Preservation Law Reporter
Selected Abstracts
The Preservation Law Reporter is the national authority on the laws that protect your community's character. You can download the order form for Preservation Law Reporter – 2004 edition, or order back issues. Recent issues have included topics such as:
National Register: The Second Circuit has upheld the denial of an application to remove a historic district from the National Register, finding that the National Park Service had acted within the scope of its authority.
Section 106 Review: The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has issued new regulations governing federal agency responsibilities under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which include new efforts to streamline agency reviews.
Cultural Resources: The Tenth Circuit has upheld a conviction for illegal trafficking in Navajo cultural items in violation of the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act, finding that the law was not unconstitutionally vague as applied.
State Legislation: Several states have enacted new legislation relevant to historic preservation, including new incentives for historic rehabilitation.
Conservation Easements: The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 created new benefits for conservation easement donors, allowing 40 percent of the value of land subject to conservation easements to be excluded from estate tax.
Regulatory Takings: The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the right to a jury trial for an uncompensated taking under 42 U.S.C. 1983, but declined to extend Dolan's "rough proportionality" rule to land use cases involving permit denials.
Federal Preservation Laws: The D.C. Circuit has ruled that the FHWA must conduct its historic resource review before approving a highway under Section 4(f) of the DOTA.
Economic Hardship: The Preservation Law Reporter discusses various factors for evaluating economic hardship claims under historic ordinances.
Archaeology: In a major decision under the Archeological Resources Protection Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals has up-held a record sentence for several violations--including the looting of Anasazi sites at Canyonlands National Park and Manti-LaSal National Forest.
Growth Laws: The -Sixth Circuit has upheld a slow-growth ordinance enacted by the City of Hudson, Ohio, finding that the ordinance was rationally related to its purpose of meeting current and future infrastructure needs without restraining its resources.
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA): In the context of a case challenging the application of a historic preservation ordinance to historic religious property, the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is unconstitutional.
Regulatory Takings: In an important ruling on the "parcel as a whole" rule, the D.C. Circuit rejected a takings claim by a property owner seeking to build townhouses on the subdivided lawn of a historic apartment building.
Law Summary: The Preservation Law Reporter examines Transferable Development Rights (TDR) programs adopted by state, regional and local jurisdictions in the United States, which have helped to protect ecologically sensitive lands and historically significant buildings, while enhancing the value of property subject to restrictions.
Local Ordinances: The Preservation Law Reporter answers "frequently asked questions about local preservation laws."
Comprehensive Planning: A Maryland appeals court has ruled that a county planning commission erred in approving a proposed Wal-Mart near historic Chestertown under its comprehensive plan.
Tax Incentives: Former Director of the Center for Preservation Policy Studies at the National Trust, Harry K. Schwartz, analyzes state and local property tax incentives for historic preservation.
Religious Property: A Connecticut appeals court has upheld the denial of permission to install vinyl siding on a historic church -- against a free exercise claim under the U.S. Constitution.
Traditional Cultural Site: The Ninth Circuit has enjoined the U.S. Forest Service and Weyerhaeuser Co. from proceeding with a land exchange affecting the ancestral route of the Muckleshoot tribe under the NHPA. The agency had failed to adequately mitigate the adverse effects of logging resulting from the exchange.