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Mr. Amerikaner is a Shareholder in the Santa Barbara office of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. As a member of the Natural Resources and Real Estate groups, he focuses on land use and environmental issues. Mr. Amerikaner has more than 30 years of experience representing property owners and businesses seeking development permits and other governmental approvals. He counsels public agencies, developers, businesses and homeowners, including coastal property owners, on issues such as leasing of city land, local agency acquisition of private property and securing zoning approvals. He also serves as General Counsel to a regional water agency and a local sanitary district. Mr. Amerikaner brings significant experience in counseling established businesses and associations, including a prestigious small college, a theater corporation and a ranch owners association. In addition, he represents a number of public agencies and advises businesses and individuals facing problems with public agencies. In recent years, Mr. Amerikaner represented a major California residential builder in securing permits for beach-area condominium project, including successful environmental litigation defending those permits. He advised a major California water agency in the permitting, financing, planning and construction of a $600 million water distribution system and treatment plant. Mr. Amerikaner assisted a national communications company in securing leases and land use permits for a wireless telephone network. He also advised the buyers in their purchase of a 25,000 acre ranch, one of the largest remaining undeveloped properties along the California coast. After spending the early part of his legal career in the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office as a land use and environmental lawyer, Mr. Amerikaner joined a major Los Angeles law firm as its land use expert. In 1982, he was appointed to be Santa Barbara City Attorney. He joined Hatch & Parent in 1991 and then joined Brownstein as part of the 2008 merger of the two firms. | 