Law Library

Researching Growth Management Law

This Info Series guide is designed to support the research needs of the GSU College of Law curriculum and the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth, as well as for anyone else with growth management-related research needs.

Growth management law encompasses many subjects. Subfields of growth management law include land use (agricultural and urban), transportation, zoning, impact analysis, subdivision regulations, public facilities, economics (capital improvement, development impact fees), variances, building & housing codes, preservation, state programs, and urban planning

PRIMARY SOURCES

Georgia

Local Ordinances (Georgia counties and cities): Municode.com

Official Code of Georgia: Titles include 2 (Agriculture), 8 (Buildings and Housing), 12 (Conservation and Natural Resources), 22 (Eminent Domain), 32 (Highways, Bridges, and Ferries), 36 (Local Government), 40 (Motor Vehicles and Traffic), 44 (Property), 46 (Public Utilities and Public Transportation), and 52 (Waters of the State, Ports, and Watercraft). The O.C.G.A. is available in Row 1 of the Law Library and online.

Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia: Chapters 40 (Georgia Dept. of Agriculture), 90 (Georgia State Building Administrative Board), 110 (Georgia Dept. of Community Affairs), 391 (Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources), 600 (State Soil and Water Conservation Commission), and 672 (State Dept. of Transportation). The Georgia regulations are available in Row 5 of the Law Library and online.

Other States:

To find city and county codes outside Georgia, go to Municode.com. For legislation, the National Conference of State Legislatures has a search function for bills and statutes of all the states.

Some states have growth management laws:

• Florida
• Washington

Federal:

United States Code: Titles 7 (Agriculture), 16 (Conservation), 30 (Mineral Lands and Mining), 33 (Navigation and Navigable Waters), 40 (Public Buildings, Property, and Works), 43 (Public Lands), and 49 (Transportation). The U.S.C. is in Rows 8 and 9 in the lower level of Law Library and online.

Code of Federal Regulations: Titles 7 (Agriculture), 18 (Conservation of Power and Water Resources), 23 (Highways), 24 (Housing and Urban Development), 36 (Parks, Forests, and Public Property), 40 (Protection of Environment), 42 (Public Health and Welfare), 43 (Public Lands: Interior), and 49 (Transportation). The C.F.R. is available in Row 9 in the lower level of Law Library and online at GPO Access. The Federal Register, which publishes proposed regulations, is also in Row 9 and is available online at GPO Access.

International:

To locate a treaty that may affect a growth management issue, a good place to search would be the United Nations Treaty Collection. To access this library, select it from the list of Law Library databases (on-campus) or the proxy server (off-campus). Once in the database, click on Status of Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General. Environment treaties are in Chapter XXVII on this page. Another database is Hein Online’s Treaties and Agreements Library, which is also accessible from the Law Library database list.

Cases

COL patrons can search for cases on LexisNexis and Westlaw. Patrons not affiliated with the COL can search for cases on LexisNexis Academic on campus and through any institution that is a member of GALILEO. To access this database at the Law Library, go to http://law.gsu.edu/library/alcove/ and click on the LexisNexis Academic link under Popular Electronic Resources. Then click on the Legal Research link in the top left corner of the page. To search for federal cases, click on Federal Case Law. To search for state cases, click on State Case Law and then select the state (LexisNexis Academic has no function for searching more than one state’s case law at a time). LexisNexis Academic is a database on GALILEO and so is accessible from any GSU computer.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Print:

Books

Growth management law encompasses a wide variety of subjects. Because of this variety, materials relevant to growth management are located throughout the Law Library. Below is a list of fields within growth management with the call numbers assigned to relevant books:

• Agriculture: KF1681
• Economics: HB171, HD260, K487 (University Library has a complementary collection.)
• Environment: KF1298 and KF3775
• International: K3531, K3534
• Planning: HT166, HT167, HT241
• Preservation: KF4310
• Property: KF566
• Land use: HD111, HD266, KF572, KF5692, KF5698
• Zoning: HD266, HT167, KF662, KF5691, KF5692, KF5698, KF5729

Books specific to Georgia have the following call numbers:

• Agriculture: HD211
• Land use: HD211, KFG458,
• Property: KFG112, KFG126, KFG476
• Regional planning: HT394, KFG458 (University Library has a complementary
  collection.)
• Zoning: KFG599

If you know the exact title or author of a book, search GIL, the online library catalog.

Journals (shelved alphabetically in the lower level of the Law Library)

The Law Library has several relevant journals in print, including:

• Drake Journal of Agricultural Law
• Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum
• Environmental Law (Northwestern School of Law)
• Georgetown International Environmental Law Review
• Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law
• Urban Lawyer

These journals may be available online. To access these and other journals, search for the titles on the online library catalog, which will have links to the online location. To search for lawrelated articles, go to the Law Library database subscription list , and then click on the Select Subject Area button and select Legal Periodicals-Finding Aids. Accessing non-law articles is discussed below.

Electronic Databases

Law Library

The Law Library subscribes to several databases. For a selective list, click on the Select Subject Area button and select a topic. Relevant subject areas are environmental law and transportation law. To access databases from outside the College of Law, go to the proxy server website. Many of these databases are from the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA). These include news sources such as Daily Environment Report, the Right-to-Know Planning Guide, and Transportation Watch. These can be good resources for research topic ideas. COL faculty and students can now receive news as e-mail alerts. Other databases include the Environmental Law Reporter Online and BNA’s Environment and Safety Library, which has primary and secondary research sources.

GSU Library

GSU’s University Library subscribes to several non-law databases. To access these select a topic (examples: Biology, Public Administration & Urban Studies) from the drop-down menu at the top of the page. Many of these databases are also on GALILEO (). Note: It is possible that some University Library databases are not accessible from COL computers.

LexisNexis and Westlaw

LexisNexis and Westlaw both have pages of links organized by area of law. These links are to databases for finding cases, statutes, regulations, journal articles, treatises and other secondary sources, and news. To access LexisNexis’ subject pages, go to the Research System tab and click on Area of Law – By Topic. Relevant topics include Environment, Real Estate, and
Transportation. To access Westlaw’s pages, click on the Add/Remove Tabs link to the right of the tabs at the top of the page. Scroll down to the Topical section. In this section are links to pages on Environmental, Government Affairs, Municipal Practitioner, Public Utilities, Real Property Practitioner, and Zoning & Planning.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports

CRS is a part of the Library of Congress. It provides analyses to Congress on a variety of topics. Many CRS reports related to growth management issues can be found at:

• National Agricultural Law Center
• National Council for Science and the Environment

In general, CRS reports are not readily available—it sometimes may be necessary to buy one. Penny Hill Press is the vendor: .

Selected Online Resources

• Brookings Institution, Metropolitan Policy Program
• Environmental Protection Agency:
  • Topics links
  • Legal information
  • Technical reports and publications
• International City/County Management Association
• Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
• National Conference of State Legislatures. Click on the Issue Areas tab at the top of the page for links to news, legislation and other information on various topics, including Agriculture & Rural Development, Environmental Protection, and Natural Resources.
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
  • Online library
• Wex, Legal Information Institute. This is a collaboratively written legal encyclopedia provided by Cornell University. Relevant entries include:
  • Land Use (includes Zoning)
  • Property & Natural Resources