Regulations

Deciding When Regulation Cost Too Much

Nearly everyone agrees that government needs to regulate. How much to regulate is the question. Reason Magazine looks at several current regulatory issues concludes that the regulatory pendulum "has swung too far."

4 January 2012 - 10:00am

Reason Magazine

A Comparative Analysis of Land Use Controls

Various rules and regulations control the form of today's cities. This info graphic and article from re:place looks at how those systems control the urban environment and how they compare.

20 August 2010 - 7:00am

re:place

Suburbs Exist Because People Want Them

Developers, planners, and city officials haven't been insisting on regulations protecting low-density residential all these years -- the people who live there have, says Kevin Drum at Mother Jones.

12 April 2010 - 8:00am

Mother Jones

Omaha's Design Board Throws a Wrench in Revitalization

The new urban design review board once again deems that a publicly backed project doesn't do enough to encourage activity on the street and sends the Downtown Improvement District back to the drawing board.

27 February 2010 - 5:00am

Omaha World Herald

Turf Troubles

When mandatory water conservation rules took effect in Glendale, California, homeowner David Wood installed artificial turf to maintain the green front yard emblematic of the American Dream. But his new fake lawn is against the law.

9 August 2009 - 11:00am

Glendale News Press

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2 comments

Natural Gas Boom Brings New Option to City Drivers

Officials in Fort Worth, Texas weigh regulations for natural gas compression stations arising from a boom in drilling shale for natural gas.

29 July 2008 - 10:00am

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Local Governments 'Heroes' of the Climate Crisis

If buildings are responsible for almost half of the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, then our energy and building codes are incredibly important tools attaining energy and climate sanity.

11 July 2008 - 9:00am

Gristmill

How Much Can You Pay? A New Criterion for Stormwater Management

Tue, 09/25/2007 - 10:37

What if the utility company asked you how much you made when you called to start service in a new home? What if they wanted this information to tie your bill to your salary and not to how much gas, electricity or water you used? Would that seem fair? That’s how some communities are treating developers when determining how much stormwater they should be required to manage. But regulations that link stormwater standards to the developer’s ability to pay are neither fair nor efficient. Environmental regulations and their costs should be directly linked to the impact on the environment, not to profit margins.

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