthy, older, walkable neighborhood shows that is not true. Scattered throughout the urban fabric is a “missing middle” of creative, small-scale housing types (often created before zoning was adopted) that complement our neighborhoods. The “middle” that is “missing” from many zoning codes includes triplexes, fourplexes, auto courts, courtyard apartments, bungalow courts, pockets of cottage neighborhoods, live-work units. These are often the very types of housing most desired by many groups that are under-housed in our current housing stock – Millennial singles and couples, the elderly, small households, and one-parent households. This session will explore opportunities for promoting “missing middle” housing through both form-based and more traditional (and hybrid) zoning codes.
Donald L. Elliott, FAICP, Director, Clarion Associates, LLC Karen Parolek, Principal, Opticos Design, Inc.
Session 3 – JI-Lecture Hall Trends in Zoning and Planning: Changing Downtowns & Retrofitting Office Parks This session, organized by the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation (WMPF), will cover the trends toward mixed-use downtowns and retrofitted office parks, and how zoning ordinances have changed in reaction. The presentations will highlight past WMPF Planning Award-winning projects as well as case studies of office parks lining the 287 corridor.
Patrick Cleary, AICP, PP, Cleary Consulting: Planning & Environmental Services Christopher Gomez, AICP, Commissioner of Planning, City of White Plains Bonnie Von Ohlsen, RLA, LEED GA, Director of Environmental Planning, John Meyer Consulting, PC Linda B. Whitehead, Esq., Partner, McCullough, Goldberger & Staudt, LLP MODERATOR: Christian
Miller, AICP, City Planner, City of Rye
3:15 – 3:30 pm
Break
3:30 – 4:45 pm
Breakout Sessions
Session 1 – JI-Lecture Hall Case Law Update: Recent Challenges to Zoning Several recent high court cases challenge local officials to respond. In this session, national legal experts will discuss several such challenges, including the legality of mandatory affordable housing requirements, the vulnerability of existing zoning to discrimination challenges under the Fair Housing Act, shifting judicial standards for determining what is a regulatory taking, and new standards for regulating signs.
Donald L. Elliott, FAICP, Director, Clarion Associates, LLC Dwight H. Merriam, FAICP, Esq., Partner, Robinson & Cole LLP John R. Nolon, Esq., Counsel, Land Use Law Center & Professor of Law, Pace Law School Patricia E. Salkin, Esq., Dean and Professor of Law, Touro Law Center Michael Allan Wolf, Esq., Professor of Law & Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law
Session 2 – Ottinger Hall-101 Forecasting the Future Drawing from the Regional Plan Association’s work on the Fourth Regional Plan, panelists will discuss the future challenges to zoning and land use regulations. They will analyze and report on population pressures, demographic challenges, equity, settlement patterns, and their land use ramifications, ending with reflections on viable strategies for the future.
Christopher Jones, Vice President for Research, Regional Plan Association H. Claude Shostal, Former President, Regional Plan Association Jeffrey M. Zupan, Senior Fellow, Transportation, Regional Plan Association MODERATOR: Honorable
4:45 – 6:00 pm
Noam Bramson, Mayor, City of New Rochelle Reception
JI-Atrium
GROUNDBREAKER’S AWARD RECIPIENT
Sustainable Westchester The Land Use Law Center is happy to announce that this year’s recipient of the Groundbreaker’s Award is the notfor-profit organization, Sustainable Westchester. The Groundbreaker’s Award is given to a graduate or group of graduates of the Center’s Land Use Leadership Alliance (LULA) Training Program that have done exemplary work in the region using the types of land use and decisionmaking tools and techniques taught in the LULA program. Sustainable Westchester was selected from a prestigious group of other past LULA graduates nominated for this award. Sustainable Westchester has close to 30 LULA graduates active in its mission. About Sustainable Westchester Sustainable Westchester is a consortium of Westchester County local governments that, according to its mission statement, “facilitates effective sustainability initiatives, engages community stakeholders, and shares tools, resources, and incentives to create healthier, vibrant and attractive communities, now and in the future.” Sustainable Westchester is a 501(c)(3) entity and is the result of the merger of two predecessor organizations, the Northern Westchester Energy Action Consortium (“NWEAC”) and the Southern Westchester Energy Action Consortium (“SWEAC”). The resulting founding of Sustainable Westchester took place in December 2014. Within the first year, 39 cities, towns and villages joined the consortium, representing over 800,000 residents—or 90% of the entire County.
Sustainable Westchester’s activities are entirely memberdriven and are organized into one of four major domains: Energy, Land Use and Transportation, Materials Management, and Water. Each of these four domains has a Working Group comprised of local experts, advocates, activists and stakeholders. The Working Groups meet and drive the program activities or policy initiatives. In its first year, Sustainable Westchester is launching several “first-in-the-state” initiatives. Over 20 cities, towns and villages have joined the Community Choice (Energy) Aggregation Program with the goal of lowering energy supply prices for residents and small businesses in the participating municipalities. The Municipal Solar Buyers Group Program offers cities, towns and villages a cost effective way to install solar photovoltaic systems on public facilities to lock in lower future electricity prices, without a large capital expense. Sustainable Westchester’s Working Groups have also been very effective in partnering with other like-minded organizations on key initiatives, such as the Solarize Westchester Program and the Energize New York Program with the Energy Improvement Corp. Information sharing is very important to Sustainable Westchester. In 2015, Sustainable Westchester co-hosted public workshops on a wide variety of topics from Complete Streets programs to Solar Permitting and Zoning updates. for more information, visit: http://sustainablewestchester.org/
FOUNDERS AWARD RECIPIENT
Alfred B. DelBello The Theodore W. Kheel Center on the Resolution of Environmental Interest Disputes was launched in April 2008 to train lawyers and local leaders in environmental and land use dispute resolution. Located at the Land Use Law Center on the Pace Law School campus in White Plains, New York, the Kheel Center aims to promote the use of non-traditional forums to resolve environmental and land disputes. To further this mission, the Kheel Center bestows an annual Founder’s Award upon an individual or municipality that has worked collaboratively with a community and reinvented democracy to make change happen. The Kheel Center and Land Use Law Center are pleased to posthumously honor Alfred B. DelBello with the 2015 Founder’s Award to recognize his work in furthering sustainable planning and development in the region. During his illustrious practice, Al exemplified the type of collaboration and spirit that the Kheel Center celebrates. As former New York State Lieutenant Governor, Westchester County Executive, City of Yonkers Mayor and Councilman, Alfred B. DelBello brought innovation, vision and practical good-sense administrative ability to all the public offices he held. On the state level Al created and administered 10 regional economic development councils throughout New York. He coordinated a nuclear emergency planning strategy for the Indian Point nuclear facility, spearheaded the Task Force on Aging-Out and the New York State Commission on Youth Suicide Prevention. As Westchester County Executive, he reduced property taxes for three consecutive years while achieving the highest investment credit rating of any government in New York State for the County. He established offices for the aging, disabled, women and youth. He created the Labor Advisory Board, Consumer Protection Agency, Veterans’ Advisory Board, Office for Economic Development and reduced the number of ineligible people on welfare by more than 70 percent. He built the Westchester Medical Center, the Westchester Transit System and Solid Waste System, created the Westchester Arts Council, Bicycle Sundays on the Bronx River Parkway, Muscoot Farm Park and so much more. He brought professionalism, pride and excitement to county government. While Mayor of Yonkers, Al restored the city’s fiscal stability by balancing city budgets, reducing operational debt and attracting an unprecedented amount of state and federal aid.
He created the first budget surplus in 10 years, eliminated an inherited $15 million debt, established a citywide narcotics program and Youth Services Agency, a cooperative Manpower Planning System, Office of Consumer Protection and a tenants advisory council. Finally, Al was a founding partner in DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr, one of the largest law firms in White Plains. Al’s community service was as broad as his government service. He was a member of the New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness, former chairman of the board of the Westchester Land Trust, member of the Senate Club of New York, National Association of Former State Troopers and The Business Council of Westchester. His vast former organizational affiliations involved local, state and national matters and were in the governmental, nonprofit, educational and environmental sectors – everything from Term Limits of Westchester Inc. to Iona College to National Council of Elected County Executives to Renaissance Project, as examples. The honors and awards Al received are as vast as his affiliations and run from honorary doctorate degrees to international recognitions to virtually every local organization. He was recognized early on in his career as one of the Outstanding Young Men in America (1970), 200 Rising Young Leaders in America by Time Magazine (1974), and Who’s Who in American Politics. Al was a pioneer in downtown revitalization, affordable housing, transportation planning, and open space preservation – all elements of sustainable development that align closely with the mission of the Land Use Law Center. Emblematic of his precocious contributions to this field was his appointment in 1994 by President Clinton to the President’s Council on Sustainable Development. This was when the understanding of sustainable development was in its infancy. As a member of that Council, Al worked with the Land Use Law Center in studying the future land use patterns of the Hudson Valley and identifying the barriers to achieving sustainable settlements. This effort led to the creation of the Land Use Law Center’s Land Use Leadership Alliance Training Program, a ground up effort to identify and train responsible local land use leaders to implement strategies that achieve sustainability. We thank Al for his many contributions and service to this region.
CONFERENCE ADVISORS Paul Beyer Director of Smart Growth NYS Department of State Division of Local Government Judith Breselor, AICP Executive Director New York Planning Federation Bennett Brooks Senior Mediator Consensus Building Institute David L. Callies, Esq. Benjamin A. Kudo Professor of Law University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law
Don Elliott, FAICP Senior Consultant Clarion Associates Michael B. Gerrard, Esq. Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice and Director, Center for Climate Change Law Columbia Law School Christopher Jones Vice President for Research Regional Plan Association Peter Kasabach Executive Director New Jersey Future
Jean Carroon, FAIA, LEED AP Principal-Design, Sustainability, Preservation Goody Clancy & Associates, Inc.
David Kay Extension Associate Cornell Local Government Program Cornell University
Jeanne Allen Carswell, LEED® AP BD+C, ND LEED® Certification Reviewer Green Building Certification Institute
David Kooris, AICP Director of the Office of Planning and Economic Development City of Bridgeport
Jason J. Czarnezki, Esq. Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law Pace University School of Law
Alan Mallach, FAICP Senior Fellow Center for Community Progress
John Dalzell, AIA, LEED AP+BD&C, ND Senior Architect Boston Redevelopment Authority Nestor M. Davidson, Esq. Professor of Law Director, Urban Law Center Fordham Law School John C. Dernbach, Esq. Distinguished Professor of Law and CoDirector, Environmental Law Center Widener Law - Harrisburg Campus Victor Dover, FAICP, LEED-AP, CNUAccredited Principal Dover, Kohl & Partners Donna Drewes, PP/AICP Co-Director Sustainability Institute, The College of NJ Kevin Dwarka, J.D., Ph.D. Managing Principal Kevin Dwarka LLC
Jennifer T. Manierre, CEM, LEED AP ND Associate Project Manager, Energy Efficiency Services NYSERDA Dwight H. Merriam, FAICP, Esq. Partner Robinson & Cole, LLP Stephen R. Miller, Esq. Associate Professor of Law University of Idaho College of Law - Boise Jessica Cogan Millman, LEED AP ND Chair, Location and Planning Technical Advisory Group USGBC Arthur C. Nelson, Ph.D., FAICP Director, Metropolitan Research Center, College of Architecture + Planning University of Utah
Lois A. New Acting Director New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Office of Climate Change Richard L. Oram Chairman Fund for the Environment & Urban Life Hari M. Osofsky, Esq. Professor Faculty Director, Energy Transition Lab Director, Joint Degree Program in Law, Science & Technology Faculty Member, Conservation Biology Graduate Program Fellow, Institute on the Environment University of Minnesota Law School Uma Outka, Esq. Associate Professor University of Kansas School of Law Andrew C. Revkin Dot Earth blogger, The New York Times Senior Fellow Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies Patricia E. Salkin, Esq. Dean, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center Touro College Joseph Schilling Research Assistant Professor, UAP; Director, MI Virginia Tech School of Public and International Affairs Randall E. Solomon Co-Director Sustainability Institute, The College of NJ Aaron Welch, LEED AP Senior Planner Raimi + Associates Michael Allan Wolf, Esq. Professor of Law and Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law University of Florida Levin College of Law
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