Land Use Accountability Project

Regions

- Maryland
  1. November 16, 2009
    
    Town Bypasses Normal Channels to Aid Major Development
    
    Talbot County officials weren’t enamored of the town of Trappe’s desire to build a major housing development, so they twice turned down the Eastern Shore hamlet’s efforts to upgrade local sewer and water capacity, in 2004 and 2005. And theoretically, that should have been the end of it. But it wasn’t. Read more
  2. August 05, 2009
    
    Government Layoffs Spark Debate Over Zoning, Development
    
    On the surface, the consolidation of planning departments in Worcester County, Maryland, seems a reasonable response to a recession-fueled drop in home sales and new construction. But the timing of the cuts, coming amid a major rewrite of development policies for one of the East Coast’s premier beach-front communities, is drawing suspicion from environmentalists and scrutiny from both the state planning department and the editorial page of the Baltimore Sun. Read more
  3. June 26, 2009
    
    ‘Smart Growth’ Goals Frustrated By Local Authorities
    
    In a pasture, along a tree-lined road, a small herd of hefty black-and-white striped “Oreo cows” — more formally known as Belted Galloways — graze near the entrance to a housing development widely regarded as one of the few examples of “smart growth” on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Read more
  4. January 27, 2009
    
    No Sanctuary From Economic Troubles
    
    Investment banks and real estate developers aren’t the only ones reeling from the ups and downs of the economy. A dramatic case in point: the National Audubon Society’s 950-acre bird sanctuary on the Chesapeake Bay, which is quite suddenly facing an uncertain future due to its unique financial structure. Society officials say they’re committed to assuring that the spectacular site remains undeveloped, but the troubling bottom line is that they cannot keep the property because the funding needed to maintain it has collapsed. Read more
  5. August 20, 2008
    
    Eastern Shore Homebuilder Investigated for Storm Water Runoff
    
    The New Jersey-based homebuilder K. Hovnanian Enterprises is under investigation by the Department of Justice for possible violations of the Clean Water Act. Read more
- National
  1. July 21, 2009
    
    Rebuked Appraisers Reborn as Real Estate Agents
    
    In 2007, a mortgage lender flagged the work of veteran Florida home appraiser Jerome Woolf for review, a process that often leads to an appraiser losing a lender’s business — a potentially disastrous financial hit for a small businessman like Woolf. Read more
  2. April 14, 2009
    
    The Appraisal Bubble
    
    In 2004, years before plummeting real estate values turned Fort Myers, Florida, into a top five foreclosure capital, appraiser Mike Tipton faced a dilemma. Read more
  3. November 19, 2008
    
    Outsiders Target Indian Land for Risky Business
    
    Deep in the foothills, miles above California’s Sacramento Valley, the 640-acre home of the Cortina Band of Wintun Indians lies empty except for six houses, a graveyard, and the spot where the band’s ceremonial roundhouse once stood. Read more
- Pennsylvania
  1. January 27, 2009
    
    With Development Pressure Off, Townships and Open Spacers Flex Their Dollars
    
    When DeLuca Homes bought 215 acres of farmland in central Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the late 1990s, it drew up plans for Estates at Sugarmill and Victoria Park, two high-end subdivisions where homes would likely have sold for $600,000 to well over $1 million. Read more
  2. August 06, 2008
    
    Residents and Developers Battle to a Draw in Bucks County
    
    When the bullet smashed through the living room window of Rick Patt’s Bucks County farmhouse, he was asleep. He didn’t hear the gunshot. He didn’t hear the glass break. Read more
  3. August 06, 2008
    
    The Curative Challenge
    
    If land planners in Buckingham Township in central Bucks County, Pennsylvania, had their way, the Village of Buckingham Springs, a 151-acre age-restricted modular home community, would not exist. The land where it sits would still be a farm. Read more
- Virginia
  1. August 20, 2009
    
    Major Developer Faces Foreclosure or Bankruptcy
    
    The largest private landowner in Loudoun County, Virginia, Greenvest LC — the focus of a series of bruising development battles — has defaulted on a $130 million loan, putting the majority of its real estate holdings into a foreclosure auction scheduled for Tuesday at the county courthouse. Read more
  2. July 24, 2009
    
    Builders Fight Proposed Home Sprinkler Requirement
    
    Firefighters and sprinkler manufacturers are locked in a fierce national battle against home builders over a proposed requirement for sprinklers in all new homes and townhouses, with a crucial vote scheduled in Virginia early next week. Read more
  3. June 17, 2009
    
    The Battle for Wheatland
    
    The Wheatland Manor House was built 35 years before the Revolutionary War. The farmland surrounding it served as a focal point of a small community during the Civil War and is today a symbol in a new land war, one that has spawned accusations of corruption, fraud, and deception, as developers, preservationists, and politicians wrestle over the future of historic Loudoun County, Virginia. Read more
  4. June 17, 2009
    
    Dealing ‘New Jersey Style’
    
    Salvatore J. Cangiano enjoys a reputation as a shrewd land speculator and developer, one who isn’t shy about pressing his ownership rights through litigation — “I’m very competitive” — or, perhaps, just by sheer force of will. And pretty much all those descriptors were on display in the rough-and-tumble struggle that ended with him in possession of Wheatland Farms in Loudoun County, Virginia. Read more
  5. February 26, 2009
    
    The “Soft Underbelly” of Development?
    
    Diana Johns had just moved into her four-bedroom, 6,500-square-foot Leesburg, Virginia, home in 2002 and was thrilled with its elegant pillars, golf-course views, and expansive, sunny rooms. But the bleating alarm tied to the home’s “nonconventional” septic system signaled that beneath the surface, something was terribly wrong. Read more

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