Legal Foreword

• Author: Michael Allan Wolf
• Profession: Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law
• Pages: 25-26

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Legal Foreword

Michael Allan Wolf

Richard E. N elso n Chair in Local Government Law,

University of Fl orida Levin College of Law

While being asked to write the foreword for a John Nolon book on using

land use law to protect the environment is quite an honor, it is also a daunt-

ing challenge, for it is hard to say anything about the topic that John hasn’t

already considered and explored in his foundational scholarship. When it

comes to the subject of local environmental law, John is a passionate, inspira-

tional, and authoritative guide and teacher. e rest of us—lawyers, planners,

professors, judges, public ocials, and citizen activists—have all beneted

from his insights a nd have been challenged to think caref ully and creatively

about the ways in which local law and policy can augment and improve upon

federal a nd state eorts to protect our fragile environment from a growing

number of threats including, but certainly not limited to, pollution, overde-

velopment, sea-level rise, storms unprecedented in their fury and impact, and

water and natural resource depletion.

For a few years, John and I operated on parallel tracks as we explored

the intersection of environmental controls a nd land use planning. In my

case, it was the problem of reg ulatory takings— the use (and abuse) of t he

Fifth Amendment’s eminent domain clause to attack coastal, oodplain, and

wetlands reg ulations—that rst drew my attention to the reality that more

and more cities, counties, towns, and villages throughout America were sup-

plementing t heir traditional zoning powers with environmentally avored

ordinances. At t he same time, John was identifying the “remarkable and

unnoticed trend among local governments to adopt laws that protect natural

resources.”1 For more than a decade, John has dug deeper and deeper into

this rich soil, and we have all beneted from his insights and from his recom-

mendations to “do” local environmental law more carefully and eectively.

is innovative and comprehensive book is destined to be the “bible” of

local environmental law. Indeed, there are several biblical (though certainly

nonreligious) characteristics of this book. First, this volume reaches back to

identify precursors and precedents from the d istant past. We all stand to

benet from the trial-and-error eorts of our predecessors. e second “bib-

lical” aspect is that within these chapters the reader ca n nd the broad legal

foundation that undergirds the wide range of local environmental initiatives.