Ann Neil Cosby is a member of the firm's Government group, and is a founding member of the firm's Environmental and Regulatory Law and Land Use and Development Teams. Ann Neil represents localities, businesses and individuals on zoning, land use, environmental, utility and regulatory issues in legislative, administrative, judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings at the local, state and federal level. She assists clients in obtaining state and federal permits and with compliance and enforcement issues. She has litigated environmental, land use, and other cases throughout Virginia, in both state and federal court.

Ann Neil routinely assists clients in navigating zoning and subdivision requirements in jurisdictions throughout Virginia. She negotiates proffers and development conditions for municipal and private clients, and advises on growth management, land conservation, development rights, and related issues. She recently represented a Virginia county in its consideration and approval of a rezoning request for a project encompassing approximately 1,059.3 acres, and proposed for development as a mixed use, transit oriented development that incorporated form based and new urbanist zoning principles. She has represented land owner stakeholders in power line routing cases before the SCC, and has represented local governments in utility cases involving telecommunications companies, water, and wastewater utilities before the SCC as well.

Ann Neil frequently teaches courses in land use, zoning and environmental law for statewide groups, including Plan Virginia (formerly the Citizen's Planning Education Association of Virginia). ). In 2012, she was selected as one of the year's Influential Women of Virginia by Virginia Lawyers Weekly. She was selected as a "Rising Star" in the Super Lawyers" published by Richmond Magazine in Land Use and Zoning (2007--2009), and was chosen for her Administrative Regulatory Law Practice by Virginia Business Magazine's Legal Elite.

Articles

· Revisions to Virginia's Stormwater Management Act: New Programs and Challenges for Local Governments, Journal of Local Government Law, Fall 2012

· What Virginia Planners Should Know About Substantive Due Process, CPEAV Newsletter, Fall 2006.

· How to Survive an Enforcement Action: What Virginia Businesses Need to Know about Responding to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (from Virginia Business magazine, June 2006)

· Supreme Court Rules Local Governments Can Condemn To Benefit Private Development (July 2005)

· "THE RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY ACT," DRI Practice Manual (2001).

Resources

· Tips Card for Implementing New Transportation Requirements & Strategies

News about M. Ann Neil Cosby:

· Eighteen Named In Super Lawyers 2008

· 2009 Virginia Super Lawyers List Includes Seventeen Lawyers From Sands Anderson

· Outline of May 19, 2010 Vested Rights Webinar Posted

· Twenty Seven Lawyers Make Virginia Business Legal Elite List

· Local Governments Fend Off Verizon Tax Challenge

· Ann Neil Cosby Among Influential Women of Virginia

· Ann Neil Cosby on Faculty for Stormwater Management Series

· 32 Lawyers Named to Annual Virginia Business Legal Elite List

Videos including M. Ann Neil Cosby:

· Virginia Association of Counties Land Use Panel - New Supervisors 2012

Recent Seminars

Presentations, Seminars and Training led by Ann Neil Cosby

· Developing a Governance Model, Chairperson's Institute, Richmond, Virginia, February 1, 2013

· Staying Afloat in the Stormwater Surge, Webinar Series, presented with Joyce Engineering and Maroon Consulting (co-sponsored by VACO, VML), October 19, 2011 and November 30, 2011

· Overlay Districts from A to Z, PlanVirginia Commonwealth Land Use and Zoning Conference, Newport News, Virginia, October 9-11, 2011

· New Stormwater Management Requirements: How the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Will Impact Virginia Localities and Businesses, Lorman Educational Services, Richmond, Virginia, October 5, 2011

· Understanding and Applying TMDL Standards Locally, PlanVirginia Legal Seminar, Richmond, Virginia, July 18, 2011

· Developing a Grievance Model, VACO Chairperson's Institute, Richmond, Virginia, February 4, 2011

· The Legal Foundations of Planning and Zoning, PlanVirginia, March 7, 2011

· Using Zoning, the Building Code & the General Laws to Address Property Maintenance Issues, PlanVirginia 2010 Commonwealth Land Use and Zoning Conference

· Developing a Governance Model: Conflicts and Ethics, VACO Chairperson's Institute, Richmond, Virginia, February 12, 2010

· Addressing Legal Pitfalls of Green Building, Webinar, September 22, 2010

· Channeling the New Stormwater Regulations, 2009 CPEAV Planning and Zoning Seminar, Richmond, Virginia, June 29, 2009

· Alternative Onsite Sewer Systems: Are They Here to Stay? 2009 CPEAV Planning and Zoning Seminar, Richmond, Virginia, June 29, 2009

· 2007 Virginia General Assembly Actions Impacting Planning and Zoning Practices, CPEAV Planning & Zoning Legal Seminar, Charlottesville, Virginia, May 16, 2008

· 61st Certified Planning Commissioners Program, CPEAV Planning & Zoning Legal Seminar, Williamsburg, Virginia, September 29-30, 2008

· Onsite Sewers, Biosolids and Stormwater Regulations: What Localities Need to Know, CPEAV Commonwealth Land Use and Zoning Conference, Williamsburg, Virginia, October 14, 2008

· Newly Elected Supervisors Seminar, Richmond, Virginia, December 3, 2007, and Blacksburg, Virginia, December 10, 2007

· New...and Even Newer Legislation (What the General Assembly gave in 2007 ... and what it took back in 2008), 2008 Spring Training Conference, Virginia Association of Zoning Officials, Spotsylvania, Virginia, March 7, 2008

· Introduction to Zoning, Virginia Certified BZA Program, Richmond, Virginia, March 31, 2008

· The Legal Foundations of Planning and Zoning, Certified Planning Commissioner Program, CPEAV, Williamsburg, Virginia, September 29, 2008

· Newly Elected Supervisors Seminar, Richmond, Virginia, December 3, 2007

· Legislative Update: 2007 Virginia General Assembly Actions, CPEAV, 2007 Virginia Certified Planning Commissioner Graduate Seminar, Charlottesville, Virginia, November 29, 2007

· Putting Virginia's New Planning and Zoning Laws to Work, 2007 CPEAV Commonwealth Zoning and Land Use Conference, Charlottesville, Virginia, October 8, 2007

· Inventing Your County's Future: The Role of Community Planning, Virginia Certified County Supervisors Program, Virginia Association of Counties, Albemarle County Courthouse, Virginia, June 29, 2007

· Third CPEAV Planning and Zoning Law Legal Seminar, Charlottesville, Virginia, May 7, 2007

· Land Use 2007: Revisiting the Ever-Changing Law of Land Use Planning and Regulation, Richmond, Virginia, April 24, 2007

· Virginia Certified BZA Graduate Seminar, Richmond, Virginia, October 30, 2006

· 2006 Commonwealth Land Use and Zoning Conference, CPEAV, Charlottesville, Virginia, October 8-10, 2006

· Practical Guide to Zoning and Land Use Law, National Business Institute, October 2006

· Preserving Land Use Development Rights in Virginia: Take a Comprehensive Look at Land Use Law, National Business Institute, Richmond, Virginia, February 2006

· Conditional Zoning and Conditional Use Permits: How They Differ, How They Work and How to Manage Each, CPEAV, Roanoke, Virginia, October 2005

· Permit Conditions and Proffers: How Not to Screw Them Up, or How to Screw Them Up Less, Rural Planning Caucus, Mt. Lake, Virginia, October 2004

· Recent Cable Franchise Transfers/Renewals, LGOC Conference, Norfolk, Virginia, August 2004

· Alternative Wastewater Treatment Facilities, Rural Planning Caucus, Mt. Lake, Virginia, October 2003

· The Regulation of Biosolids: How Far is Too Far?, Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association and the Virginia Association of Zoning Officials, Richmond, Virginia, April 2003

· The Land Application of Biosolids, Virginia Association of Counties' Annual Meeting, Hot Springs, Virginia, November 2002

· The Land Application of Biosolids, Rural Planning Caucus, Mt. Lake, Virginia, October 2002

· The Clean Water Act, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William & Mary, Gloucester Point, Virginia, November 2002

· The Session, the Laws, the Amendments: What You Need to Know From the General Assembly, Virginia State Bar, Young Lawyers Conference, Seizing the Future: A Professional Development Conference, Charlottesville, Virginia, March 2002

· Sex in the County, Regulating Sexually Oriented Businesses, Rural Planning Caucus, Mt. Lake, Virginia, October 2001

· The Federal Telecommunications Act, Richmond, Virginia, April 2001

· Moderator, "Lawyers New to a Civil Defense Practice" VADA, 2000

Professional Affiliations

· Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (Member, Construction General Permit Regulatory Advisory Panel)

· Virginia State Bar (Environmental and Local Government Law sections)

· Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys (Member, Environmental Law section)

· Local Government Attorneys of Virginia (Member, Ad Hoc Committee on Chesapeake Bay Regulation)

· Virginia Chamber of Commerce (Member, Environment Committee)

· Richmond Bar Association (Environmental Law section)

· Metropolitan Richmond Women's Bar Association

· Virginia Rural Planning Caucus

· Citizen's Planning Education Association of Virginia

· Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association