SUSTAINABILITY LAW AND PRACTICE CLASS
MODEL SUSTAINABILITY ORDINANCES FOR PENNSYLVANIA MUNICIPALITIES
Sustainable development is a growing part of law practice in nearly every practice area and involves many different skills. As corporate, governmental, and nongovernmental clients embrace sustainability, they expect their attorneys to have the necessary knowledge and skills in the specific field.
In this class, which is taught by Professor John Dernbach, students draft sustainability ordinances for Pennsylvania municipalities. The proposed ordinances, along with a narrative explaining them, are set out below. We make them available to assist local governments citizens, and others in considering and enacting such ordinances.
Watch the 2022 Model Sustainability Ordinances’ Presentations below or directly on our YouTube Channel.
Fall 2022
Model Sustainability Ordinance for Cumberland County and the Tri-County Planning Commission
- Commercial Solar (by Lindsay Williamson & Keri Nace)
Ordinance for Swatara Township
- Electric Vehicle Charging (by Max Flessner & Molly Furlong)
Ordinances for Susquehanna Township
- Sustainable Residential Landscaping (by Juliana Gorman & Kayla Shellenhamer)
- Micro Farming (by Wes Trevino & Michael Sands)
Fall 2021
Model Sustainability Ordinances for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, or the Tri-County Planning Commission
- Authorization/Incentives for Microgrids (by Sean Peterson & Hunter Shreffler)
- Wind Farms (by Kelly Dell & Kaitlyn Burke)
Model Ordinance for Cumberland County
- Parking Requirements (by John Urbanski & Larry Youngblood)
Ordinances for Carlisle Borough
- Affordable Housing (by Theresa Davis & Niara Dennis)
- Ban on Plastic Bags (by Jasmine Mutunga & Cassidy Mason)
- Repurposing of Existing Unique Buildings (by Jack Kennelly & Shazi Raza)
- Use of Accessory Dwellings to Encourage Higher-density Housing (by Alexandra Parker & Gabriella Nater)
Fall 2020
Model Sustainability Ordinances for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, or the Tri-County Planning Commission
- Post-pandemic Housing for Non-family Members (by Austin Grace & Chris Williams)
- Repurposing of Commercial Parking (by Harsharan Kaur & Mengyin Chen)
- Sidewalk Cafe (by Danielle Vols)
- Mixed Use Zoning (by Brittany Griffin & Jun Zhang)
Ordinances for Carlisle Borough
- Reduced Minimum Requirements for Parking Space (by Shannon Smith & Leah Bobula)
- Transportation Alternatives (by Larissa Wright and Nicholas Dukach)
Ordinances for Susquehanna Township
- Adaptive Reuse of Commercial Property (by John Icaza & Connor Behrend)
- Urban Plant Agriculture (by Alexis Nash and Jennifer Larson Thompson)
Ordinance for Swatara Township
- Home-based Low-impact Occupations (by Tayler Moses & Sierra Lyles)
Fall 2019
Model Sustainability Ordinances for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, and the Tri-County Planning Commission
- Electric vehicle charging infrastructure (by Jacqueline Lynette Carter & Samantha Craley)
- Diversion of food waste from landfills (Daniel Tait & Caitlyn Tallarico)
- Healthy soils (Isaac Huggins & Beth Kern)
- Urban forestry (Michael Podskoch and Zachary Stritzinger)
Ordinances and Resolutions for Susquehanna Township
- Complete Streets (by Matthew Fetingis & Blake Schmidle)
- Parking (Frank Pryzbylkowski & Ralph Slyster)
Fall 2018
Model Sustainability Ordinances for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, and the Tri-County Planning Commission
- Agri-tourism (by Paige Parker and Kayla Kormanik)
- Home-based businesses (by Mariah Turner & Dominique Williams-Harrington)
- Inclusionary zoning for affordable housing (Thomas Lopez)
- Riparian buffers (Doug Harrigan and and Adam Grabill)
Ordinances and Resolutions for Susquehanna Township
- Short-term rentals (by Thomas Lovecchio and Coulter Ebbert)
- Green building (by Victoria Burguess and Bridgett Gillman)
Fall 2017
Model Sustainability Ordinances for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors and the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs
- Parklets (by Athanasia Georgakopoulos and Jo-Anne Thompson)
- Tiny Homes (by Jennifer Breneman and Tyler Semler)
Ordinances and Resolutions for Susquehanna Township (Fall 2017)
- Bees and Chickens (by John Harris and Jessica Lehman)
- Complete Streets (by Akifa Khattak)
- Drones (by Max Peters)
Fall 2016
Model Sustainability Ordinances for the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs and the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors
- Community Gardens (by Heather Shoemaker and Daniel Schramm)
- Drones (by Matthew Konya and John Bennett)
- Farmers Markets (by Jason Lepley and Mark Bogush)
- Floodplain Restoration (by Wesley Amaefuna and Joseph Donegan)
- Green Stormwater Infrastructure (by Daryl Yount and Stacey Lindsay)
- Mixed Use Development (by Jordan Mazzoni and Jocelyn Schultz)
- Non-Commercial Keeping of Bees, Chickens and Goats (by Travis Carbaugh and Shaun Flynn)
- Transit Oriented Development (by Howard Gold and La Tasha Williams)
Fall 2015
Model Sustainability Ordinances for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors
- Blight (by Jordan Wartman)
- Community Housing (by Derek Young)
- Green Roofs (by Inder Deep Paul)
- Natural Gas Pipeline Setbacks (by Robert Bucher)
- Rain Gardens (by Joseph Quinones)
- Stormwater Mitigation (by Brett Flower)
- Walkability (by Andrew Miller)
Fall 2014
Sustainability Ordinance Amendments for City of Harrisburg
- Composting (by Myer Messinger)
- Food Trucks (by Matthew Fine)
- Green Building (by Kayla Rosencrans)
- Green Infrastructure (by Mark Wendaur)
- Recycling (by Pia Aklian)
- Stormwater Management (by Travis Petty)
Environmental Law and Sustainability Center 