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February 25, 2015 I Volume 9 I Issue 4 Zoning Bulletin Baltimore Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, Inc. v. Harker, 316 Md. 683, 685, 693, 561 A.2d 219 (1989)(nonprofit corporation contracting with state to provide adolescent shelter facilities, in pursuit of statutory policy, not entitled to share state's immunity from municipal zoning ordinances); Washington Tp. v. Central Bergen Com- munity Mental Health Center, Inc., 156 N.J. Super. 388, 406-408, 383 A.2d 1194 (Law Div. 1978) (nonprofit corporation contracting with state to provide mental health care and services, pursuant to statutory plan, not immunefrom township zoning ordinance as arm of state government); but see City of Portsmouth v. John T. Clark & Son of New Hampshire, Inc., 117 N.H. 797, 798-99, 378 A.2d 1383 (1977) (private port terminal operating firm under contract to provide services to state port authority exempt from city zoning ordinance). Case Note: In its decision, the court emphasized that the extension of a state's immunity to a private, for profit entity'should be a rare occurrence. Zoning News from Around the Nation NATIONWIDE The United States Supreme Court is considering a case that has the potential to "weaken" the Fair Housing Act of 1968. In the case, the court must address the issue as to "whether the law requires blacks and other minorities to prove intentional racial discrimination in sales, rentals, zoning or lending practices, or whether a policy's disparate impact is enough to make it illegal." Source: USA Today; www.usatoday.com DELAWARE A bill was expected to be introduced in the General Assembly that seeks to limit the University of Delaware's longstanding immunity from zoning laws. The bill would reportedly "require that [the University of Delaware] conform to relevant zoning restrictions for any commercial development on university property, but would continue the school's exemption for projects related to student services or academic research." Bill sponsors say it makes the zoning process more fair for the city of Newark and other commercial developers. Source: The News Journal; www.delawareonline.com MASSACHUSETTS A state commission is reportedly recommending major zoning changes for many coastal communities in Massachusetts. A panel is expected to propose "the creation of buffer zones along the coast, where construction is not allowed," and call for "experimenting with new ways to fight erosion and for the use of `sea -level rise scenarios' when studying new waterfront developments." Source: myfoxboston.com; www.rnvfoxboston.com 12 © 2015 Thomson Reuters