The Role of the Lawyer in Redevelopment
Session: Redevelopment, Innovation, and New Urbanism
April 14, 4:00 PM
Peter A. Buchsbaum
Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith, Ravin, Davis & Himmel LLP
Also from this session:
The following is the outline of a talk by Peter A. Buchsbaum on the Role of the Lawyer in Redevelopment.
Also see Retrofitting Edge Cities into Centers
( originally published in Land Use Law 6/98)
The Role of the Lawyer in Redevelopment
I. INTRODUCTION - THE THREE ROLES OF THE LAWYER
A. Process - Guardian or Critic
B. Litigation
C. Counselor - Design Issues (Long Branch)
- Contract Issues (Atlantic City)D. And What's in it -- Why Redevelopment
II. PROCESS
A. Notice
1. Hearing Notice
2. Reports of Agencies
3. Decision NoticeB. Conduct of Hearing
1. Record
2. Opportunity to Be HeardC. Decision
1. Adequate Findings
2. Findings Reflect EvidenceD. Plan
1. Meet Technical Requirements
2. Not Arbitrary
III. LITIGATION
A. Procedures
B. Project v. Plan (Atlantic City Case)C. Relation to Other Planning Processes - Symons
D. What Record
E. What's the Public Interest
1. Atlantic City - a Real Deal
2. Winters V. Voorhees (Ice Rink) and Spruce Manor Apts. -- No Real Need
3. Berman, Midkiff, Boraas, Levin -- the Public Interest Writ Large
IV. COUNSELOR
A. Regulation
1. Part of Team With Planner/Designer
2. Innovations in Regulation - Long Branch Areawide Permit
3. Prescriptive v. Precatory
4. Envelope Regulations As In Zoning Digest Article
5. Non-prescriptive Where Possible And Share The VisionB. Project Development
1. Business Terms
A. Construction Timing
B. Public Subsidy; Recoupment Of Same
C. Infrastructure Agreement
D. Design Criteria
E. Tax Abatement
F. Institutional Financing
G. Environmental
H. Demolition, Relocation
I. Zoning Criteria2. Relating Project to Plans
3. Ensuring Public Interest Is Protected - Remedies for Non-Performance
V. WHY DO IT
A. Developer Perspective
1. Zoning Contract
2. Ability to Get OutParcelsA. Atlantic City
B. Long Branch - 300 Owners3. Subsidies
4. Infrastructure CommittmentB. Municipal Perspective
1. Jobs And Revenue
2. Revitalization of Areas According to a Timetable
3. Attract State/federal MoneyC. Changing Style
1. Infill More Important
2. Large Scale Clearance Is Discouraged, e.g. S.W. Washington
3. Applicable to Less Impacted Areas - Bridgewater (an Edge City), Long Branch
VI. WHY RESURGENT
A. Smart Growth Ideal
1. Concentration on Cities
2. Densification of SuburbsB. Suburban Resistance to Greenfield Development
C. Changing Demographics
D. Traffic
E. Indicators
1. Litigation Efflorescence
2. Developer Interest
Text
Author and Copyright Information
Copyright 2002 by author
Peter A. Buchsbaum, Esq.
Partner, Real Estate Department
Chair, Land Use Practice Group
Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith, Ravin, Davis & Himmel LLP
99 Wood Avenue South
Iselin, NJ 08830
732-549-5600
pbuchsbaum@greenbaumlaw.com
Peter A. Buchsbaum is a partner of the firm in its Real Estate Department,
and is chair of the firm’s Land Use Practice Group. Mr. Buchsbaum
concentrates his practice in land use planning and related environmental,
municipal and real estate issues.
Mr. Buchsbaum is a graduate of Cornell University (1967). He obtained
his J.D. from the Harvard Law School in 1970. He began his legal career
as law secretary to the Honorable Joseph Weintraub, then Chief Justice
of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
A great deal of his work has involved Mt. Laurel cases and other efforts to obtain rezoning and regulatory approvals for private development. He has also represented public sector clients as general municipal counsel and also on specific issues which include formulation of redevelopment plans in Long Branch and Atlantic City, New Jersey. His work encompasses motion, trial and appellate litigation; development applications before local boards; and representation, and participation in advisory committees involving state agencies such as the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), the State Planning Commission; and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
He has served as a member of the legislative and appellate practice committees and as chair of the Land Use Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association. He has been a member of the Council of the American Bar Association's (ABA) State and Local Government Law Section and chaired its largest committee, the Land Use, Planning and Zoning Committee. He also is an adjunct professor at the Rutgers School of Law - Camden and a faculty associate of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Mr. Buchsbaum has written an award-winning Courts column for New Jersey Reporter magazine and a column on recent developments in state and local government law for the ABA section newsletter. He has written articles on land planning law in such periodicals as the Urban Lawyer, the Real Estate Law Journal and the New Jersey Law Journal, and has authored papers on innovative planning techniques for the American Planning Association and the National Endowment for the Arts. He co-edited a book on state growth management planning throughout the United States and has contributed to a Matthew Bender text on New Jersey land use law and ABA books on the trial of a land use case and hot topics in land use law.
Mr. Buchsbaum has served as First Vice President of the ARC of NJ (formerly Association for Retarded Citizens) and is on the Board of COSAC, which advocates for the autism community. He is a Trustee of the Hunterdon County Housing Corp. and the Hunterdon County United Way. In November 2000, he was elected to the West Amwell Township Committee and now serves as Deputy Mayor.
He has spoken before the ABA, the American Planning Association, the New Jersey Judicial Conference, the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education and other groups. In 1994, he was appointed by Senate President Donald DiFrancesco to the New Jersey Law Revision Commission on which he still serves. In 2001, he was elected to the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and was named in Who's Who In America.