Innovative Planned Unit Redevelopment: A Legal Review

Abstract

Examined is the regulation and execution of urban/ suburban redevelopment in the planned unit form, a PUR ordinance template, the varied means to formulate and implement the PUR through innovative forms of cooperation among land owners as well as regulated compensation for windfalls and wipeouts, and a review of case studies. There is a compelling need for new regulatory instruments to address the demands of urban and now suburban renewal, and the emerging market demand for mixed-use, infill redevelopment. Here redevelopment preserves existing uses and repurposes others in a planned manner that adds value to the redeveloper[s] and mitigates existing zoning hindrances. This new form is with challenges, addressed through various techniques of land value capture and compensation, including tax/ subsidies, consumer/ investor-based cooperatives, and the incorporation of a neighborhood site/ re-platted plan into zoning. Indeed, this incorporation into zoning accommodates redevelopment flexibility while making obsolete the redeveloper and promoting individual builders and investors. Regarding PUD’s/ PUR’s legal review the issue of the constitutionality of regulatory form-based manuals and parcel-specific distinctions as to land use. Such challenges can be withstood if they adhere to jurisprudential standard of rightful use of legislative power or its delegation to an administrative agency/ official.