Agenda - Planning Commission - 04/07/2011

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Zoning Bulletin February 25, 2011 ( Volume 5 No. 4 Town had concluded that the proposed rezone was consistent with the Plan because of the Benderson Property's proximity to the University; the fact that Maple Road was a major arterial road; and the unlikely use of the Benderson Property for any other development based, in part, on its proximity to the sports arena and the University's stadium. The court agreed. It found that the Property was "in proximity to the University" and "close to the Plan's proposed location of a mixed -use center." Fur- thermore, the court noted that the Plan's proposed location of a mixed - use center was very similar to the layout of the Property: it was across the street from a residential area and buffered by a green area. See also: Bergstol v. Town of Monroe, 15 A.D.3d 324, 790 N.Y.S.2d 460 (2d Dep't 2005). Zoning News from Around the Nation CALIFORNIA The Foster City Council has "given preliminary approval to an ordi- nance" that would prohibit "any recreational or instructional school or business" such as "martial arts or dance studios, boxing gyms and fit- ness clubs" "from keeping their doors open during business hours." The proposed zoning change is in response to noise complaints. Source: San Mateo County Times; 2011 WLNR 538360 LOUISIANA The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ( "HUD ") recently filed a complaint against St. Bernard Parish, alleging discrimina- tory zoning and housing ordinances. Critics have long alleged that the Parish ordinances are "racially discriminatory" and "designed to main- tain the single- family residential character of the community." HUD has investigated Parish zoning ordinances (passed in December 2009) that eliminate any multifamily housing as a permitted use in five zoning areas (where that use was previously allowed). HUD says the ordinances have "created obstacles to those who want to provide and obtain affordable rental housing in the Parish, and that those obstacles discriminated in effect and intent based on race." One Parish councilman has said that the ordinances are not "against a group of people," but an attempt to protect property values. Source: New Orleans Times Picayune; 2011 WLNR 1820888 MARYLAND The state legislature is considering a bill that "would eliminate munic- ipal authority to regulate county school construction." The bill "would subject county schools to the county planning process even when a fa- 2011 Thomson Reuters 11