About CARL

Carl is a leading voice in real estate and association law throughout the Delaware Valley. He has served in leadership roles for the Montgomery Bar Association, the Community Associations Institute, and numerous community organizations. Clients value his deep knowledge of zoning, development, and association law as well as his ability to deliver innovative solutions. With more than 150 community associations developed under his counsel, Carl’s impact is felt across the region.

Specialties

ASSOCIATION LAW

REAL ESTATE

LAND USE & ZONING

Admin Contact

Marie M. Stringer
MStringer@HRMML.com

For more than three decades, Carl Weiner has guided clients across the Delaware Valley through the full spectrum of real estate law, with particular depth in zoning, land development, financing, and acquisition. He is recognized as one of the region’s leading attorneys in association law, having advised on the creation of over 150 condominium and homeowners’ associations and continuing to represent numerous associations today. A Fellow of the College of Community Association Lawyers, Carl is widely regarded for both his technical expertise and his practical approach to complex real estate matters.

Carl’s extensive experience in zoning litigation stems from his many successful appearances before zoning hearing boards and appellate courts. He has earned a strong reputation for navigating zoning cases, subdivision matters, and land-development applications throughout Bucks and Montgomery Counties. His work also includes securing substantial recoveries for landowners in eminent domain cases, while also defending municipal entities in eminent domain claims. Developers, commercial landowners, and financial institutions regularly turn to Carl for assistance with acquisitions, financing, and structuring multimillion-dollar real estate transactions that involve innovative contingencies tied to land development and zoning approvals.

In addition to his practice, Carl is a frequent lecturer for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the Community Associations Institute, and the Montgomery Bar Association (MBA). He has held numerous leadership positions, including past Chair of the MBA’s Specialization Committee and Real Estate Land Use Committee, past President of the Pennsylvania/Greater Delaware Valley Chapter of the Community Associations Institute, the Montgomery Bar Foundation, and the Montgomery County Big Brothers/Big Sisters Association. Since 2009, he has served multiple terms as Chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee of the Community Associations Institute.

Before joining the firm in 1984, Carl clerked for the Honorable Stanley M. Greenberg of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia. He is a graduate of Boston University School of Law and earned his undergraduate degree from Brown University.

 

  • Zoning and Land Development

    • Successfully represented a township in defending a substantive challenge by a quarry owner seeking to expand an existing quarry into a residential district. Carl effectively demonstrated that, despite regulation by the Department of Environmental Protection, the quarry operations continued to adversely effect surrounding residences.

    • Successfully resolved a significant curative-amendment challenge by a real-estate developer seeking to place mobile homes in a residential district zoned for one-acre lots. Carl presented an effective case on the negative impact on the local infrastructure from implementing this development project. Following a year of hearings, Carl was able to convince the township to approve smaller lot sizes for single-family homes.

    • Successfully represented a major pharmaceutical company in opposing a zoning application by a radio-station owner to locate a 50,000-watt AM radio station near the company’s newly constructed research facilities. Through comprehensive research and extensive interviews with a variety of planners and radio experts, he convinced the zoning hearing board of the potential adverse impact of the radio station. After three years of hearings, the zoning board agreed with the facts Carl presented and denied the application.

    Condominium and Homeowners’ Associations

    • Created over 150 homeowners’ associations and condominium associations throughout Bucks and Montgomery Counties. He has represented numerous developers in establishing programs which enabled the smooth and effective transition of operations to newly created homeowners’ associations. He also has represented developers of condominium-conversion projects to effectively follow through on all rules and regulations required under the Pennsylvania Uniform Condominium Act.

    • Represented various existing condominium and homeowners’ associations in reviewing and revising their operating declarations and by-laws to adhere to existing and newly enacted regulations.

    Eminent-Domain Proceedings

    • Participated in all aspects of the eminent-domain process in Pennsylvania, from the filing of a declaration of taking and posting of estimated just compensation to hearings before the board of view in jury trials.

    • Successfully defended a township against charges of collusion with a developer whose land benefited from a condemnation for a sewage-treatment plant. Carl was able to demonstrate that the plant was being constructed for a public purpose, notwithstanding the incidental benefit to the developer.

    • Obtained a substantial award from a Board of View for a landowner in a PennDOT condemnation of land for a by-pass off-ramp. Carl successfully demonstrated the impact of the taking on the development value of the property.

  • Admissions

    • Pennsylvania 

    • United States Supreme Court

    Education

    • Boston University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts, (J.D.)

    • Brown University, (B.A.)

    • College of Community Association Lawyers

      • Fellow

    • Pennsylvania Bar Association

      • Member

    • Montgomery Bar Association

      • Past Chairman, Real Estate Land Use Committee

      • Past Chairman, Specialization Committee

    • Montgomery Bar Foundation

      • Past President, Board of Directors

    • Pennsylvania/Greater Delaware Valley Chapter of the Community Associations Institute

      • Past President

    • Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee of the Community Associations Institute

      • Past Chairman

    • Montgomery County Big Brothers/Big Sisters Association

      • Past President

    • Tiferet Bet Israel of Blue Bell

      • Past President

  • Speeches

    • Lecturer, "Recalibrating Zoning in a World of COVID," PBI Real Estate Institute 2021, December 2, 2021

    • Seminar Speaker, Upper Providence Township Staff Meeting; "Municipalities and Planned Communities"; December 14, 2016

    • Seminar Speaker, Whitpain Township Planning Commission and Township Staff Meeting; "Municipalities and Planned Communities"; September 13, 2016

    • Seminar co-presenter, Bucks County Planning Commission, Formation of Common Interest Communities, April 29, 2015

    • Pennsylvania Bar Institute Seminar - Condominium and Homeowners' Associations: Litigating the Enforcement Case, November 2014

    • Seminar Presenter, Formation of Common Interest Communities, Montgomery County Planning Commission, September 16, 2014

    • Co-Presenter, Zoning Law, Montgomery County Zoning Officers Association Seminar, February 2014

    • Speaker, Pennsylvania Land Title Institute; "Understanding Real Estate Interests in Condominiums and Planned Communities"; August 7, 2013

    • Overview of Community Associations, Urban Affairs Committee of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, March 19, 2013

    • Frequent Lecturer, Pennsylvania Bar Institute

    • Pennsylvania Bar Institute Seminar - How the Uniform Planned Community Act Really Works

    • Pennsylvania Bar Institute Seminar - Condominium and Homeowners' Associations: Conflict and the Courts

    • Pennsylvania Bar Institute Seminar - Condominium and Homeowners' Associations: A New Look at Development Issues

    • Frequent Lecturer, Community Associations Institute

    • Frequent Lecturer, Montgomery Bar Association

    Publications

    • Right to Collect Attorneys' Fees, HRMM&L Legal Spotlight, June 6, 2016

    • Planned Community/Condominium Responsibilities, In Brief HRMM&L Newsletter, March 2008

    • Named to the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers List for 2019-2025 in the area of Real Estate. (Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor.)

    • Selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America,  2016-2025.

    • Recognized as Lawyer of the Year for Land Use and Zoning Law by Best Lawyers in America for 2021.

    • Community Associations Institute Robert H. Wise President’s Award

    • Israel Bonds/Israel Peace Medal