First Church on Remand: Keystone Revisited

Abstract

When the U.S. Supreme Court decided First English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glendale v. Los Angeles, 107 S.Ct. 2378 (1987), 39 ZD 206, many wondered what had happened to Keystone Bituminous Coal Ass'n v. DeBenedictis, 107 S.Ct. 1232 (1987), 39 ZD 221, decided by the same Court a scant four months before. So, apparently, did the California Court of Appeal. In a resounding affirmation of local land use regulatory authority, the Court of Appeal suggests, but does not hold, that a land use regulation that takes all property is valid and is not a regulatory taking provided it is for the protection of public health and safety. Welfare, the court casts adrift. In the process, the court also lays to rest, at least for now, the question of whether floodplain regulations are compensable.