Adam Lovelady
Adam Lovelady is an expert in land use law and community planning.
As a faculty member at the UNC School of Government, he teaches, researches, and advises on topics such as zoning, land subdivision, historic preservation, resilience, and related topics. In 2025 Lovelady was named Albert and Gladys Coates Distinguished Professor of Public Law and Government.
His publications include Quasi-Judicial Handbook: A Guide for Boards Making Development Regulation Decisions (2024), Chapter 160D: A New Land Use Law for North Carolina (2019), and Land Subdivision Regulation in North Carolina (2015). He has authored a variety of land use law bulletins, law review articles, and special reports, including annual summaries of North Carolina Legislation Related to Planning and Development Regulation. He regularly posts to the School’s Coates’ Canons Local Government Law Blog. His 2014 report, “Planning and Zoning for Solar in North Carolina,” received the Margaret Taylor Writing Award in 2015.
Lovelady works with collaborative teams to produce new research and practical resources. From 2022 to 2024, Lovelady served as faculty lead for the Historic Resilience Project, a multi-university collaborative to provide research, publications, and training for local governments to evaluate and prepare for natural threats to historic and cultural resources. The project was supported by $250,000 from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, and it was recognized with the UNC School of Government’s 2024 Outstanding Collaboration Award.
Additionally, Lovelady served as coordinator for Chapter 160D: A New Land Use Law for North Carolina, a team effort from 2019-2021 to train and equip local governments and private practitioners for a comprehensive update to the state’s land use laws. Among other resources, the team produced the PlanNC Guidebook: A Practitioner's Guide to Preparing Streamlined Community Plans (2021).
Lovelady served as co-faculty lead for the School of Government’s interdisciplinary Opioid Response Project from 2018-2020. Through this effort, the School partnered with ten community teams across North Carolina to support local efforts to curb the opioid epidemic. The project was supported by nearly $500,000 in grant funds from Blue Cross NC.
In 2016 Lovelady established and coordinated the Solutions Forum, a collaborative workshop bringing together local government officials from multiple jurisdictions and multiple departments to address a common challenge. Following the Forum, Lovelady published Reshaping Suburban Spaces: Lessons from North Carolina Cities (2016).
Lovelady is an experienced trainer for local boards making development decisions. In addition to countless board workshops across North Carolina, Lovelady and colleagues designed and created a library of on-demand Planning and Zoning Training Modules for use by local appointed boards. Lovelady has served as a trainer for the National Alliance for Preservation Commissions, teaching local preservation commissions around the country.
Lovelady was named Albert and Gladys Hall Coates Term Professor for Teaching Excellence for 2019–2021, and he was named Coates Distinguished Term Assistant Professor for 2015–2017. Lovelady has served as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Before coming to the School, Lovelady practiced law with McGuireWoods LLP in Richmond, VA, where he focused on land use regulation, environmental law, and sustainable development. Prior to that, he taught second grade in Atlanta as part of Teach for America and worked in historic preservation in Asheville and Shelby, NC.
Lovelady earned a bachelor's degree from Auburn University, a master’s degree in urban and environmental planning, and a JD from the University of Virginia.
