The Commandments from Mount Laurel: New Route to the Unpromised Land

Abstract

Among those who would reform land use controls to achieve greater equity in urban development there has existed some disagreement between advocates of litigative and legislative approaches. The latter have looked to the Massachusetts Zoning Appeals Law, the A.L.I. Model Land Development Code, statutorily mandated housing planning, revisions of zoning enabling legislation or some variant of these, as the best way to the unpromised land. They have also noted that after almost a decade of litigation in which many victories were won for specific clients, litigators have little to show in the way of housing actually provided; although the educational impact of the case law on federal legislation and other legislative proposals has been significant.