Land Development Law Assignment: Zoning, Environmental Law, Cases

This document provides a comprehensive solution to a land development law assignment. It begins with an analysis of Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., focusing on zoning ordinances and their constitutionality under police power. The assignment then examines Berman v. Parker and Reitman v. Mulkey, discussing the legislature's authority to ensure community aesthetics and the implications of the Fourteenth Amendment on economic rights and civil liberties. Finally, it explores key environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and the Clean Water and Air Act, highlighting their roles in environmental protection and public health. The solution is supported by relevant legal references.

Running head: LAND DEVELOPMENT LAW
Land Development Law
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1LAND DEVELOPMENT LAW
Answer to Q1
In the case of Village of Euclid v Ambler Realty Co, the court analyzed the legality of the
zoning ordinance and observed that the ordinance should be justified in the light of police power.
In this case the court tried to analyze if the zoning exclusions were lawful. The significance of
the case lies in being the first judgment dealing with zoning ordinances which aimed to bolster
zoning practices in the Unites States (Mail, Mynk & Planner, 2015). The question was whether
the zoning ordinance violated Amber Realty’s right to property clause under the Fourteenth
Amendment. The Court held that the zoning ordinance was valid and well within the authority of
the village’s police power it was observed by the court that the company’s accusation of the
ordinance not being in line with due process was not well founded. The Courts have held that
zoning is permissible if it is not arbitrary and there is a valid justification and the zoning is within
the police power. Zoning comes with a few restrictions like it should be done keeping in mind
the welfare of the people and a valid rationale behind doing it
Answer to Q2
In the case of Berman v Parker 348 U.S. 26, 33 (1954) where it was held that it is within
the authority of the legislature to ensure that a community looks beautiful and any step taken
towards maximizing that aim does not violate the Fifth Amendment. In Reitman v Mulkey, 3387
U.S. 369 (1967) by a California Constitutional amendment, it was held that it was invalidated
because permitting private persons to sell their property to whoever they wanted to gave rise to
state action. It was the Court’s right to preserve civil liberties (Chemerinsky, 2015). The
fourteenth amendment was held to be in violation of economic rights and that it constituted

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economic discrimination. This landmark decision was held in examining the legality of the Civil
Rights Act.
Answer to Q3
The National Environmental Policy Act was the first written law to form a broad
framework of environmental law. The aim of the NEPA is to ensure that all government agencies
and branches give equal protection to environment protection (Plater et al., 2016). The NEPA
requirements mandate that the impacts of likelihood course of action be assessed before
undertaking any project.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is a public law that enables the proper
management of hazardous as well as non hazardous wastes. The federal agencies are obligated to
adhere to the waste management policy of the Government.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act were
passed in the year 1980. This was enacted to stop the hazardous waste practices that were going
on in the 1970s (Percival et al., 2017). The Act empowers state governments to scrutinize
materials that pose a threat to human health. The liability of the state Government has increased
manifold and now it has become their duty to ensure that everyone is living in a safe and healthy
environment. The Clean Water and Air Act are federal laws that regulate safe water and air and
aim to protect public health and welfare.

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Reference
Chemerinsky, E. (2016). Constitutional law. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
Mail, V. C. U., Mynk, C. B., & Planner, A. S. (2015). Re: Comments on the Draft Environmental
Impact Report for Revisions to the Kern County Zoning Ordinance–2015 (c), Including
Implementation of All future Activities Undertaken Pursuant to the Amendment.
Percival, R. V., Schroeder, C. H., Miller, A. S., & Leape, J. P. (2017). Environmental regulation:
Law, science, and policy. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
Plater, Z. J., Abrams, R. H., Graham, R. L., Heinzerling, L., Wirth, D. A., Hall, N. D., ... &
Graham, R. L. (2016). Environmental law and policy: Nature, law, and society. Wolters
Kluwer Law & Business.