Practice Areas
Matthew Wm. Nelson
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Print PDFMatthew Nelson serves as a team leader in the Land Use Department. Mr. Nelson has successfully guided major commercial, industrial, health care and retail developers, as well as mining and transportation interests, through the challenges of obtaining approvals and permits from a wide range of federal, state and local jurisdictions. Mr. Nelson skillfully assists clients in development and implementation of strategies, which includes providing pragmatic counsel on legislative and administrative land use approvals such as development of impacted properties, redevelopment projects, public financing, development agreements, tentative maps and subdivision map issues, zoning, general plan amendments, specific plans, traffic and transportation issues, conditional use permits, and variances.
Mr. Nelson’s primary focus is land use and environmental CEQA/NEPA document review and project entitlement for retail shopping centers, commercial, industrial and residential developments, mining and transportation clients, providing oversight to ensure that environmental review and development approvals are sufficient and legally defensible.
Mr. Nelson is involved in many high-profile projects under construction, approved, or in development along the rapidly-growing I-215 corridor in Riverside County as well as the high desert area of San Bernardino County, where he has earned a reputation for moving projects through challenges and obstacles with pragmatism.
Published Works
Comment, NEPA and Standing: Halting the Spread of “Slash-and-Burn Jurisprudence, 31 U.C. Davis Law Review 253 (1997).
Speaking Engagements
Panelist/Speaker, Subdivision Map Act, Lorman Seminars, December 2008
Panelist/Speaker, Transportation: The Movement of Goods from Port to the End User, Association of Environmental Professionals State Conference, March 2010
Panelist/Speaker, Transportation Studies, CEQA and the Public Realm - Let's Talk About It, Association of Environmental Professionals State Conference, March 2010
Education
- University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall), J.D., 1998
- University of California, Riverside B.S., Environmental Science, 1995, Cum Laude
Bars
- California, 1998
- U.S. District Court Central District of California, 2001
- Nevada, 2002
- U.S. District Court District of Nevada, 2010
Affiliations
- Riverside County Bar Association, Member
- San Bernardino County Bar Association, Member
- Clark County Bar Association, Member
- Leadership Riverside, Class of 2010
- UC Riverside Highlander Athletics Association, Executive Board and Marketing Committee Chair
- Cub Scouts Pack 97, Committee Chair
Honors
Senior Research Editor, U.C. Davis Law Review, 1997-98