[CPEO-BIF] Supreme Court ruling on development approvals

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

A Legal Blow to Sustainable Development

Opinion by JOHN D. ECHEVERRIA
New York Times
June 26, 2013

STRAFFORD, Vt. - Lost amid the Supreme Court’s high-profile decisions  
on affirmative action, voting rights and same-sex marriage was  
another ruling that may turn out to have a profound impact on  
American society. The court handed down a decision on Tuesday that,  
in the words of Justice Elena Kagan, will “work a revolution in land- 
use law.”

While that may sound obscure, the decision in Koontz v. St. Johns  
River Water Management District will result in long-lasting harm to  
America’s communities. That’s because the ruling creates a perverse  
incentive for municipal governments to reject applications from  
developers rather than attempt to negotiate project designs that  
might advance both public and private goals - and it makes it hard  
for communities to get property owners to pay to mitigate any  
environmental damage they may cause.

The court’s 5-to-4 decision, with Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. writing  
for the majority, arose from an order issued by a Florida water  
management district denying an application by Coy A. Koontz Sr. to  
fill more than three acres of wetlands in order to build a small  
shopping center. The district made clear that it was willing to grant  
the permit if Mr. Koontz agreed to reduce the size of the development  
or spend money on any of a variety of wetlands-restoration projects  
designed to offset the project’s environmental effects. Because Mr.  
Koontz declined to pursue any of these options, the district denied  
the permit.


...

For the entire column, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/27/opinion/a-legal-blow-to-sustainable- 
development.html

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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