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Andrew McRoberts is a member of the Local Government practice group and focuses his work on land use and zoning, tax asessment, special districts and general advice and litigation for local governments in Virginia. Prior to joining the firm, Andrew served eight years as the County Attorney for Goochland County after similar service in Culpeper and Arlington counties. He is a former President of the Local Government Attorneys of Virginia, in which he remains active. You can find him on Twitter @AndrewMcRoberts, reach him by email (amcroberts@sandsanderson.com) and learn more about him by visiting the firm's website.
Today is filming day at Sands Anderson! I spent about an hour being filmed for various video clips that will be used on my firm website page, http://www.sandsanderson.com/attorneys/andrew_mcroberts.html, and on this blog page, www.VaLocalityLaw.com. Other lawyers from various teams are also being filmed. The film crew was supportive and helpful, although I did note the [...]
Sands Anderson is a blogging law firm. If you go to our firm website home page, you will see the eleven blogs (at this time) supported by the lawyers of Sands Anderson PC. Although this is a Virginia local government blog, often the firm’s blogs will discuss a topic of interest to Virginia local government lawyers that we will [...]
The 2010 Virginia General Assembly adopted HB 1063, which is a helpful simplification of the process by which BZA decisions are appealed to circuit court. It is effective July 1, 2010.
A number of local government attorneys have been asking tough questions about HB 374 and SB 632, identical bills which became effective law on July 1. 2010 Va Acts of Assembly ch. 549, 2010 Va Acts of Assembly ch. 613.
U.S. Supreme Court Rules for Incorporation in McDonald v. City of Chicago: Litigation Likely Last year, this blog reported that the U.S. Supreme Court would be ruling on a key Second Amendment case arising in Chicago that may have a bigger impact on state and local governments than the D.C. gun ban case previously decided. The post [...]
In his campaign, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell proposed privatization of the state-owned ABC (liquor) stores as one way to raise revenue without raising taxes. It is important to remember that taking a use that is now public and making it private has repercusions under local land use law and can have concerns for the citizens.
The Virginia Supreme Court issued four opinions today of particular interest to local governments. Three involve localities as parties (City of Falls Church, County of Fairfax, and Town of Vienna), and the fourth involve a construction case filed against the Commonwealth of Virginia in which the Court addresses several issues of interest to local governments. (Excerpted from the Supreme [...]
Local governments, like all litigants, are facing a brave new world of electronic documents and discovery. When the 21st century ease of creating, sharing and destoying information meets the long-standing law of spoliation, there is a volatile mix.
On May 19, a team of great folks at Sands Anderson and our special guest Karen Harwood conducted a webinar on the State of Vested Rights (in Zoning), 2010 — the first installment of an ongoing series called the Sands Anderson Land Use Forum. We’ve been busy! (This will explain, in part, the length of time since my [...]
J&D Partnership v. Board of Equalization Loudoun County Circuit Court, Civil Action No. 58503 In 2008, as the real estate market stagnated, the Loudoun County Board of Equalization (BOE) received a huge spike in assessment appeals, far more than in the past. This was especially true with appeals of assessments for commercial properties, which are [...]
