Planning and Zoning Techniques For Protecting Quality Of Life 

 Model Zoning and Subdivision Ordinances
In New York, local governments have the primary power and responsibility for determining how private land is developed. On Long Island, the rapid pace of development requires that communities try to avoid the problems of unplanned, haphazard development by adopting land-use planning and regulations that use conservation-based tools to protect the community’s most valued natural, historic, and scenic resources, while still accommodating growth.. Municipalities need to incorporate  conservation planning into their Comprehensive Plan to achieve this goal.

General Authority
The authority to adopt strategic local laws is contained in the general delegation of power to localities to adopt zoning laws and the Municipal Home Rule Authority to legislate in the public interest. ¹ These laws grant basic authority to local governments and allow them to regulate the details of land development and building construction and alteration. This may be done for “the purpose of promoting the health, safety, morals or the general welfare of the community.”

Village Law § 7-704, Town Law § 263, and General City Law § 20(24&25) provide that zoning and land use regulations are to lessen congestion, secure safety from fire and flood, prevent overcrowding, facilitate the provision of infrastructure, and to encourage “the most appropriate use of land throughout such municipality.”

Why review our local ordinances?
Sustainable development combines economic growth with protection of the natural environment. Communities have long struggled to achieve this goal. However, we often find that our own development codes and standards can actually work against our own efforts to achieve sustainable, "low-impact" development. For example, local codes and ordinances often require inflexible standards that result in overly wide residential streets, expansive parking lots, and mass clearing and grading of forested areas. At the same time, local codes often give developers little or no incentive to conserve natural areas.

In addition to the Comprehensive Plan, there are three major elements in a municipal strategy for managing growth to conserve land and natural resources.  They are:

The Comprehensive Plan
The comprehensive plan creates a blueprint for the future development and preservation of the community. It lays out policy and goal statements that provide a roadmap for the community to follow. New York statutes define  a comprehensive plan as the “ materials, written and/or graphic, including but not limited to maps, charts, studies, resolutions, reports, and other descriptive material that identify the goals, objectives, principles, guidelines, policies, standards, devices, and instruments for the immediate and long-range  protection, enhancement, growth, and development of the[locality].”

A comprehensive plan helps to identify important natural and cultural resources for protection and it provides backup for land use tools.  A municipality has the option to adopt a comprehensive plan under state enabling statutes, or to proceed through a planning process which has evolved based on case law.²

Comprehensive Planning: If a community wishes to adopt local laws that regulate the environment, it may create a legal basis for those regulations in its comprehensive plan. Local comprehensive plans may identify and provide for the preservation of historic and cultural resources, natural resources and sensitive environmental areas.³  Since all land use regulations are required to conform to the comprehensive plan, such provisions help sustain environmental regulations when they are challenged.⁴ See Preparing an Implementable Comprehensive Plan by Michael Chandler

Conduct a community “diagnostic study” before preparing a comprehensive plan to discover the pressing issues and concerns in the community. This helps municipalities to prioritize and act quickly to implement necessary changes. See, Diagnosing Your Community Before You Plan by Joel Russell

While there are no required components of a comprehensive plan, the statutes suggest fifteen elements for inclusion:

• a general statement of goals, objectives and standards upon which proposals for the immediate and long range growth and development of the municipality are based;
• consideration of regional needs and official plans of other government units within the region;
• existing and proposed location and intensity of land uses;
• consideration of agricultural uses, historic and cultural resources, coastal and natural resources and sensitive environmental areas;
• consideration of population, demographics and socio-economic trends and future projections;
• the location and types of transportation facilities;
• existing and proposed location of public and private utilities and infrastructure;
• existing housing and future housing needs, including affordable housing;
• present and future location of historic sites, educational, cultural, health and emergency services;
• existing and proposed recreational facilities and parkland
• present and future locations of commercial and industrial facilities;
• specific policies and strategies for improving the local economy in coordination with other plan topics;
• proposed measures, programs, devices and instruments to implement the goals of the comprehensive plan;
• all or part of the plan of another public agency; and
• any and all other items which are consistent with the orderly growth and development of the municipality.

 The Master Plan of the Town of Clinton illustrates how a comprehensive plan can set the stage for environmental regulation. See, Town of Clinton Master Plan Or  Town of Warwick, Comprehensive Plan   Warwick  Master Plan Or  Town of East Hampton Comprehensive Plan Town of East Hampton Master Plan

Zoning
The state enabling act delegates to local governments the authority to adopt zoning regulations, for the purpose of encouraging the most appropriate use of the land. Zoning regulations prevent property owners from using their property in a way that would adversely effect adjacent property. Zoning also allows a community to plan for growth while maintaining the character of the community and encouraging the most appropriate use of land.

Zoning regulates the use of land, the density of land use and the siting of development. Zoning is an appropriate method of creating a balanced and efficient pattern of land development and avoiding the perils of haphazard growth.

Different zoning techniques can be used to implement the comprehensive plan. Zoning provisions and their amendments must be adopted in conformance with the comprehensive plan of the locality, or exhibit comprehensiveness of planning, or they may be found to be beyond the municipality's power to adopt land use regulations.⁵

Zoning Techniques and Tools
Zoning commonly consists of two components: a zoning map and a set of zoning regulations. The zoning map is a blueprint for the development of the community. It divides a municipality into land use districts, such as residential, commercial and industrial, and can specify high-density, general commercial etc.

The zoning regulations describe permissible land uses in each of the various zoning districts, and set forth the steps necessary for approval by the type of use, and/or the zoning district involved.

Zoning laws may also include supplemental regulations that provide additional natural resource protection. These regulations are usually applicable to all development activities that require approval from a planning board or other approval agency. The supplemental regulations consist of a variety of provisions relating to natural resource protection, including prevention of erosion and sedimentation, floodplains protection, open space protection, ridgeline protection, steep slope protection, stormwater management, vegetation protection, and wetlands, watercourses, and water bodies protection.

Zoning Techniques to protect natural resources
Local governments in New York have extensive authority to limit the development of privately-owned land through land use regulations. Under a municipality’s zoning and planning authority, important tools to preserving open space include overlay zoning, floating zones, clustering, and transferring of development rights. In utilizing their authority to protect and enhance a municipality’s physical and visual environment under the Municipal Home Rule Law, communities have also adopted tree preservation laws, wetlands laws and other natural resource protection laws. http://www.dos.state.ny.us/lgss/publications.html

Net-out of natural resources
Permits naturally sensitive resources, such as steep slopes, floodplains and wetlands, to be subtracted from a property before the density is calculated.

Floating Zones
Various other provisions, usually found within the zoning law, provide additional protection for the environment. These provisions provide additional flexibility for municipalities to control the location and intensity of development. One method is a floating zone.

The floating zone contains regulations that are in addition to the district regulations, similar to an overlay district. However, the floating district is not attached to a specific area, rather it “floats” until an application is made to apply the floating zone to a certain area of land.  The Environmental Preservation Floating District in the Town of Washington, (NY) defines the district “ as a geographic area . . . exhibiting special and distinctive environmental characteristics which are of significant value to the public."  No building or other land use, unless exempted, may occur without a permit. The application for a permit must under go site plan and environmental review. ⁶  

Natural Resource Protection Laws

Some municipalities adopt separate laws to protect particular environmental features, in addition to, or instead of, including regulations to protect natural resources in the zoning law or subdivision and site plan regulations. Natural resource laws give local reviewing agencies the power to restrict particular development when they will have an adverse affect on the resource to be protected. Of all the methods used by local governments to protect critical resources, the independent natural resource laws typically provide the most extensive protection. Examples of natural resource laws adopted by local governments include: See, e.g. Town of Greenburgh Environmental Quality Review Town of Somers Environmental Quality Review

Dark Skies Legislation
Ordinances to reduce lighting pollution conserve energy, reduce glare, maintain community character and safeguard wildlife in their natural environment. East Hampton Village Lighting Chapter 188

Erosion, Sedimentation, and Stormwater Management
The law typically requires implementation of a plan to control erosion, sedimentation, and storm water. This plan may require such provisions as providing for a vegetated buffer to protect adjacent sites, cuts and fills designed to follow natural contours, consideration of topography and soils, retention of as much natural vegetation as possible, and soil stabilization. See, Westchester Model Erosion and Sediment Ordinance

Filling, Grading, Mining, Excavation, and Soil Removal
The purpose of this regulation is to avoid adverse impacts caused by soil erosion, filling and grading operations, stripping of soil, and other activities that alter the natural contour of the earth. The law often requires special permits, sets standards of conduct for these procedures, and requires mitigation of damages.
Flood Damage Prevention
This type of law is usually enacted in accordance with flood insurance requirements. The restrictions on building in floodplains also help to protect floodplain ecology. This law typically limits filling, grading and dredging in floodplains.

Groundwater Resources
The proposed subdivision and land development of any tract should  be designed  to cause the least practicable disturbance to natural infiltration and percolation of precipitation to the groundwater table, through careful planning of vegetation and land disturbance activities, and the placement of streets, buildings and other impervious surfaces in locations other than those identified as having the greatest permeability where precipitation is most likely to infiltrate and recharge the groundwater. See,  Aquifer Protection Zone  Town of Bedford, § 125-29.4 or Town of Washington Aquifer Protection

Open Space Preservation
One way for a municipality to assess the importance of its open space resources is to produce an Open Space Plan or to include an assessment of open space resources as part of its comprehensive plan. The Open Space Plan should include not only undeveloped land, but also recreational sites, parks, greenways, trail networks, cemeteries, forests and woodlands, wetlands, agricultural land and even historic properties. See, Town of Putnam Valley Conservation District Town of Putnam Valley,  Zoning,Chapter 165§ 165-11. Provisions for open space districts

Ridgeline protection
The purpose of this law is to prevent erosion and minimize storm water runoff and flooding by limiting development on ridgelines and hilltops. Regulations limit development along the ridgeline and require maintenance of existing vegetation.  See, Town of Gardiner Shawangunk Ridge Protection

Rural Road Corridors and Scenic Viewsheds
All applications for subdivision and land development shall attempt to preserve the scenic visual corridors along such roads by incorporating them into open space areas or otherwise providing for building setbacks and architectural designs to minimize their intrusion. In instances, where such designs fail to satisfactorily protect corridors, applicants will be required to provide naturalistic landscape buffers to minimize their adverse visual impacts. The species specified for such buffers shall be selected on the basis of an inventory of tree and shrub species found in existing hedgerows and along wooded roadside edges in the vicinity of the development proposal. See, Viewshed Protection Overlay Town of Erwin,Ch. 130-38

Scenic area protection
The goal of this law is to protect scenic areas, including historic and cultural areas, meadows, and geologic features thereby preserving the character of the municipality. Requiring vegetative buffers and trees helps retain the character of the community. This law requires that designated areas are not subject to significant disturbance, such as building, grading, or clearing and scenic qualities and the natural appearance of scenic resources are maintained. See, Town of Somers Scenic Resource Protection Ordinance

Steep slope protection
The purpose is to minimize the affects of development on steep slopes by properly managing disturbance. This is accomplished by limiting development on steep slopes, retaining vegetation, and implementation of erosion and sediment control plans. Steep Slopes Ordinances regulate the intensity of use in areas of steeply sloping terrain in order to limit soil loss, erosion, excessive storm water runoff, the degradation of surface water and to maintain the natural topography and drainage patterns of land. Moderately sloping lands (15 to 25 percent) and steeply sloping lands (over 25 percent) are prone to severe erosion if disturbed. Erosion and the resulting overland flow of soil sediments into streams, ponds and public roads, are detrimental to water quality and aquatic life, and a potential hazard to public safety. See, Town of Cortland Steep Slopes, Ch. 259 (1992) See, also, Village of Lloyd Harbor Steep Slopes, Ch.  205-7

Stream Valleys, Swales, Springs, and Other Lowland Areas
The municipality's Open Space Plan should describe and map stream valleys (which include stream channels and flood plains), swales, springs and other lowland areas as resources that warrant restrictive land use controls because of flooding hazards to human life and property, their ground water recharge functions, their importance to water quality and the health of aquatic communities, and their wildlife habitats. They are generally poorly suited for on-site subsurface sewage disposal systems.

Trails
When a subdivision or land development proposal is traversed by or abuts an existing trail customarily used by pedestrians and/or equestrians, the Governing body may require the applicant to make provisions for continued recreational use of the trail.

Tree preservation
This law regulates the removal of trees including commercial timber harvesting and removal of individual trees during development activities. The regulations ensure shade and ornamental trees are protected and the impacts of timber harvesting are minimized by requiring appropriate harvesting procedures.

Water Resource Protection
This law protects drinking water supplies from contamination. The regulations identify aquifers and their recharge areas and limit activities that degrade water quality. See, American Planning Association, A Model Resource Source Protection Ordinance,: Nonpoint Source Pollution A Handbook For Local Governments at 67.

Wetlands, Watercourses and Water Body Protection
The purpose of this law is to preserve water quality and quantity. Activities such as construction, dredging, filling, dumping, or other activities that will cause a change in the velocity or volume of water are regulated. A mitigation plan may also be required to reduce negative impacts when development cannot be avoided. Requirements to maintain a buffer area also help to protect these resources. See, Croton on Hudson Wetlands and Watercourses Ordinance See,  Town of Bedford Freshwater Wetlands The Freshwater Wetlands Law, Town of Bedford Code § 122-8(A) (1990).See, Chapter 280: Town of Greenburgh Wetlands and Watercourses

Wildlife, Habitat Protection
Municipalities can protect wildlife and their habitat by adopting ordinances that offer protection not covered by state or federal programs. See,  Protecting Wildlife Habitat: Options for Local Protection

Subdivision Ordinances

Cluster Zoning
The basic concept behind cluster zoning is quite simple. Instead of allowing development to take place on a lot by lot basis, a tract is considered in its entirety and development is concentrated on a portion of the tract, leaving the rest of the tract undeveloped. The grouping that actually takes place will largely depend on the physical attributes of the tract itself and its relationship to the surrounding area. Cluster development can yield several benefits to property owners and the community, most notably, the preservation of open space. In New York, the state legislature has expressly provided local governments with the authority to use cluster development as part of their subdivision review process.

See, e.g. :CODE OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD, NEW YORK, v149 Updated 12-15-2005
    APPENDIX        Chapter A106, SUBDIVISION OF LAND ARTICLE XI, Cluster Development  See, also, Code of the Town of Warwick Chapter 164, ZONING   § 164-41.1.    Cluster Subdivisions or, Town of Clinton Zoning Local Law 3, 5.16

Conservation Subdivisions
Alternatives to conventional subdivisions based on a community-wide conservation plan and are known as “conservation zoning” and “conservation subdivision design.”

The term “Conservation Subdivision Design” (CSD), as coined by conservation planner Randall Arendt, describes a relatively new concept of cluster-type development that enables land to be developed while simultaneously preserving community character, reducing environmental impacts, protecting the rights of property owners, and enabling a developer to benefit from a high-quality project.

CSD accomplishes these goals through a creative design process that identifies primary and secondary conservation areas. Wetlands, floodplains, and steep slopes, in addition to a large portion of the flat, dry, and otherwise buildable land are set aside within those conservation areas from clearing, grading, and construction. Instead, lot sizes are reduced and the allowed development is arranged to “fit” onto the unconstrained land.

Generally, conservation subdivisions allow for an adjustment in the location of residential dwelling units on a parcel of land so long as the total number of dwelling units does not exceed the number of units otherwise permitted in the zoning district. The dwelling units are grouped or “clustered” on only a portion of a parcel of land. The remainder of the site is preserved as open space, farmland, or as an environmentally and culturally sensitive area. This clustering of the dwellings into a small area is made possible by reducing the individual lot sizes. The open space is permanently protected and held in common ownership.

Sometimes additional dwelling units may be permitted if certain objectives are achieved. Conservation subdivisions are an alternative approach to the conventional lot- by- lot division of land in rural areas which spreads development evenly throughout a parcel with little regard to impacts on the natural and cultural features of the area. Conservation subdivisions enable a developer to concentrate units on the most buildable portion of a site, preserving natural drainage systems, open space, and environmentally and culturally sensitive areas.

The significant land protection achievable through “conservation subdivision design” should help smooth the local review process by responding to many environmental concerns even before they are raised.

The process intends for land conservation to become the central organizing principle around which house lots and streets are sensitively designed. The design process identifies historical, cultural and natural resources, potential open space corridors, views, etc. that should not be lost to development. The development process excludes these areas from development and builds what can be accommodated on the rest of the parcel. The process consists of four steps: 1) Identifying Conservation Areas; 2) Locating House Sites; 3) Aligning Streets and Trails; and, 4) Drawing in the Lot Lines (See Arendt, Conservation Design for Subdivisions and Growing Greener). 4.) Conservation subdivisions are better places to live. When well designed, the majority of lots faces or abuts a variety of open spaces from formal “greens” or “commons” to wildflower meadows, farm fields, mature woodlands, tidal or freshwater wetlands and recreational fields. See http://www.greenerprospects.com/ordrev.html http://www.wisc.edu/urpl/people/ohm/projects/consub.pdf 
Guide to Conservation Subdivisions (511 KB)
http://aswm.org/lwp/nys/cqb-rpo.htm

Open Space Zoning
This technique uses clustering and other creative designs of building lots to permanently retain open space. Clustering of buildings is heavily relied upon because less land is consumed. There is much variation in use of this technique and many communities throughout the northeast have incorporated open space zoning.

One variation mandates Open Space Development Design, or Conservation Subdivisions. Here, a community can designate a district where new subdivision development is not permitted to consume more than a certain percentage (often 50%) of any parcel. The remaining land is permanently restricted and further subdivision is not allowed

Some regulations have a sliding scale for setting aside open space. The sliding scale allows the gross density to rise only if the net area consumed by development is reduced. Thus, as more open space is preserved, the number of lots can increase, but the maximum lot size decreases.

Open space zoning implemented through an overlay district, tied to specific environmentally sensitive areas, is another variation. It allows variable lot sizes and land uses, retains open space, recreational areas, scenic areas, and environmentally sensitive areas and preserves prime farmlands. It can also promote affordable housing because the smaller lot sizes require fewer roads, utilities and other infrastructure, reducing the costs of development. However, this technique requires more effort to create and implement properly and unless open space is permanently set aside through a conservation easement, rezoning can erode open space and protected

See, Town of Gardiner Zoning Town of Gardiner, NY, Zoning § 220-12. Open space development. [Amended 1-10-2006 by L.L. No. 1-2006]

Overlay Zoning Techniques

Overlay districts
Overlay zoning is a flexible zoning technique for resource protection that can be used to direct development away from environmentally sensitive lands. Overlay districts are imposed over existing zoning regulations and contain added provisions to provide further protection of a specific resource.

In each of the following overlay districts, the municipality identifies a discrete area containing an environmental resource and then applies regulations designed to protect the resource.

Conservation Overlay
This district is designed to generally protect significant environmental features such as forests, wetlands, watercourses, water bodies, and steep slopes.

Floodplain Protection Overlay
The purpose of this district is to control the alteration of natural floodplains, stream channels and natural protective barriers.

Groundwater – Aquifer Protection Overlay
This district is designed to preserve the quality and quantity of the municipality's major groundwater resources See Town Of Warwick Aquifer Protection Overlay  or Town of Dover Aquifer Overlay District

Historic and Scenic Area Overlay
The purpose of this district is to channel intensive development away from scenic and historic areas, and encourage clustering of development.

Steep Slope Overlay
The purpose of the overlay district is to prevent soil erosion, sedimentation, destruction of vegetation, increased runoff, and slope failure.

Watercourse Protection Overlay
The purpose is to preserve natural or man-made watercourses and protection of water quality, flood carrying capacities, and the natural character of the watercourse.

Wetland Protection
This district protects freshwater wetlands, provides wildlife habitat, recreation, flood protection, open space, and pollution control. See, Town of Putnam Valley Wetlands Overlay District

Wildlife Habitat
The purpose of this district is protection of wildlife and their habitat including movement patterns.

Woodland District
This district is designed to preserve trees and prevent the removal of natural vegetation. 

Open Space Zoning
Uses clustering and other creative designs of building lots to permanently retain open space. See,  Environmental Protection Overlay District Town of Penfield CODE §§ 3-6 through 3-15 (1987)S or Town of Greenburgh Conservation District

Site Plan Review
A site plan is the arrangement, layout, and design for the proposed use of a single parcel of land. Site plan regulations ensure that development is in harmony with the surrounding area. In approving site plans, the approval agency can consider the possible impact of development on natural resources. Site plan regulations can be structured to preserve natural resources on the site  and can  mandate drainage standards, control of erosion, sedimentation, and stormwater runoff, landscaping, grading, and viewshed protection. See, N.Y. Town Law §274-a; N.Y. Village Law§7-725-a (2). See, also, e.g. Town See, Authority to Zone and Amend Zoning: Sample Zoning Ordinance Authority to Zone

Subdivision Authority
Subdivision is defined as “the division of any parcel of land into a number of lots, blocks or sites. Subdivision regulations control the layout of lots and improvements of lots. Subdivision regulations lay out how a community wants development to occur.

Additionally, subdivision regulations can require that land is set aside for parks or open space and clustering of development. Open space regulations typically require a certain percentage of the subdivision to be reserved for parks, playgrounds or other recreational purposes. These open areas can be located so areas of environmental significance are preserved. Subdivision regulations may also dictate what the open space can be used for and require that it be properly maintained. A clustered subdivision, as opposed to a traditional grid-style subdivision, “reduces the lot size and bulk requirements and clusters homes into those areas where they will have the least impact on the environmental resources and permanently preserving the open space.”

Subdivision approval may further require drainage requirements, which help minimize runoff and increase infiltration; road design requirements to avoid critical areas and minimize filling and vegetation removal; and a grading plan with soil and contour considerations to reduce erosion and development on hydric soils.

For an example of subdivision regulations designed to protect natural resources from the adverse effects of subdivision and development See, Code of the Town of North Salem, Zoning, Chapter 200, Subdivision of Land   or Town of Washington, N.Y. Code § 340 (1989).Open Space Subdivisions.   

Non-regulatory mechanisms to protect resources and preserve quality of life

 Conservation Easements
Many state and local governments and private land trusts acquire conservation easements (development rights) on properties to preserve land. This requires legally splitting the development rights of a property from other property rights and held so that development is prevented. All conservation easements are voluntary and may be permanent or short-term. Land with a conservation easement can be sold or transferred to others, but the land use is limited by the restrictions of the easement. For example, a parcel of land may have a conservation easement that allows one single-family residence to be built, with the rest remaining as open space.

 Purchase of Development Rights
When a conservation easement is bought, it is called a PDR, or purchase of development rights.

Transfer of Development Rights (TDR)
Transfer of Development Rights transfers development to another part of a community where development and infrastructure may already exist.

Resources
Much of this information has been adapted from the following publications of the Land Use Law Center Pace University School of Law:

 Starting Ground Series Local Environmental Strategies

http://www.law.pace.edu/landuse/book_publications.html

http://www.law.pace.edu/landuse/landuse_library.html

Open Space In New York, by Kathryn Ryan, 2000 http://www.law.pace.edu/landuse/openSpaceInNY-Ryan.html

http://www.law.pace.edu/landuse/locreg.html#fn45 Local Regulation of Natural Resources by Jeffrey P. Le Java

Preventing Landscape Fragmentation: A Holistic Use of Local Land Use Regulations, by Patricia Black, 2000 http://www.law.pace.edu/landuse/tocprot.html

Pace University Land Use Training Program for Local Government Officials http://www.nymir.org/zoning/

Other Sources:

Planning and Zoning Techniques for Protecting Quality Of Life: Resource Protection Options for Communities http://aswm.org/lwp/nys/cqb-rpo.htm

New York Planning Federation’s Technical Assistance Program provides training and advice on many land use and zoning matters.  Check their website http://www.nypf.org/technical_assistance.htm

The Hudson Valley Greenway Community Planning Guide http://www.hudsongreenway.state.ny.us/techassist/toc.htm

National Association of Counties  http://www.naco.org/

Local Government Environmental Assistance Network http://www.lgean.org/

Smart Growth Network http://www.smartgrowth.org/

Model ordinances To Protect Local Resources http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/ordinance/sitemap.htm

1. Village Law §7-700, Town Law § 261, and General City Law §20(24)

2.  See, Town Law §272-a; Village Law §7-722.

3.  See N.Y. Village Law § 7-722(4) (d); N.Y. Town Law § 272-a (3) (d).

4. N.Y. Village Law § 7-704; N.Y. Town Law § 263.

5. See, N.Y. Town Law §§261-263; N.Y. Village Law §§ 7-700, 7-702, 7-704;

6. See, e.g., Town of Washington, N.Y. Code § 202 (1989).

**The ordinances and other documents that appear on this site are provided for informational purposes and may not reflect all the legislation adopted by the municipality.

 The information herein is not intended, nor implied, to constitute legal advice. The user should always seek advice from an appropriate attorney regarding legal questions or concerns. No warranty is made regarding the accuracy of the information herein, and no liability is assumed for any action taken in reliance upon information on this web site, or in any other Internet site linked to it in any way.