Kenneth Stahl

Kenneth Stahl is Of Counsel in Miller Starr Regalia’s Newport Beach office. He specializes in land use, zoning, and local government law, including the California Environmental Quality Act, the Housing Accountability Act, the state density bonus law, accessory dwelling units, and many other areas. His practice is focused on ensuring that cities comply with state law when making land use decisions.

Ken has successfully assisted numerous developers in obtaining needed entitlement permits for housing and other projects, relying extensively on state laws such as the “Builder’s Remedy” of the Housing Accountability Act and other state laws.  In many of these situations, Ken has succeeded in obtaining entitlements despite significant neighborhood opposition to the project.  He also has substantial experience successfully litigating on behalf of developers and housing organizations to ensure that projects are approved.

Representative matters include:

• Assisted with entitlement of 120-unit apartment building in Brea
• Successfully litigated under Housing Accountability Act to overturn disapproval of 48-unit condo project in Huntington Beach
• Assisted in entitlement of 37-unit townhome project in North Tustin and successfully litigated to defend project approval
• Successfully litigated interpretation of Housing Accountability Act  in Los Gatos regarding i175-unit and 120-unit Builder’s Remedy projects

In addition to his practice, Ken is a Professor of Law and Director of the Environmental, Land Use and Real Estate Law program at Chapman University Fowler School of Law. Prior to joining the faculty at Chapman, Ken was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where he litigated cases involving the federal Superfund statute and other federal laws. Ken also worked for the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and for the law firm of Arnold & Porter.

Ken is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Yale Law School. He has published many articles on the subjects of land use and local government law in journals including The University of Pennsylvania Law Review, George Washington Law Review, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, and others. His recent book Local Citizenship in a Global Age (Cambridge University Press 2020) chronicles how globalization has caused cities and nation-states to clash over the meaning of citizenship.