Last week, we discussed a law in Virginia that prohibits municipalities from creating green building codes or mandates. In short, Dillon’s Rule only grants to municipalities those powers that are explicitly granted by the state. The Virginia Code has specifically granted the power to create a building code to the state; municipalities, on the other … Continue Reading
I hope you survived the dramatic cliffhanger from Monday. Now, time to answer the question, how do Virginia cities and counties regulate green building if they cannot adopt a building code? Such a dramatic pause for such a mundane answer: zoning ordinances. The Virginia code specifically delegates to the municipalities the right to create zoning … Continue Reading
This past weekend, I spent a lot of time preparing a slideshow for the William & Mary Environmental Law & Policy Review Symposium, "It’s Not Easy Being Green." As you may recall, I will be presenting on green building regulations in Virginia. Guess what we are going to discuss on Green Building Law Update this … Continue Reading
Last week, Green Building Law Update wrote about the Dillon Rule and how it is thwarting Virginia cities’ green building regulations. Under the Dillon Rule, the Virginia legislature is empowered with passing building codes, thus preempting city building codes or building regulations. As we detailed, Indiana also follows the Dillon Rule but was successful in … Continue Reading
Now that our discussion of Southern Builders v. Shaw Development is over (whew!), Green Building Law Update is going to take the rest of the week to answer some reader questions. The first question comes from Erica: How should a locality located in a "Dillon Rule" state, such as Virginia, go about establishing a mandatory … Continue Reading
