The one-year anniversary of the Sands Anderson Virginia Local Government Law blog came and went on July 24.  Anniversaries, like birthdays, are opportunities to look back and celebrate.

And this blog has a lot to celebrate!

The Virginia Local Government Law blog has steadily grown in readership over the year, and in July 2010 became the most popular blog among the many popular blogs at Sands Anderson PC!  This blog has covered some of the many issues affecting the practice of local government law.  We have published articles on land use, zoning, vested rights, Boards of Zoning Appeals, Boards of Equalization, tax appeals, noise ordinances, the private v public practice of law, new alternative onsite septic systems, stormwater regulations, transfer of development rights, family subdivisions, various civil procedure topics, social media, holiday issues, the Second Amendment and legislation and opinions issued by the U.S. and Virginia Supreme Courts affecting local governments.  And more.

Wow.  This recap is a reminder of how diverse and interesting the practice of local government law can be.  While a specialty in its own right, its substantive law covers quite a bit of territory.

Thanks for your readership, and for your support of this blog.  We welcome your comments – just use the box below.  Thanks again.

Today is filming day at Sands Anderson! 

I spent about an hour being filmed for various video clips that will be used on my firm website page, and on this blog page, www.VaLocalityLaw.com.  Other lawyers from various teams are also being filmed. (more…)

Sands Anderson is a blogging law firm.  If you go to our firm website home page, you will see the eleven blogs (at this time) supported by the lawyers of Sands Anderson PC.

The 2010 Virginia General Assembly adopted HB 1063, which is a helpful simplification of the process by which BZA decisions are appealed to circuit court. It is effective July 1, 2010.

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A number of local government attorneys have been asking tough questions about HB 374 and SB  632, identical bills which became effective law on July 1.  2010 Va Acts of Assembly ch. 549,  2010 Va Acts of Assembly ch. 613. (more…)

U.S. Supreme Court Rules for Incorporation in McDonald v. City of Chicago: Litigation Likely

Last year, this blog reported that the U.S. Supreme Court would be ruling on a key Second Amendment case arising in Chicago that may have a bigger impact on state and local governments than the D.C. gun ban case previously decided.  The post was entitled, “U.S. Supreme Court to hear Key Second Amendment Case.” (more…)

In his campaign, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell proposed privatization of the state-owned ABC (liquor) stores as one way to raise revenue without raising taxes.  It is important to remember that taking a use that is now public and making it private has repercusions under local land use law and can have concerns for the citizens.

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The Virginia Supreme Court issued four opinions today of particular interest to local governments.  Three involve localities as parties (City of Falls Church, County of Fairfax, and Town of Vienna), and the fourth involve a construction case filed against the Commonwealth of Virginia in which the Court addresses several issues of interest to local governments.  (Excerpted from the Supreme Court of Virginia website:

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Local governments, like all litigants, are facing a brave new world of electronic documents and discovery.  When the 21st century ease of creating, sharing and destoying information meets the long-standing law of spoliation, there is a volatile mix. 

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On May 19, a team of great folks at Sands Anderson and our special guest Karen Harwood conducted a webinar on the State of Vested Rights (in Zoning), 2010 — the first installment of an ongoing series called the Sands Anderson Land Use Forum. 

We’ve been busy!  (This will explain, in part, the length of time since my last post, for which I apologize.)

Planned for several months, the webinar was well-received and timely, given two major vested rights decisions by the Virginia Supreme Court in 2009, Hale v. Board of Zoning Appeals of Blacksburg, 277 Va. 250, 673 S.E.2d 170 (2009) and Board of Supervisors of Stafford County v. Crucible, 278 Va. 152, 677 S.E.2d 283 (2009), and the amendment  of the vested rights statute, Virginia Code § 15.2-2307, by the 2010 General Assembly via HB 1250.

The webinar included an overview of vested rights law that lead up to the codification of a Virginia statutory vested rights standard in 1998, the vested rights cases since codification, most notably City of Suffolk, ex rel Herbert v. Board of Zoning Appeals, 266 Va. 137, 580 S.E.2d 796 (2003), and, of course, Hale and Crucible.

The webinar also included excellent analysis by Karen Harwood, former Deputy Fairfax County Attorney and long-time legislative liaison for Fairfax County.  Karen gave her perspective as one involved in both the General Assembly process that lead to the original codification of vested rights in Virginia in 1998, and this year’s process that led to this year’s HB 1250.  Her extensive experience in both land use law and in the legislature, and her straight-forward commentary and advice made the webinar a learning experience for everyone.

Joining me on the panel from Sands Anderson were Ann Neal Cosby and Annemarie Cleary, fellow members of the Sands Anderson local government team and primary authors of the local government amicus curiae brief in the Crucible case.  Since I authored the local government amicus curiae brief in the Hale case, Sands Anderson has been very active in the advancement of vested rights law in Virginia!

There were two primary goals in offering the webinar for free to local government attorneys, zoning officials and staff: (i) to give local governments free training at a time when their budgets are stretched, and (ii) to give timely commentary and assistance to local governments trying to address HB 1250.

As discussed in an earlier post on this blog, HB 1250 added a new defined “significant affirmative governmental act” (SAGA) to the six already delineated in the statute.  Now, for the first time, a written determination by the zoning administrator can, under the right circumstances, be a SAGA.  By statute, a SAGA can potentially vest rights to a use or density despite a change in the zoning ordinance.  So the stakes can be quite high.

Here is an excerpted version of the outline on Vested Rights 2010, to give you an idea of the content of the webinar.  Local government attorneys, zoning officials and staff members are welcome to contact me for the full outline.

Thanks to the over 200 local government attorneys, zoning officials and staff who participated, and the entire team that made the webinar a success! 

We are planning another installment of the Sands Anderson Land Use Forum for Fall 2010, tentatively scheduled for November 17, 2010.  What topic would you like to see presented?