Courts Flashcards
Fasano 1973
- Mobile home park
- Burden of changing a zoning regulation falls on party seeking the change
- Change must be consistent with comprehensive plan
Agins 1980
- Substantially advances test
- Open space requirements do not constitute a taking
- Not a taking if it advances a legitimate governmental interest
- Related case is Lingle v. Chevron 2005, which removed substantially advances test
Citizens to Preserve Overton Park 1971
- “Hard look” doctrine for environmental impact review
- Decision to place highway in park overturned - no alternate routes were considered
General Electric Co. 1990
Validated CERCLA/Superfund
Gettysburg Electric Railway Co. 1896
- Acquisition of national battlefield at Gettysburg was a legitimate public purpose
- First significant historic preservation case
First English Evangelical Lutheran Church 1987
- Taking
- Flood destroyed church’s campground buildings
- LA adopted an interim ordinance prohibiting construction or reconstruction in an area that included the campground
- SCt found that flood destroyed all reasonable economic use of land and that a taking had occurred
Babbitt 1996
- SCt ruled that government can restrict land development to protect an endangered species and does not constitute a taking
Just 1972
- WI SCt - restricting development on wetlands
- Established environmental protection regulations covered by police power
- Concluded that natural state of shore supersedes landowner’s right to develop
Sierra Club 1972
- Sierra Club did not have standing to sue US Forest Service because it had not suffered economic, aesthetic, or environmental injury
Storer 1956
- Aesthetics can be regulated as part of police power
- Pertained to hanging unsightly apparel on a clothesline
East Cleveland 1977
- Occupancy restrictions
- Due process
- SCt struck down ordinance preventing closely-related individuals from living together
- In this case, it was a grandmother and grandkids
Playtime Theaters 1986
- Sexually-oriented businesses
- First Amendment
- Separation or concentration requirements for adult uses permissible if substantial government interest exists
Kelo 2005
SCt ruled that economic development is a valid use of eminent domain if part of development plan
Penn Central 1978
- Upheld historic preservation ordinances
- Prevented developers from acquiring air rights to build high rise over Grand Central Terminal
- Owner could transfer development rights
- Equal protection and due process
- Looked at whether permit denial constituted regulatory taking
- Looked at character of government action
Pennsylvania Coal Co. 1922
- Land use restriction constituted a taking
- A taking requires loss of all reasonable use
- Basis for transfer of development rights and air rights above stations
Village of Belle Terre 1974
- Occupancy restrictions
- Due process, Equal Protection, freedom of association
- SCt permitted prohibitions against more than two unrelated persons sharing a home - SUNY Stony Brook
Cleburne 1985
- Rational basis
- SCt ruled that city of Cleburne, TX could not deny permit for retarded group home because there was no rational basis for the prohibition
Dolan 1994
- Rough proportionality
- Storeowner to be allowed to expand business only if a portion of land was dedicated to a greenway
- Court ruled that such permit conditions are permissible only if the land dedication relates to the impact of the proposed development
Nollan 1987
Essential nexus
Requiring landowners on beach to develop a property only if an easement is provided is a taking
Village of Arlington Heights 1977
- Chicago suburb
- Church wants to build public housing in white suburb; city refuses to rezone the property
- Negative racial impact without proof of intent but Fair Housing Act may apply
- Does not violate the 14th Amendment
Fred French Investing 1976
SCt ruled that TDR did not provide adequate compensation for rendering a property unsuitable for use
Hadechek 1915
- Pre-zoning regulations
- Established that government could restrict nuisance uses (industrial) as part of police power
Golden 1972
Allowed local governments to control phased growth and performance criteria on the basis of adequate public facilities
Lingle 2005
- Affirmed Agins v Tiburon
- Restrictions on land use
- Due process, not takings clause
- Clarified “substantially advances” test
- Government must pay if regulations destroy economic value of a project
Lucas 1992
- Restrictions on land use
- Takings Clause - coastal setback
- Landowner successfully challenged a coastal zone protection law
- SCt ruled that regulations denying all economic use is a taking unless existing property and nuisance law prohibits such use
Construction Industry of Sonoma County 1971
Petaluma allowed to restrict building permits to preserve “orderly” growth
Due process - system establishing annual building permit cap was upheld
Related to growth management
Village of Willowbrook 1999
- Equal protection can be brought by a “class of one”
- Olech was protesting heightened sewer easement of 33 feet versus the stand 15 feet
American Mini Theaters 1976
- Sexually-oriented businesses
- First Amendment; Equal Protection
- Detroit permitted to use zoning control to limit sex theaters and stores from certain other uses
Berman 1954
- Public use in eminent domain
- Allowed a redevelopment program to shift public property to private lands
- Establish aesthetics and redevelopment as valid public purposes
Tahoe Sierra Preservation Council 2002
Concerns moratoria
Stevens land use regulations are ubiquitous and most impact property
Treating all as per se takings would transfer government regulations into a luxury
Use of moratoria and reaffirmed the parcel-as-a-whole rule for takings review. Development moratoria are not a taking, but should be analyzed
Metromedia 1981
- Signs and billboards
- First Amendment
- Invalidated tighter restrictions on signs bearing non-commercial messages
- City may ban billboards, but needs to be content neutral and must be a compelling state interest
Tennessee Valley Authority 1978
- Secretary of Interior has authority to decide if a federal activity threatens or endangers a list species
Euclid 1926
Upheld zoning as a valid exercise of police power
Cheney 1968
Legitimized the planned unit development process
Calvert Cliffs’ Coordinating Committee 1971
Made National Environmental Protection Act requirements enforceable
Loretto 1982
Any physical occupation is taking, no matter how minimal. Based on state law requiring landlords to permit cable facilities on property.
Hamilton Bank 1985
Defined the ripeness doctrine for judicial review of takings claims
Mount Laurel 2 1983
- Housing
- Created the model fair housing remedy for exclusionary zoning
- Equal protection
- Obligation to accommodate
Babbitt v Sweet Home Chapter of Communities for a Great Oregon 1995
Applied the Endangered Species Act to land development
Taxpayers for Vincent 1984
- Signs and billboards
- Ruled that LA violated the First Amendment provision of free speech by banning noncommercial signage on public property
City of Ladue 1994
SCt ruled that city could not ban someone from posting a noncommercial window sign in residence
Suitum 1994
Undeveloped lot and whether property owner must attempt to sell developmental rights before claiming taking
Determined that case was ripe for adjudication
Del Monte Dunes 1999
SCt recognized right to jury trial in regulatory taking case
Abrams 2005
Remedies available to property owner if city violates the Telecommunications Act of 1996
Property owners can ask court to remedy violation and issue permit but can’t get money damages or attorney fees
San Remo Hotel 2005
Which court should decide what and when?
State courts can adjudicate challenges to local land-use decisions
Mount Laurel 1 1975
- Housing
- Equal protection
- NJ SCt struck down an exclusionary zoning ordinance that prevented the construction of affordable housing for low- to moderate-income families
- Court ordered individual jurisdictions to rewrite zoning laws to accommodate the need for providing a fair share of the affordable housing stock
Palazzolo 2001
- Investment-backed expectations
- Takings Clause
- Takings analysis not irrelevant simply because new owner acquired property after new regulations became effective
City of Edmonds 1995
- Occupancy restrictions
- Federal Fair Housing
- zoning restrictions on unrelated persons living together subject to act
Midkiff 1984
- Public use in eminent domain
- Hawaiian land reform legislation involved public use
Welch 1909
- Pre-zoning regulations
- Due process related to height restrictions/limitations
Keystone Coal 1987
- Restrictions on land use
- Takings Clause
- Government action to prevent serious harm
- No taking where coal mining operations prohibited from causing subsidence damage to surface structures.
- Use of whole parcel considered
Stop the Beach Renourishment 2010
- Takings Clause
- Florida beach restoration legislation did not cause “taking” of beachfront property where state creates dry lands out of submerged lands and retains title to them
- Upland owners have no right to possible future accretions and to maintain contact with the water
Alameda Books 2002
- Sexually-oriented businesses
- First Amendment
- Los Angeles prohibition against operation more than one SOB in the same building or structure was ok
- Evidence that a concentration of the establishments would increase negative secondary effects could also apply to concentration of operations
City of Erie 2000
- Sexually-oriented businesses
- First Amendment
- Regulations requiring exotic dancers to wear minimal clothing is not a violation of freedom of expression
City of Eastlake 1976
- Zoning referendum
- Due Process
- no violation if zoning map may be amended by citizen referendum
FCC v Florida Power Corporation 1987
Takings
Munn 1877
Dealt with issue of public-private property/free enterprise v. state rights
Kaiser Aetna 1979
- government taking involving the development of a marina community, the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, and the decision that the government mislead the developer into thinking that the property would remain private
Associated Home Builders of Greater East Bay 1976
Dealt with time phasing of development
Austin 1938
Dealt with issue of nonconforming use that was built the day before the City’s zoning ordinance was put into place
Pumpelly 1871
Dealt with takings
Dam for flood control flooded property - gov’t had to pay just compensation
Nectow 1928
- Zoning without valid public purpose
- Rational basis test
