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November 25, 2013 I Volume 7 I Issue 22 <br />Zoning Bulletin <br />ties in developing zoning ordinances that will encourage the develop- <br />ment of more pedestrian, transit, and bike -friendly neighborhoods, and <br />more vibrant, thriving, downtown districts." <br />Source: Scituate Mariner; www.wickedlocal.com/scituate <br />VIRGINIA <br />In a nonbinding advisory opinion, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli <br />concluded that "[1]ocal officials would have little influence over ura- <br />nium mining if Virginia decided to end a decades -long prohibition." If <br />the General Assembly ended the moratorium, Cuccinelli wrote, "a loca- <br />lity's authority related to uranium mining will depend upon federal and <br />state law in effect at that time, including the enabling legislation for <br />uranium mining enacted by the General Assembly." The opinion adds: <br />"If the General Assembly chooses to establish a permitting program for <br />uranium mining and milling operations within the Commonwealth and <br />provides for related regulation, such legislation will affect local govern- <br />ment authority to regulate such operations by ordinance." "On the other <br />hand," he wrote, "the General Assembly could enable concurrent <br />regulatory authority to its appropriate agencies and localities, in which <br />case the locality could exercise such authority so long as such exercises <br />do not conflict with federal or state law." "Even if the legislature al- <br />lowed local zoning ordinances over mining, the local ordinances could <br />'not be drafted in such a way as to be arbitrary or capricious either in <br />their terms as written or in their application,' " Cuccinelli wrote. "Fur- <br />ther, such zoning ordinances could not be so restrictive as to impose a <br />ban on that otherwise legal activity." <br />Source: The Roanoke Times; www.roanoke.com <br />12 © 2013 Thomson Reuters <br />