Land Use – Zoning

Evan assists clients in navigating local, state and federal regulatory requirements for real estate development, helping them secure the necessary permits and approvals. He leads clients in securing zone changes, zoning text amendments, special permits, site plan and subdivision approvals, variances, and wetlands permits. Evan works directly with planning professionals, including certified planners, civil engineers, architects, scientists, and appraisers. He routinely appears before local planning, zoning, and wetlands agencies. Evan utilizes his experience as a past Chair of the Planning & Law Division of the American Planning Association, past Co-chair of the Planning & Zoning Section of the CT Bar Association, as well as his service on the Executive Board of the CT Chapter of the American Planning Association to undertake projects with a collaborative approach and see them through to completion.

Evan has represented clients in the permitting and development of industrial, manufacturing, commercial, residential, social service, philanthropic, and retail facilities. Evan also counsels clients on ways to increase the marketability of property and helps obtain rezoning and text amendment approval to accomplish this goal.

Real Property Litigation

Evan has been involved in dozens of administrative appeals. He successfully argued before the Connecticut Appellate Court a zoning appeal involving a planning and zoning commission's issuance of a special permit to a Greenwich, Connecticut food pantry serving those less fortunate.

Evan handles many other real property disputes, including cases involving inverse condemnation, easements, restrictive covenants, First Amendment and equal protection issues, and landlord/tenant disputes.  Evan also represents property owners in eminent domain matters, challenging both the condemning authority’s right to take property and the authority’s compensation for the property. He represented a landowner whose plans for a mixed-use development were thwarted when part of his land was condemned by a state agency. Evan was part of a team that tried the case and obtained nearly double the amount of damages assessed by the agency (almost $400,000 more in damages). He also has experience in advising condemning authorities in the eminent domain process.

Religious Land Use Litigation

Evan defends municipalities nationwide in cases involving the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). He advises municipalities on religious land use issues by:

• Revising municipal zoning codes to comply with RLUIPA
• Counseling municipal land use agencies during the zoning application process to avoid or mitigate potential liability
• Defending municipalities in RLUIPA litigation in federal court

Evan has been involved in RLUIPA cases across the country concerning the permitting of a mosque, a rabbinical college, cemetery, and other religious uses. He counseled a Connecticut planning and zoning commission in real-time during the public hearing process to review a special permit application for a religious conference center. He also counseled a small community in the western U.S. regarding a zoning application for a religious ritual bath. Evan often speaks and writes about religious land use issues and contributes to the firm’s widely- acclaimed RLUIPA Defense blog. He recently co-authored an amicus curiae brief in the US Supreme Court in the case Grand v. City of University Heights, Ohio.

Before joining the firm, Evan clerked for the Honorable F. Herbert Gruendel of the Connecticut Appellate Court.