Law professor’s expertise helps New Orleans, ABA

The City of New Orleans and the American Bar Association (ABA) have adopted two major planning and land-use projects of Daniel R. Mandelker, J.D., the Howard A. Stamper Professor of Law. The projects are designed to help ensure sound land-use management.

The City of New Orleans City Council unanimously adopted Mandelker’s proposed charter changes calling for comprehensive planning and consistency within the city’s master plan. The charter changes will be put on the ballot in the November election.

Mandelker has served as a legal consultant for New Orleans’ Bureau of Governmental Research, offering his expertise in the city’s efforts to drastically reform its land-use policies.

Mandelker

His work has sought to create overall consistency and fairness in the city’s processes for making zoning decisions, bring the decision-making process in line with the city’s master plan and give neighborhoods a voice in zoning and conditional-use matters.

In the ABA project, Mandelker served as a consultant for the drafting of a Model Law on Local Land Use Planning Procedures.

The model act is intended to serve as a guide to state, local and tribal governments that adopt land-use regulations. It outlines appropriate administrative procedures that may be adopted in whole, in part or used as a reference to address particular situations and establishes a judicial review process.

The model law is based on model legislation principally authored by Mandelker and recently published by the American Planning Association as part of proposed new planning and zoning laws intended to replace existing legislation.