Law Commons^™

Competition Among Municipalities As A Constraint On Land Use Exactions, Stewart E. Sterk

Vanderbilt Law Review

Even before the Supreme Court decided Nollan v. California Coastal Commission,' courts and scholars debated the wisdom and constitutionality of land use exactions and impact fees-government-imposed charges on the right to develop land. Many municipalities have long required developers to finance infrastructure improvements.s Fiscally drained municipalities, particularly big cities, had begun to use, or to consider using, exactions or their close cousins, "linkage" programs, as a means to finance a wider variety of government services.

The controversy these fees have generated reflects more general concerns about financing local government. Municipalities and their defenders justify exactions and impact fees as necessary …