Land Use Round Up

Some interesting items, worth reading:

• According to this story, the preferred developer of the New London, Connecticut project that gave us Kelo apparently is on the ropes.  Professor Gideon Kanner's take on the latest misstep is here.

• From Dean Patty Salkin's Law of the Land blog, a summary of Agripost, LLC v. Miami-Dade County, No. 05-16499 (11th Cir. Apr. 22, 2008), the latest case on the Williamson County ripeness/res judicata Catch-22. 

• From the Court of Federal Claims comes Schooner Harbor Ventures, LLC v. United States, No. 06-87L (Apr. 15, 2008), where the landowner sought compensation after the Fish and Wildlife Service designated property as critical habitat for the Mississippi Sandhill Crane.  The landowner asserted that the designation killed a deal for it to sell the property to the Navy.  Too bad said the CFC, the right to sell the property to the Navy without restrictions is not a "property" right subject to Fifth Amendment protections:

The plaintiff’s argument fails in that the plaintiff is asserting that it had the right to sell its property to the government, without conditions imposed, in this instance to meet regulatory burdens  imposed on the Navy, by obtaining the mitigation parcel. Whereas, the right to alienate the property is a cognizable property interest, the right to sell the property to the government at a particular price and without conditions is not a cognizable property interest which is protected by the Fifth Amendment. 

Slip op. at 13. 

• The LA Times has commentary on California's upcoming Propositions 98 and 99, two items on the ballot regarding the exercise of eminent domain power and property rights:

Your decision on Prop. 98 may come down to how you answer two questions: Is it worth risking future public works projects, including water? Is rent control bad? If the answer is yes to both questions, vote yes on 98. If the answer is no to either question, vote no -- then yes on 99.