Hillcrest Property LLP v. Pasco County, 2013 WL1502627 (M.D. Fla.) involved defendant’s “Right of Way Preservation Ordinance” as a means of avoiding payment to landowners through whose property designated existing and future transportation corridors ran. If no development were requested, the County may acquire the property through traditional eminent domain means, but if a development […]
Joseph and Larraine Stainslaw have owned and operated a car dealership in Thetford Township, Genessee County, Michigan, for over twenty years. They obtained a license to operate a vehicle dealership from the Thetford Township in July 1983, despite the fact that the property did not have proper zoning and zoning approval was typically required before […]
Between 2006 and 2007, Settles Bridge Farm LLC purchased 36 acres of property in a low-density residential zone in the City of Suwanee, Georgia, with plans to construct a residential subdivision there. In Dec. 2006, a 41-lot subdivision plan was submitted to the City, and several variances to make way for the development were issued. [...]
Stueve Brothers Farms, LLC, owns a large tract of land within the Prado Dam Flood Control Basin in Orange County, California. Following construction of the Prado Dam in 1941, the federal government had obtained flowage easements across Stueve Brothers Farms’ property below 556 feet in elevation. After a decision by the Army Corps of Engineers [...]
In 2002, John Weiland, a principal of Dunes West Golf Club, purchased undeveloped residential lots and the master development rights to the Dunes West Development, a 4,518-acre golf course development in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Weiland believed that the unused land around the golf course could be used for residential development, and he instructed an [...]
Helena Sand and Gravel, Inc. owns 421 acres of land near East Helena, Montana, in a transitional area. The company obtained a Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) permit to mine 110 of those acres in 2008. Before MDEQ issued the 2008 permit, a citizens’ group filed a petition with Lewis and Clark County requesting [...]
John Richards purchased 200 acres of land in Clearwater Junction, Montana, hoping to develop a 119-lot residential subdivision. Richards submitted his original subdivision request to Board of Missoula County Commissioners in 2006, but the application was rejected. In 2007, Richards submitted a revised plan for a 59-unit development. At that time, the Montana Fish, Wildlife, [...]
Plaintiff Patricia Muscarello, owner of three agricultural tracts in Winnebago County, Illinois and notorious opponent of wind farm development, brought suit against the Winnebago County Board’s 2009 zoning amendment which made it easier to construct wind farms in the county, as well as against the County’s Zoning Board, numerous county officials, and several private wind [...]
Petitioners are owners of an assisted care facility challenge an amendment to a local zoning ordinance that expanded the definition of a “nursing home” which would in effect allow for a second assisted care facility nearby that would be competition. The petitioners alleged that in reliance on the zoning at the time which meant that [...]
Despite the fact that the federal district court found plaintiffs’ allegations troubling, given that no final decision on a proposed subdivision has been reached in over the course of seven years despite the vocal requests of the plaintiffs, the Court reminds plaintiffs that the proper proceeding to compel the local government to render a land [...]
In affirming in part and remanding in part a decision reported last year by the Eastern District of New York, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiff-appellant’s claims for takings, substantive due process and equal protection violations were not ripe as they did not obtain a final determination regarding their application for [...]
On December 4, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a divided ruling of the Circuit Court that in a flooding matter actions by the Army Corp of Engineers in the release of water from a dam that caused sustained flooding did not amount to a taking because the flooding was not “permanent or inevitably recurring.” [...]
In 1984, the 100-acre Brass Lantern Planned Unit Development was created in Bridger Canyon, Montana. Subsequently, a conditional use permit (CUP) was issued to allow division of the land into five 20-acre parcels, each meant to accommodate one single-family dwelling on two acres of land, with the remaining acres left as open space. According to [...]
The City of Tumwater, Washington enacted two ordinances, one affecting the City Code and the other the Comprehensive Plan, creating a manufactured home district. The City created this district, which covered six of the ten mobile home parks in the City, to preserve the existence of mobile home parks. The City’s mobile home parks challenged [...]
The Hales have property one mile southeast of a law enforcement shooting range. Robert Hale brought a civil action claim against Ward County and the City of Minot alleging a private and public nuisance and the shooting range resulted in a government taking because it devalued his property. Hale moved for summary judgment on his [...]
