The Land Use and Environmental Mediation Committee is a joint standing committee of the WSBA's Environmental and Land Use Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution sections. The committee is composed of professionals versed in dispute resolution and land use, natural resource and environmental issues. It strives to promote more efficient, effective, and enduring resolutions in those arenas through the use of mediation and related conflict resolution techniques.
For more information and to get involved with the committee, please contact committee Chair Courtney Kaylor.
Mission
The Land Use and Environmental Mediation Committee was formed to:
- Research, collect and serve as a clearinghouse for information and resources on land use, natural resource and environmental mediation.
- Make presentations and publish articles that educate attorneys, decision makers, mediators and other interested professionals about land use, natural resource and environmental mediation.
- Review and provide technical assistance or comment on the structure of programs that provide land use, natural resource or environmental mediation services or legislative action relating to mediation, consistent with WSBA policy regarding legislative activity.
- Solicit opportunities for and implement pilot projects for which land use, natural resource or environmental mediation is provided for educational purposes by committee members in their individual capacities.
Formation
A Land Use Mediation Focus Group was formed as one of several focus/listening groups convened as a joint project of the WSBA and King County Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution and Collaborative Law sections. The group was formed to discuss the status of mediation in land use matters, reasons for this status, and whether and how mediation in land use can be improved. The group met for six months in 2010. At the conclusion of this process, the group issued a summary and recommendations in its Focus Group Summary Phase 1. The group met for six additional months in 2011. Subsequently, the Land Use and Environmental Mediation Committee was formed.
Focus on Education
The LUEM Committee hosts occasional live presentations and webinars on land use and environmental mediation topics. To be placed on the mailing list for notice of these presentations and webinars, contact Aaron Laing.
Land Use Mediators
The Land Use and Environmental Mediation Committee maintains a list of mediators who have land use/environmental and mediation expertise and are available to provide mediation services.
If you are interested in finding a land use mediator, please use this list as a resource. This list is provided for informational purposes only. The WSBA, King County Bar Association, Land Use and Environmental Mediation Committee, Focus Group, and individual members of these entities make no representations or warranties regarding the qualifications of the mediators on this list or satisfaction with their services.
If you have land use/environmental and mediation expertise and wish to be included on this list, please contact Alison Moss.
The LUEM Committee Pilot Project
The LUEM Committee conducted a pilot project in which mediation was provided on a pro bono basis by an experienced mediator and land use professional. The LUEM Committee conducted intake and exit interviews to gather information to be used for educational purposes. A report was then prepared on the pilot project and lessons learned.
Read the Final Report: Groundbreaking Developments in Washington Land Use Mediation
Resources
Land Use and Environmental Mediation Resources
Compiled by Claudia Newman (March 2013)
Settling Land Use Litigation: Swords into Ploughshares
By Carol Morris (March 2012)
The Zoning Dispute Whisperer
By Joshua Abrams, AICP (Planning, November 2011)
Land Use Mediation: Smart Resolution
By Courtney Kaylor (ELUL Newsletter, June 2011)
Visionary Approaches to Resolving Land Use and Environmental Disputes
By James Carmody and Kenneth Harper (May 2010)
Integrating Mediation in Land Use Decision Making
A Report on Systems of Land Use Mediation in Vermont by Patrick Field, Matt Strassberg, and Kate Harvey (Consensus Building Institute and Green Mountain Environmental Resolutions, March 2009)
Mediating Land Use Disputes: Pros and Cons
By Lawrence Susskind, Mieke Van Der Wansem, and Armando Ciccarelli (Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, January 2000)
If you have additional resources to add, please send them to Courtney Kaylor.
Committee Members
Jay Derr, Carol Helland, Courtney Kaylor, Linda Larson, Alison Moss, Claudia Newman, David Spohr, Patrick Spurgin, George Steirer, Darby DuComb, Ryan Vancil
