Sullivan, Tabaracci & Rhoades, P.C. is pleased to announce that Liesel Shoquist has joined the firm.
Zane Sullivan interviewed By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian. Missoulian article
Robert Erickson, a Montana native, will be joining Sullivan, Tabaracci & Rhoades, P.C. as a senior associate. In 1997, Mr. Erickson graduated from The University of Montana with degrees in Business Administration, Political Science and a Communications Studies minor. In 2003, Mr. Erickson received his J.D. cum laude with a certificate in Environmental Law from the Tulane Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mr. Erickson has been in the practice of law for the past six years in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he focused primarily in the areas of commercial and civil litigation in the New Mexico state, federal, bankruptcy and tribal courts. Mr. Erickson will continue his practice in those areas in Montana. Mr. Erickson is licensed to practice in the Montana courts, the New Mexico state and federal courts, and in several tribal courts in New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. He enjoys hiking, biking and skiing and spending time with his wife and extended family in Montana.
Article published recently in The Montana Building Industry Association newsletter.
Involvement Protects Your Interests
The recent federal court decision, Willoughby Development Corporation v. Ravalli County, once again shows how important it is for developers and builders to be involved in shaping and influencing local and state law so that they aren’t negatively affected by those laws later on. In Ravalli County, developers bought property and submitted a subdivision application. Sometime after that, the county adopted zoning regulations limiting new subdivisions in the county to one residence per two acres. Ravalli County then applied the new regulations to the developers’ submitted application. Yet Montana law requires cities and counties to apply the zoning regulations in effect at the time the application is filed. When the developers sued the County for violations of both state and federal law, the Court determined that although the United States’ Constitution protects certain property and liberty interests, only independent sources such as state law can create or define such interests. The Court denied the developers’ federal claims but ultimately left the developers the chance to bring claims of state law violations before a Montana state court because “resolving the routine land-use disputes that inevitably and constantly arise among developers, local residents, and municipal officials is simply not the business of the federal courts…”
Instead, the federal court expressed that state and local law are better suited to resolving land-use disputes because of their knowledge and sensitivity to local conditions and the various interests at stake. Land-use issues can be quite complex. Those living in an area usually know the situation better than those outside it and are better suited to solving whatever problems come up. Here in Missoula, the Office of Planning and Grants, the City Council, the Mayor, and the County Commissioners are working with a number of out-of-state consultants on various plans, ordinances, and subdivisions rewrites that will largely impact the entire development community. Envision (the transportation plan for the city, which includes talk of mass public transportation); UFDA (Urban Fringe Development Area—designed to determine where growth should be permitted within Missoula County); Parkland Dedication for Small Subdivisions (requiring small subdivisions to dedicate a part of their land or pay a fee for parkland); the Zoning and Subdivision Rewrite; the Mayor’s Affordable Housing Initiative (now heavily considering inclusionary zoning and impact fees); and the Downtown Master Plan Rewrite and other Neighborhood Plans are just the latest issues before us. All of these will impact the development community, some of them in ways that are projected to slow or limit growth. It is essential that members of the development community contribute their knowledge, experience, and ideas to create positive short and long term solutions. To have a meaningful impact, everyone will need to be heard and be involved. Several groups have already begun this process. They currently work to encourage our local government to voluntarily include the development community throughout the planning process. Find out how your voice and your ideas can make the difference.
Aleea Sharp
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