Ken 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.
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:
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.
J.D., Yale Law School (2000)
B.A., University of Michigan (1997)
The Power of Local Governments to Invalidate Private Deed Restrictions, Iowa Law Review (forthcoming 2026)
The Trouble With Traffic Studies: Why Bad Traffic Predictions are Making Our Cities Worse and What Courts Should Do About It, 59 ABA Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Journal 325 (2024) (with Kristina Currans)
Planning Viewpoint: Are Traffic Studies “Junk Science” That Don’t Belong in Court?, 90 Journal of the American Planning Association 77 (2023) (with Kristina Currans)
Reparations for Gentrification? A Response to John Infranca’s Differentiating Exclusionary Tendencies, 72 Florida Law Review Forum 190 (2023)
The Power of State Legislatures to Invalidate Private Deed Restrictions: Is it an Unconstitutional Taking? 50 Pepperdine Law Review 579 (2022) (invited symposium contribution)
Incorporating Transportation Topics into the Land Use Curriculum, 106 Iowa Law Review 2451 (2021) (invited symposium contribution),
Equality and Closure: The Paradox of Local Citizenship, 8 Texas A&M University Journal of Property Law 29 (2021) (invited symposium contribution),
Home Rule and State Preemption of Local Land Use Control, The Urban Lawyer (2020)
Local Citizenship in a Global Age, (Cambridge University Press 2020)
"Contagion and Partisan Federalism," Duke Center for Firearms Law (May 8, 2020)
"Yes in My Backyard:" Can a New Pro-Housing Movement Overcome the Power of NIMBYs? 41 ZONING & PLANNING LAW REPORT 3 (March 2018)
The Challenge of Inclusion, 89 TEMPLE LAW REVIEW 487 (2017)
Preemption, Home Rule and Local Democracy, 44 FORDHAM URBAN LAW JOURNAL 133 (2017)
Local Home Rule in the Time of Globalization, 2016 BYU LAW REVIEW 177
Mobility and Community in Urban Policy, 46 THE URBAN LAWYER 625 (2014)
Reliance in Land Use Law, 2013 BYU LAW REVIEW 949
“UPDATE on Builder’s Remedy in OC!”, PEOPLE FOR HOUSING - OC YIMBY, Virtual, April 13, 2023
“Applying the Builders Remedy,” Abundant Housing LA, January 18, 2023
“Applying the Builder's Remedy in Orange County,” PEOPLE FOR HOUSING - OC YIMBY, Virtual, December 6, 2022
“Applying the Builders Remedy,” Abundant Housing LA, January 18, 2023
“Applying the Builder's Remedy in Orange County,” presented by PEOPLE FOR HOUSING - OC YIMBY, Virtual, December 6, 2022
California
Massachusetts (inactive)
New York
Washington, D.C.
District Court for the District of Columbia
Second Circuit Court of Appeals