PUBLICATIONS

Books, articles and op/eds.

Sara is a versatile author who writes scholarly, trade, and popular-press works with a singular goal: to advance laws and policies that enable great places. She has published several books and treatises, and she is helping to write the once-in-a-generation Restatement of Property Law (4th) for the American Law Institute. She has also authored dozens of other publications, including book chapters and law review articles in top journals like the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review Online, Vanderbilt Law Review, Texas Law Review Online, and Minnesota Law Review. Her op/eds have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, and Fox Business, among other places.

Peruse Sara’s scholarly publications (by topic) and her op/eds below, or visit her bio for a full list with citations.

PROPERTY & LAND USE

Zoning for Families

Are local zoning laws that define what makes a “family” illegal, or merely lame?

Rethinking Parking Minimums

Does parking kill cities, and should we get rid of it in the 21st century?

Comprehensive Rezonings

Why haven’t more cities – especially struggling cities – rewritten the rules of the land use game?

Rezoning the Post-Industrial City

How can zoning reforms help remake struggling cities across the United States?

Land Use Regulation

Interested in a casebook covering all of land use law, from eminent domain to zoning?

The Law of Planning & Zoning

Seen this leading, 91-chapter treatise exhaustively covering planning and zoning law?

The Quiet Revolution Revived

In light of the climate crisis, should the states take over local zoning laws?

Gone Too Far: Oregon's Measure 37

Is it possible for a state to go too far in constraining land use?

Beyond Worship: RLUIPA & Auxiliary Uses

Does a federal law on religious land use have unintended consequences – like megachurches?

Special Districts in Texas

Do Texas municipal utility districts exacerbate sprawl and threaten democracy?

ENERGY & CLIMATE

Delivering Energy in the EU and US

How does US law on solar energy compare to international law?

Energy in the Ecopolis

What would it take for cities to become regenerative when it comes to their energy consumption?

Peaceful Coexistence: Microgrids & Utilities

Is there any hope that utility companies will embrace distributed generation microgrids?

Community-Scale Renewable Energy

What core legal changes must occur to support widespread community-scale energy projects?

Renewables on Tribal Land

What issues do tribes face when trying to site renewable energy on their land?

Building-Related Renewable Energy

How can we better incentivize developers to incorporate renewable energy into their projects?

Solar Rights for Texas Property Owners

How does Texas benefit or burden property owners seeking to install solar?

Solar Rights

How would you comprehensively describe legal rights to solar energy in this country?

What the Pandemic Can Teach Climate Attorneys

What can the legal response to COVID-19 teach attorneys focused on climate change?

Modern Lights

What legal framework should be implemented to most fairly and efficiently recognize solar rights?

HISTORIC PRESERVATION

Historic Preservation Law

Want to learn about all aspects of historic preservation law from the book that defined the modern field?

Historic Preservation Law in a Nutshell

Need a handy reference about a rapidly-evolving field of law?

Who Owns Lebanon's Town Green?

How did a town respond to the discovery that its green was an unowned commons?

Law's Disaster: Heritage at Risk

How can we better integrate the preservation of our historic and cultural sites into disaster law?

Adapting Federal Standards to Climate Change

How does an influential American preservation standard fail to address climate change?

US Law Preservation Report

How does US heritage law compare with international counterparts?

OP/EDS & BLOGS

Historic Designation Should Be More Inclusive

How can the law change to ensure we reflect more diverse history?

Why is Trump Making Zoning a Partisan Issue?

What can suburbs gain from affirmatively furthering fair housing?

Desegregation is the Key to Thriving Suburbs

What can suburbs gain from affirmatively furthering fair housing?

How COVID-19 Can Help Win Climate Suits

What do environmental attorneys need to learn from the legal response to COVID?

For Small Businesses to Survive Outdoors, Parking Laws Must Change

Why do we require parking, when doing so hurts businesses, the environment, and quality of life?

Harm to Border Irreparable

What environmental, cultural, & social values are threatened by the border wall?

In Fight for Justice, Exclusionary Zoning Must be Changed

What do land use rules have to do with the justice many have protested to achieve?

Border Wall Presents Paradox for Conservatives

Since they can’t have both, which do conservatives want more: a border wall or private property rights?

Stop Destructive Tree-Cutting

Why should an airport serving a few users be able to cut down acres of riverside trees?

Al Fresco Zoning Post-Pandemic

Can city life stay more al fresco post-COVID 19?

More Energy-Efficient Buildings

Why aren’t we strengthening building codes to reduce the energy burden on low-income families?

Historic and Green in Connecticut

How is one state trying to merge environmental and sustainability goals?

Destroying Cultural Heritage Is a War Crime

What’s wrong with President Trump threatening irreplaceable Iranian cultural heritage?

Why Preservationists Must Be More Green

Can we make it easier to marry the goals of the preservation and environmental movement?

Coronavirus and Our Historic Parks

What does coronavirus teach us about the value of parks and public space?

Cutting Red Tape During COVID-19

How can we keep public business going during COVID-19?