Land Use and Built Environment Laws and Regulations
This tab includes laws, legislation, regulations, agency guidance, and executive orders relevant to land use and the built environment.
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February 4, 2021
On February 4, 2021, New Jersey enacted Senate Bill (SB) 2607 amending the required components for municipal master plans in New Jersey to incorporate climate change risks and adaptation strategies. Specifically, the land use element of any master plan adopted after the bill’s passage must include a climate change and extreme weather vulnerability assessment as well as natural hazard mitigation strategies.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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November 4, 2020
In November 2020, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released a series of four guidance documents to implement part of the New York Community Risk and Resiliency Act (CRRA), as amended by the New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). The CRRA requires that state agencies consider future climate impacts as a part of certain planning, permitting, and funding actions. The CRRA also requires that the DEC issue guidance for state agencies and other audiences to implement the CRRA. In accordance with that requirement, DEC issued four guidance documents: (1) Using Natural Measures to Reduce the Risk of Flooding and Erosion, (2) New York State Flood Risk Management Guidance, (3) a guide on Estimating Guideline Elevations, which presents the principles introduced in the New York State Flood Risk Management Guidance to assist planners, engineers, designers, and architects in flood mitigation project design; and (4) Guidance for Smart Growth Public Infrastructure Assessment. While these guidance documents were developed by DEC to facilitate implementation of the New York Community Risk and Resiliency Act, much of the information presented is applicable to other jurisdictions that seek to manage floodplains in accordance with climate risks.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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September 29, 2020
In September 2020, the South Carolina legislature passed the Disaster Relief and Resilience Act ("the act," S. B. 259, codified at S. C. Code Ann. §§ 48-62-10, 48-62-310, 6-29-510(D)) to increase the state's resilience to natural disaster and flooding events. The act establishes the position of Chief Resilience Officer and the South Carolina Office of Resilience to coordinate disaster recovery and resilience efforts within the state, creates the Disaster Relief and Resilience Reserve Fund to finance disaster recovery efforts and hazard mitigation projects, and creates the Resilience Revolving Fund to provide low-interest loans to local governments to perform floodplain buyouts and restoration.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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July 15, 2020
The King County Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) Program in Washington State uses a unique market-based tool to achieve long-term planning goals and incentivize development in strategic areas that can be coupled with other legal and policy tools as a part of comprehensive coastal retreat strategies. King County created the TDR Program in response to state growth area management requirements and objectives. Participating local governments designate two areas "sending areas" — typically farmland, forest, open space, or priority natural resources areas — where they want to limit new development; and "receiving areas" in mostly urban areas where existing services and infrastructure can accommodate growth. Landowners in sending areas can sell their development rights to project proponents in receiving areas who can then use those rights to increase the size or density of a development project. Between 2000 and July 2019, 144,290 acres of rural and resource lands were conserved and protected through the King County TDR Program. The King County TDR Program provides one example of how several types of land acquisition programs and funding sources can be leveraged to achieve the benefits of both conservation and new, more resilient development. In a managed retreat context, TDR Programs modeled after King County can be used to preserve lands for ecological benefits through conservation easements, while ensuring new development is concentrated in areas that are less vulnerable to flooding and coastal hazards, such as sea-level rise and storm surges. This case study is one of 17 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Managing the Retreat from Rising Seas: Lessons and Tools from 17 Case Studies.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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July 15, 2020
The City of Austin, Texas has adopted a model to provide consistent relocation benefits for voluntary home buyouts in the city’s floodplains as a part of its “flood risk reduction projects .” In addition to the cost of a person’s original home, the city will provide homeowners with moving and closing costs, and a replacement housing payment if the cost of a new comparable home (located outside of the city’s 100-year floodplain) is more than the original home. This policy encourages owner participation in the buyout program and helps to minimize the e conomic and social costs of relocation. The city’s Watershed Protection Department prioritizes buyouts in accordance with a Watershed Protection Master Plan that strategically guides related city actions, including potential buyouts, to reduce the risks associated with erosion, flooding, and poor water quality. A mix of municipal bonds, federal grants, and local funds (primarily through a drainage fee paid by owners of properties based upon impervious surface cover) have been used to fund the buyouts. Austin’s example is noteworthy for its emphasis on implementing buyouts in accordance with a comprehensive flood mitigation program and facilitating transitions for people located in floodplains through relocation assistance. Other jurisdictions considering managed retreat could implement an interdisciplinary buyout approach across different sectors and government agencies (e.g., floodplain and emergency management and housing and community development). .
Resource Category: Solutions
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November 20, 2019
On November 20, 2019, the State of New York passed Senate Bill (S.B.) S6424A amending the state’s enabling statute for Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) programs to allow local governments to create a TDR program to mitigate risks from sea-level rise, storm surge, and flooding. TDR programs create market incentives to shift development away from areas where it is discouraged ("sending areas”) to areas where development is preferred (“receiving areas”). This is the first example of a state statute that explicitly includes language authorizing a local government to create a TDR program and designate sending areas for managed retreat purposes.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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June 2019
In June 2019, the New York Department of State published model local laws to increase resilience as part of its required actions under the State’s Community Risk and Resiliency Act (CCRA). The model laws are divided into chapters addressing land use and zoning, wetlands and watercourses, coastline protection, floodplain management, and stormwater control. The first chapter addresses zoning and land use as resiliency tools, outlines how to use zoning policies to accomplish resiliency goals, and includes model language local governments can adapt to that purpose.
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June 2019
In June 2019, the New York Department of State completed a set of model local laws to increase resilience as part of its required actions under the State’s Community Risk and Resiliency Act (CCRA). The model laws are meant to inform municipalities who want to adapt their own resiliency measures. Five categories of model laws are included in the model, which is divided into five corresponding chapters. The second chapter addresses wetlands and watercourse protection measures including buffers, overlay districts, and watercourse setbacks.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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June 2019
In June 2019, the New York Department of State completed a set of model local laws to increase resilience as part of its required actions under the State’s Community Risk and Resiliency Act (CCRA). The model laws are meant to inform municipalities who want to adapt their own resiliency measures. Five categories of model laws are included in the model, which is divided into five corresponding chapters. The third chapter addresses coastal shoreline protection measures, including coastal setbacks and erosion control districts.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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June 2019
In June 2019, the New York Department of State published model local laws to increase resilience as part of its required actions under the State’s Community Risk and Resiliency Act (CCRA). The model laws are divided into chapters addressing land use and zoning, wetlands and watercourses, coastline protection, floodplain management, and stormwater control. The fifth chapter addresses stormwater control measures, including reduction of impervious surfaces and mitigation where reduction isn’t available, and includes model language local governments can adapt to that purpose.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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