Land Use and Zoning
Shulman Rogers' Land Use and Zoning team is your business partner in navigating the complex layers of politics, community relationships, and state and local regulations to get your development project entitled, permitted, financed and built. We provide strategic legal guidance, strong working relationships with neighborhood leaders, elected officials and staff, and persuasive communications in delivering the rapid and timely knowledge, action and advocacy essential to secure project support and overcome obstacles.
Decades of land use and real estate experience, extensive lobbying activities at the federal, state and local levels and active involvement in our communities and development industry enable our unique team of professionals to deliver sound counsel and creative solutions to meet your time-sensitive land use goals. Our attorneys stand ready to bring our experience and resources to help you achieve your land use and zoning objectives.
Attorneys in our land use practice group handle a full range of complex issues facing land owners, developers, lenders, and users including:
- Master plans
- Zoning and rezoning
- Lobbying - state, county, local levels
- Zoning opinions
- Due diligence
- Entitlements
- Entitlement preservation and extensions
- Infill development and redevelopment
- Mixed use development
- Transit oriented development
- Smart growth and sustainable development
- Green building mandates, LEED, Green Globes and EnergyStar
- Neighborhood outreach
- Annexations
- Subdivision
- Special exceptions
- Variances
- Administrative appeals to Board of Appeals
- Court appeals from government action
- Administrative land use hearings
- Public/private partnerships and development agreements
- Adequate public facilities
- Impact taxes and development fees
- Forest conservation regulations and agreements
- Storm water management regulations and agreements
- Private land use covenants
- Reciprocal easement agreements
- Public utility easements
- Historic preservation
- Telecommunications
- Affordable housing, workforce housing, MPDUs
- Condemnation
- Permitting and bonding
- Liquor licenses
- Economic development incentives
- SHA, MTA, local rights-of-way
- Transportation management
- Tax assessment appeals
- Tax abatements and exemptions
- Condominium and cooperatives
- Religious institutions
- Senior housing, assisted living, nursing home development
- Hotel development
- Private school development
- Biotech and high tech development
- Country club and private organization development
- Residential development
- Planned unit development
- Commercial & industrial development
- Special taxing districts
- Parking lot districts
- Development districts
Our land use attorneys effectively combine cross-disciplinary experience as former land planners, engineers, accountants, professors, and in-house counsel to government agencies with up-to-date knowledge of the law. We maintain a strong leadership presence in Maryland and Virginia having served in a wide range of capacities on behalf of the public and private sector, including:
- Assistant Counsel to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC)
- Associate Counsel to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC)
- Land Planner, Fairfax County Virginia Park Authority
- Appointed Member, Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board
- Appointed Member, North Bethesda Transportation Management District
- Appointed Member, M-NCPPC Transportation Policy Task Force
- Chairman, Citizens Advisory Committee to Montgomery County Permitting Services
- Appointed Member, City of Rockville Zoning Ordinance Revision Advisory Committee (RORZOR)
- Appointed Member, Maryland State Highway Administration Land Use Expert Panel for Inter-County Connector (ICC)
- Appointed Member, Montgomery County Charter Review Commission
- Appointed Member, Montgomery County Cable Commission
- Appointed Member, Friends of White Flint Advisory Committee
- Chairman of the Land Use Bar, Maryland State Bar Association
- Board of Directors, Maryland National Capital Building Industry Association (MNCBIA)
- National Program Chair, American Planning Association, Planning and Law Division
- Adjunct Professor in Planning, Zoning and Land Use Law, George Washington University Law School
- Member, ULI Council for Urban Development Mixed Use Development
- Board of Directors, Chambers of Commerce of Montgomery County, Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Rockville
Jurisdictions
Maryland, Northern Virginia, Montgomery County, City of Rockville, Town of Chevy Chase, Prince George’s County, Frederick County, Anne Arundel County, Howard County, Carroll County, Washington County, City of Hagerstown, Boonsboro, District of Columbia
News
- Building industry group names officers
- Shulman Rogers Has Thirteen Attorneys Named to the 2009 Super Lawyers Listing for Washington, D.C.