KMK Law Real Estate Blog

On October 22, 2019, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published their final rule repealing the 2015 “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule.  The repeal will be effective on December 23, 2019.  The breadth of the WOTUS rule affects which water bodies and wetlands are subject to pollution protection under the federal Clean Water Act.  In late 2018, EPA and the Corps issued a proposed WOTUS rule to narrow the definition of WOTUS, and solicited public comment.  The new WOTUS rule is not expected to be finalized until 2020, and is ...

At this year’s International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Retail Development & Law Symposium held in Columbus, Ohio earlier this month, I presented a roundtable discussion on the best practices of land assemblage for large commercial and residential development sites.  Our table analyzed specific examples of land assemblage, both locally (15^th + High Project in Columbus, Ohio, the FC Cincinnati Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Rookwood Commons and Pavilion development in Cincinnati, Ohio) and nationally (Google and Amazon data centers and the assembly of Disney World). 

The Ohio House of Representatives are considering a new law to create an economic tool to assist on Ohio economic development projects.  Ohio House Bill 740, introduced in October and referred to the State and Local Government Committee in November (where it received its third hearing in December), seeks to create a state bond bank called the Economic Development Bond Bank (the “Bond Bank”).