Daniel Convissor's Website

Environmental Regulations Are Not Takings

Zoning laws regulating land use were determined by Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 1926, to be a legitimate police power, not a taking of property, needed to regulate what each community considers to be nuisances. Justice Sutherland said for the Court's majority that such regulations are needed to address contemporary urban problems and the Court's views must evolve to meet such circumstances (272 US 386).

The regulation placed upon a property owner must "substantially advance" a "legitimate state interest" being infringed upon by the property owner's project (Nolan v. California Coastal Commission, 483 US 834; 1987). An action is considered a regulatory taking, so compensation required, only if the government moves beyond such police powers.

It's time, yet again, for the Republicans to step off.