Avoiding Regulatory Wipe-Outs: Proposed Model Legislation for a Local Mechanism

Abstract

During the last two decades, landowners and public agencies have been contending on two fronts over the right to compensation whenever land-use or environ-mental regulations are alleged to effect a taking of private property for public use without just compensation. On one front, litigation has proliferated in state and federal courts throughout the country, and while government has prevailed most of the time, notable successes have been achieved by landowners, particularly in the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. See e.g., Dolan v. City of Tigard, 114 S. Ct. 2309 (1994), 46 ZD 232; Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 112 S. Ct. 2886 (1992); Nollan v. California Coastal Comm'n, 107 S. Ct. 3141 (1987), 39 ZD 226; Loveladies Harbor, Inc. v. United States, 28 F. 3d 1171 (Fed. Cir. 1994), 47 ZD 48.