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Articles by Blaine A. Lucas
Commonwealth Court Finds Objectors May Have Standing to Intervene in Appeals of Zoning Enforcement Notices
Click to enter your existing username and password or create a new account. Click to purchase an individual user subscription with your credit card. Expert OpinionLand Use and Planning 6 minute readAugust 25, 2025 at 11:10 AM By Anna S.
Vaughan McLean, Formerly Vaughan Baio, Appoints New Leader, While Pursuing Further Growth
The Philadelphia-based insurance defense firm formerly known as Vaughan Baio has a new leader, with firm founder Joseph Vaughan selecting Syracuse, New York-based partner Tracey McLean to work alongside him to guide the firm. McLean’s promotion went into effect May 1, and the firm has been rebranded to Vaughan McLean after former name partner Madeline Baio, along with three other attorneys from the firm, moved to Weber Gallagher Simpson Stapleton Fires & Newby in February.
A Municipality’s Struggle to Remove Resident’s Junk Vehicles: How to Avoid a Fight Over Blight
A frequent, if folksy, recitation of the purpose behind zoning and land use restrictions is to prevent problems caused by the “pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard.” In other words zoning regulations recognize sometimes a nuisance can be caused by putting the right thing in the wrong place. Therefore, zoning ordinances attempt to keep more “offensive uses” away from more sensitive uses. However, prohibiting a use on paper is one thing, ensuring ordinance compliance is another.
Troutman Pepper Launches Corporate Espionage Response Team
Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders has announced the creation of a new corporate espionage response team, which looks to help clients combat third-party theft or use of confidential or proprietary information for their own commercial advantage.
Who Knows? Timeliness of Objector Appeals of Zoning Permit Approvals
While property rights are often viewed as inherently private, both law and society recognize that there is also a public nature to the use of land. To this end, the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) establishes requirements mandating public notice of and allowing for public participation in the land use decision-making process.
Court Continues to Reject Validity Challenges to Oil and Gas Development
In 2013, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rendered its ground-breaking decision in Robinson Township v. Commonwealth, (Robinson II), in which a three-justice plurality relied on the Pennsylvania Environmental Rights Amendment, Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution (ERA) to invalidate certain provisions of Act 13 (the General Assembly’s 2012 comprehensive update to the former Oil and Gas Act) limiting the authority of local governments to regulate oil and gas development.
Court: Findings of Fact Failed in Experts' Battle Over Wind Turbine Noise
In recent years, public support for renewable energy generation has increased across the United States. According to a recent article published by the National Agricultural Law Center, 89% of Americans support expanding solar power generation and 83% support wind power expansion. See, Peggy Kirk Hall, Whitney Morgan and Jesse Richardson, “Land Use Conflicts Between Wind and Solar Renewable Energy and Agricultural Uses,” Nat’l Ag. Law Center (Jan. 10, 2022).
Court: No Property-Specific Eminent Domain Power Is Necessary to Implicate Inverse Condemnation
Under the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions, private property may not be taken for public use without payment of just compensation to the owners, see U.S. Const. amend. V; Pa. Const., art. I Section 10.
LGBTQ Rights a Year After 'Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia'
At Mazzoni Center, we provide a continuum of health, wellness, and legal services for clients who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ). In recent decades, legal recognition of the rights of LGBTQ people has changed dramatically. And this past year included one of those landmark decisions that will continue to bring about significant changes for the foreseeable future.
Commonwealth Court Considers Municipal Boundary Disputes
This past May, a curio story made international news when a Belgian farmer moved a stone monument on his property by approximately 7.2 feet. While this typically would have remained unknown, except to the farmer and perhaps to his neighbor, the farmer did not consider that the stone had been placed in 1819 to mark his home country’s border with France, and moving it resulted in an approximate 3,000-square-foot loss of territory for the French.
Federal Court: Yes. Your Employer Can Force You to Get the COVID Vaccine
As businesses continue to reopen and we prepare for a post-pandemic world, the interminable question confronting employers is whether they can mandate that employees receive a COVID-19 vaccine in order to work. In some ways, the premise seems completely antithetical to what we know about employment law. There are very few instances where an employer can outright demand that an employee submit to an invasive medical procedure.
Commonwealth Court Holds Township Need Not Vacate the Road Less Traveled
Commentary Recently, the Commonwealth Court, in In Re Vacating of Old Route 322, No. 384 C.D. 2020 (Pa. Cmwlth. Mar. 3, 2021), considered what happens when adjacent landowners allege a public roadway has become so “useless, inconvenient or burdensome,” that the municipality is required to vacate it under the General Road Law. Anna S. Jewart and Blaine Lucas, Babst, Calland, Clements and Zomnir (Photo: Courtesy Photo) Want to continue reading? Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Court Enforces Settlement Agreement Despite Sunshine Act Violation
Anna Z. Skipper and Blaine Lucas, Babst, Calland, Clements and Zomnir (Photo: Courtesy Photo) Most lawsuits settle before disposition by the courts. Any settlement agreement is just that, an agreement between the parties, which to be enforceable must possess all the elements of a valid contract—offer, acceptance, and consideration or a meeting of the minds.
As the Law and Zoning Trends Evolve, So Must Your Zoning Ordinance
Commentary Now is the optimal time for municipalities to take a fresh look at their zoning ordinances to ensure they not only comply with state law, but that they are positioned to handle the influx of new and currently trending land uses. Alyssa Golfieri and Blaine Lucas.
Third Circ. Clarifies First Amendment Level of Scrutiny of Billboards
Commentary Land use disputes arising from the regulation of outdoor advertising signs (i.e., billboards) are not foreign in Pennsylvania, and over the past several decades, have become an increasingly common source of litigation in both state and federal court. Alyssa Golfieri and Blaine Lucas.
Equitable Relief in Land Use and Zoning Matters—Three Main Theories | The Legal Intelligencer
Alyssa Golfieri and Blaine Lucas. Defenses or claims based in equity have long been recognized by Pennsylvania courts in zoning and other land use matters. There are three main equitable theories, all of which bar a municipality from enforcing its land use regulations and permit property owners to continue a use or activity in violation of applicable ordinances—equitable estoppel, vested rights and variance by estoppel.
Municipal Regulation of Agricultural Operations in Pennsylvania
Alyssa Golfieri and Blaine Lucas. Pennsylvania municipalities are “creatures of the state” and thus may only exercise those powers expressly and implicitly delegated to them by the General Assembly. One area in which municipalities have been delegated authority is the regulation of land uses. The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. Section 10101 et seq., establishes the framework for zoning and subdivision and land development regulation in Pennsylvania.
Zoning Hearing Board: Overlooked, Misunderstood or Misapplied Principles
Alyssa Golfieri and Blaine Lucas. Pursuant to Section 901 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. Section 10101 et seq., (MPC), the state law establishing the framework for zoning and land use development regulations in Pennsylvania, every municipality in the commonwealth that enacts a zoning ordinance is required to create a zoning hearing board.
Historic Preservation Through Land Use Controls: What Is It? How Does It Work? | The Legal Intelligencer
Alyssa Golfieri and Blaine Lucas. Preservation of the commonwealth’s historically significant natural, scenic, cultural, and architectural features and resources is a rising priority among local municipalities—and for good reason.
Sketch Plan Creates Vested Right to Develop Property in Accordance With Zoning
Alyssa Golfieri and Blaine Lucas. On July 6, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court rendered a decision in Board of Commissioners of Cheltenham Township v. Hansen-Lloyd, 166 A.3d 496 (Pa Commw. Ct. 2017), addressing several significant land use issues, most notably that the submittal of a mandatory sketch plan creates a vested right to develop the subject property pursuant to the ordinance provisions in effect at the time the plan is submitted.
Municipality Cannot Initiate Civil Enforcement While Appeal Is Pending
Special to the Law Weekly Blaine A. Lucas is a shareholder and Alyssa E. Golfieri an associate in the public sector services and energy and natural resources groups of the Pittsburgh law firm of Babst, Calland, Clements & Zomnir. In these capacities, Lucas coordinates the firm's representation of energy clients on land use and other local regulatory matters. He also teaches land use law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
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