Land Use Reform and Property Rights: The Need For Caution
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Description
Professor Vicki Been explores how legislators have utilized property rights arguments to justify land use reforms. These laws have been triggered in part by the fears of homeowners who face devaluation of their properties, and by the need to balance the rights of landowners seeking development against the interests of existing homeowners. She looks to states that have been incubators for land use reform when they remove overly restrictive regulations. However, pre-existing homeowners who obtained ownership under restrictive private covenants have challenged the shift in land use reform as they face new developments interfering with their property. The legal arguments available to pre-existing homeowners to protect their constitutional property rights become critical impediments to change. Been speculates about whether one can succeed in fighting land use reform when the reform is grounded in sound public policy.
First Page
212
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035311361.00017
Source Publication
Rethinking the Law of Private Property
Source Editors/Authors
Jan G. Laitos
Publication Date
7-22-2025
Publisher
Edward Elgar Publishing
Recommended Citation
Vicki L. Been,
Land Use Reform and Property Rights: The Need For Caution,
Rethinking the Law of Private Property
212
(2025).
Available at:
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/2154
