News Briefs
Nelson Symposium: The squeeze on local governments
by Spenser Solis and Andre Salhab
The Eighth Annual Richard E. Nelson Symposium brought more than 100 top legal experts, local government attorneys and municipal managers together on Feb. 13 to discuss challenges and proposed solutions to the multitude of problems faced by local governments.
The conference, titled “The Squeeze on Local Governments,” included presentations from experts in topics ranging from land-use, local government, property and environmental law. Michael A. Wolf, a professor of law and the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, organized the conference.
During his presentation, Frank S. Alexander, a professor of law at Emory Law School, described the impact of the foreclosure crisis on state and local governments. Foreclosures increase costs for local governments because they can bring with them instances of vandalism, arson and copper theft and said a single foreclosure in a neighborhood will reduce the value of properties within a half mile by 2.5 percent. To avoid that, Alexander suggested that local governments provide short-term leases to reoccupy vacant property.
Robert Guthrie, senior assistant county attorney for Orange County, Fla., outlined his county’s plans to use federal funding to purchase foreclosed structures. Through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), Orange County will improve troubled homes by coordinating with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity.
John D. Echeverria, executive director of the Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Institute and a professor at Vermont Law School, explained the implications of Florida’s Bert J. Harris Jr. Private Property Protection Act. Implemented in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Kelo v. City of New London, which allows the use of eminent domain to transfer land from one private owner to another to further economic development, the act is designed to curtail government encroachment on property rights. Despite it’s good intentions, the act has dramatically weakened the government’s ability to regulate property, he said, because it limits government’s ability to address complex property questions regarding abandonment, blight and economic development.
