Frank Schnidman

Biografía: Frank Schnidman is the former John M. DeGrove Eminent Scholar Chair at the School of Urban and Regional Planning, Florida Atlantic University, after having been awarded the Henry D. Epstein Distinguished Professor of Urban and Regional Planning Chair. He taught both redevelopment and economic development courses. He retired from teaching at the end of the Summer 2016 semester, and now writes, consults and organizes and chairs numerous seminars and conferences. He is also currently mentoring faculty and student design teams in FAU’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering on community engagement projects to design structures to implement community visions in distressed South Florida urban areas. Schnidman has a Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) degree (1973) and a Masters of Laws (LL.M.) degree in Environmental Law, with Highest Honors (1975) and has spent more than thirty years dealing with sophisticated land policy and land use regulatory issues as both a practicing attorney and as an academic. He is admitted to practice law in California, Florida, New York and the District of Columbia. He has represented parties, amicus curiae, in the U. S. Supreme Court in Agins v. Tiburon (1980) and Kelo v. New London (2005). Schnidman practiced law with the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig, after serving as the Director of the University of Miami School of Law Graduate Program in Real Property Development. He is a leader in continuing professional education, having chaired American Law Institute-American Bar Association land use related programs since 1977, as well as organized and participated in over 100 other seminars and conferences in the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia. His 33rd Annual Land Use Institute was held April 12-13, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. In Florida, he is recognized as one of the leading experts concerning redevelopment and Community Redevelopment Agencies (CRAs). He is the founding Executive Director of one CRA, and consultant to numerous other CRAs. He served as Subject Matter Expert to the Miami-Dade County Grand Jury investigation into CRAs. Schnidman is the author or editor of a number of books and the author or co-author of numerous professional journal articles. His co-authored treatise, Handling the Land Use Case, first published in 1984, is now in its 3rd edition with regular supplements. Schnidman also served as the Executive Director of the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority (DDA), initiating the transition of the DDA from urban renewal agency to asset manager of the Downtown, as well as managing the implementation of the Downtown Trolley System. He is also the Founding Executive Director of the Fort Lauderdale Transportation Management Association (TMA). He has taught both planning law and land development law at a number of universities, including serving two years as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. In 1984, he was named a ULI Fellow “By virtue of recognized service and contribution of knowledge and experience in the fields of sound land use and urban development.” In 2019, the American Bar Association, State and Local Government Law Section, awarded Schnidman the “Lifetime Achievement Award.” (August 2019)