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Six Housing-Related Cases Receive Funding to Pursue Legal Action

At its January meeting in Las Vegas, the NAHB Executive Board approved six applications for funding assistance from the NAHB Legal Action Fund that were recommended by the association’s Legal Action Committee.

The fund supports litigation by state and local associations and builders in cases involving matters of common importance or national significance to the shelter industry.

Two applications involved extensions of previous grants: first, to the Northwest Arkansas HBA, which is continuing a legal challenge to impact fees that add nearly $4,000 to the cost of a new home; and second, to a builder in Sevier County, TN, who is appealing a lower court decision in an effort to enforce an arbitration clause in a residential construction contract where the home buyers did not separately sign or initial the clause.

In addition, four new cases will receive funding:

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• The HBA of Greater Austin received support for legal research to challenge a zoning and subdivision ordinance requiring single-family dwellings to have a 600-square-foot garage, three-sided masonry and increased minimum house and lot sizes.
• The Central Oregon BA is challenging a system development charge that is applicable to new commercial and residential projects and payable when building permits are requested. The charge was increased from $894 to $2,477 per single-family dwelling unit.
• The Wisconsin BA has challenged the EPA’s Construction General Permit for storm water discharges, a regulation affecting developers in six states who seek to disturb more than one acre of land.
• On the wetlands front, NAHB will be filing another friend-of-the-court brief to try to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to look at the issue of whether roadside ditches next to wetlands are “navigable waters” that can be regulated by the Army Corp of Engineers.

The Legal Action Committee reviews applications three times a year in conjunction with scheduled meetings of the NAHB Board of Directors.

The deadline for Legal Action Fund applications for the upcoming spring board meeting in Washington, D.C. is March 22.

To download applications and guidelines, NAHB members can click here.

For more information on the grants, e-mail Mary Lynn Pickel, NAHB’s director of legal services, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8485. For information on funding applications, e-mail Jon Luther, staff counsel, or call him at x8329.

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