Shaw Development v. Southern Builders

Green Building Litigation in East Hampton Over Design for 132 North Main Street

Thu

Feb

You may recall that, back in December, the East Hampton Town Architectural Review Board approved Bates Masi Architects' controversial design for a modern two-story green office building at 132 North Main Street in East Hampton that would seek an unspecified level of LEED certification from USGBC. In a last ditch effort to stop the project from proceeding, a group of local residents have filed a lawsuit against the Board in Supreme Court for Suffolk County, alleging that it was negligent in approving the design and requesting that the court review and overturn the Board's determination. The court will hear oral argument in the coming weeks and either affirm or overturn the decision, or send the matter back to the Board for further review. The thrust of the plaintiffs' argument is that the Board "consistently ignored the evidence completely" with respect to the historic characteristics of neighboring buildings when considering the 132 North Main Street application. Under the controlling East Hampton zoning ordinance, the Board is required to deny designs that are "excessively dissimilar" to the character of the town.

gbNYC’s Top 5 Stories in Green Building: 2008

Mon

Jan

by Stephen Del Percio

1 comment

Before we get the ball rolling here at gbNYC in 2009, I’d like to wish all of our readers a very Happy New Year and thank you for continuing to make this site such a success during 2008.

A year ago, as 2007 drew to a close, we wrote that the New Year promised to be “fascinating” for green building, both locally and across the rest of the country. I think our prediction turned out to be an understatement for a variety of reasons, including the reaction to our analysis of the Shaw Development case and the ongoing credit crisis; 2009 promises to be no less of a wild ride.

We’re looking forward to sharpening our focus here at gbNYC over the course of 2009 on the design and performance of green buildings while presenting the legal and regulatory aspects of sustainable design in much greater detail over at the Green Real Estate Law Journal .

West Coast Green Panel Discusses Risk Management for Green Building Projects

Wed

Oct

by Stephen Del Percio

0 comments

I did not attend West Coast Green last week, but was pleased to see that the conference included a panel discussion about the emerging legal risks associated with building green, titled “Packing a Parachute: Practices that Minimize Risk and Prompt Best Use of Green Features.” Some of the panelists’ remarks (which were published yesterday in an article on GreenerBuildings.com) resonated particularly salient in light of recent posts here at gbNYC, particularly with respect to how green projects are marketed, as well as our presentation of the country’s first green building litigation.