Fall 2025
Professor(s):
Kellen Zale (FACULTY)
Credits: 3
Course Areas: Energy, Natural Resources and Environmental Law
Real Property, Trusts and Estates
Time: 10:30a-12:00p MW Location: 211
Course Outline: This course examines land use law and policy. Land is one of the most fundamental and valuable resources to individuals and communities, and a wide array of public regulation as well as private controls shape the use and development of land. Specific topics that will be covered in the course include planning, zoning, subdivision regulation, aesthetic and historic preservation, regulatory takings, inclusionary housing, environmental review, private covenants, and the role of markets. Throughout our study of these issues, we will consider competing ideas about how, when, and why land use should be regulated and the comparative advantages and disadvantages of various land uses controls. The objectives of this course are to: (1) gain a foundation in the substantive law of land use; (2) apply critical legal thinking to identify and understand constitutional, statutory, and regulatory constraints applicable to the subject matter; (3) develop an understanding the ethical and policy issues related to the subject matter; (4) integrate the doctrinal study of the subject matter with the analytical and practical skills necessary to the practice of law; and (5) develop skills in legal analysis, reasoning, problem-solving; and written and oral communication related to land use law. Classes will involve on-call discussion, lecture, small group exercises, and other learning modalities.
Course Syllabus: Syllabus
Course Notes: (Face-to-Face) The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is listed in parenthesis. For this instruction mode, instructors and students are expected to normally be physically present in the classroom. If the course has a final examination, it will be in a classroom requiring your physical presence. Other assessment, such as a mid-term exam, may also be in a classroom. Whether this instructor will offer “remote presence” (starting a zoom meeting from the podium computer to enable student remote access on an occasional basis) for part or all of the semester is not known, but students should not rely on an expectation that remote presence will be available.
Prerequisites:
First Day Assignments:
Final Exam Schedule:
This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:
Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No
Experiential Course Type: No
Bar Course: No
DistanceEd ABA: No
Pass-Fail Student Election: Available
Course Materials
Book(s) Required
Course Materials: Sterk, Pen~alever, Bronin, LAND USE REGULATION (West, 3rd ed. 2020) (ISBN: 9781684672486)
o E-books are an electronic source and thus are not permitted during the final exam; therefore, students should ensure that they do not purchase an e-book only version of the casebook or the required supplement book, since e-books are not permitted during the exam.
o Other editions of the casebook are NOT equivalent substitutes; students must obtain the designated edition.
