Law Commons^™

Realigning The Governmental/Proprietary Distinction In Municipal Law, Hugh D. Spitzer

Articles

Lawyers and judges who deal with municipal law are perpetually puzzled by the distinction between “governmental” and “proprietary” powers of local governments. The distinction is murky, inconsistent between jurisdictions, inconsistent within jurisdictions, and of limited use in predicting how courts will rule. Critics have launched convincing attacks on the division of municipal powers into these two categories. Most articles have focused on problems with the distinction in specific areas of municipal law. In contrast, this article provides a comprehensive analysis of the governmental/proprietary distinction in seven specific doctrinal areas: legislative grants of municipal authority, government contracts, torts, eminent domain, adverse …

A Solution In Search Of A Problem: Kelo Reform Over Ten Years, Wendell Pritchett

All Faculty Scholarship

Kelo is NOT Dred Scott. Kelo is not only NOT Dred Scott, it was, as this Essay will argue, the right decision given the facts of the cases and the current state of legal jurisprudence. As an academic who has detailed the historic exploitation of eminent domain to uproot persons of color in this country, I find it interesting, and somewhat troubling, that the case has received so much criticism, much more criticism, I would argue, than other Supreme Court decisions that deserve condemnation. Certainly, eminent domain, like any other government power, must be regulated carefully. But upending …

Inclusionary Eminent Domain, Gerald S. Dickinson

Articles

This Article proposes a paradigm shift in takings law, namely “inclusionary eminent domain.” This new normative concept provides a framework that molds eminent domain takings and economic redevelopment into an inclusionary land assembly model equipped with multiple tools to help guide municipalities, private developers and communities construct or preserve affordable housing developments. The tools to achieve this include Community Benefit Agreements (“CBAs”), Land Assembly Districts (“LADs”), Community Development Corporations (“CDCs”), Land Banks (“LABs”), Community Land Trusts (“CLTs”) and Neighborhood Improvement Districts (“NIDs”). The origin of the concept derives from the zoning law context, where exclusionary zoning in the suburbs excluded …

Rebuilding The Public-Private City: Regulatory Taking's Anti-Subordination Insights For Eminent Domain And Redevelopment, Audrey Mcfarlane

All Faculty Scholarship

The eminent domain debate, steeped in the language of property rights, currently lacks language and conceptual space to address what is really at issue in today's cities: complex, fundamental disagreements between market and community about Development. The core doctrinal issue presented by development is how can we acknowledge the subordination of citizens who happen to live in areas that are attractive to wealthier citizens. In particular, how should we address the political process failure reflected in the privatized methods of decisionmaking that typify redevelopment? The conceptual language and analytical construct for appropriately addressing these issues come from critical race theory …

Telluride's Tale Of Eminent Domain, Home Rule, And Retroactivity, Richard B. Collins

Publications

Telluride, Colorado, won an eminent domain battle with San Diego billionaire Neal Blue, but only after paying his price and his attorney's fees. The town passed a condemnation ordinance by popular initiative to take 572 acres adjacent to the town. The landowner obtained a state statute intended to forbid the town's action. The trial judge held the statute invalid under Colorado's constitutional home rule amendment. Town officials negotiated a compromise with the landowner, but its voters rejected it. The valuation trial was moved to a neighboring county much more favorable to the landowner, and the jury gave him his full …

Pretextual Takings: Of Private Developers, Local Governments, And Impermissible Favoritism, Daniel B. Kelly

Journal Articles

Since Kelo v. City of New London, the preferred litigation strategy for challenging a condemnation that benefits a private party is to allege that the taking is pretextual. This Article contends that, although pretextual takings are socially undesirable, the current judicial test for identifying such takings is problematic. Yet an alternative, intent-based test might be impracticable, as well as underinclusive: condemnors often have mixed motives, particularly when confronted with a firm's credible threat to relocate. Instead, the Article develops a framework that emphasizes informational differences between local governments and private developers. When the government lacks information regarding the optimal site …

Town Of Telluride V. San Miguel Valley Corp.: Extraterritoriality And Local Autonomy, Richard Briffault

Faculty Scholarship

At first blush, the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court in Town of Telluride v. San Miguel Valley Corp. seems like an extraordinary endorsement of home rule and a significant milestone in the evolution of local power. The Colorado Supreme Court adopted a very broad construction of the power of a home rule municipality under the state constitution and invalidated a state statute that expressly sought to limit that power. The power in question – extraterritorial eminent domain – seems to go well beyond even the most generous assumptions about local government authority. As the uproar following the United …

Slides: Fuel Choice Determines Transmission, Doug Larson

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Doug Larson, Western Interstate Energy Board

26 slides

The Growing Influence Of Tort And Property Law On Natural Resources Law: Case Studies Of Coal Bed Methane Development And Geologic Carbon Sequestration, Alexandra B. Klass

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

19 pages.

"Alexandra B. Klass, Associate Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School"

Taking Compensation Private, Abraham Bell, Gideon Parchomovsky

All Faculty Scholarship

In light of the expansive interpretation of the ""public use"" requirement, the payment of ""just compensation"" remains the only meaningful limit on the government's eminent domain power and, correspondingly, the only safeguard of private property owners' rights against abusive takings. Yet, the current compensation regime is suboptimal. While both efficiency and fairness require paying full compensation for seizures by eminent domain, current law limits the compensation to market value. Despite the virtual consensus about the inadequacy of market compensation, courts adhere to it for a purely practical reason: there is no way to measure the true subjective value of property …

Putting The "Public" Back Into Public-Private Partnerships For Economic Development, Audrey Mcfarlane

All Faculty Scholarship

Public-Private Partnerships are viewed quite positively. In the context of working with local government for economic development, the interests and concerns of the private appear to dominate the development decision-making. This Essay explores eminent domain decisions and community benefits agreements for standards for measuring the efficacy of these partnerships. It suggests ways in which we can begin to think about public accountability and public benefits to be derived from these partnerships.

Kelo: One Year Later, Alan C. Weinstein

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

June of 2006 marked the first anniversary of the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Kelo v. City of New London, making this a good time to analyze the past year's flurry of activity and assess what it means for local governments. As of mid-May of 2006, more than forty states were considering legislation in reaction to the Kelo ruling, and fifteen have already enacted such legislation.

What Is To Be Done? Legislators Look At Redevelopment Reforms, Senate Local Government Committee, Senate Transportation & Housing Committee, Assembly Housing & Community Development Committee, Assembly Local Government Committee, Assembly Judiciary Committee

California Joint Committees

No abstract provided.

U.S. Supreme Court’S 2004 Term Includes Significant Land Use Decisions With A Trilogy Of Takings Cases, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Community Redevelopment, Public Use, And Eminent Domain, Patricia E. Salkin, Lora A. Lucero

Scholarly Works

Published just weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court handed down their controversial decision on Kelo v. City of New London in 2005, this article, in correctly predicting the outcome of the Supreme Court opinion, explores in Section I how the concept of what constitutes a public use has evolved over the decades from traditionally accepted uses such as public roads, buildings (e.g., government buildings and schools), and utilities to urban redevelopment. It explains how the broad concepts of community redevelopment have been stretched to encompass needed economic development projects that promise jobs, tax revenue, and other public benefits similar to …

Irresponsible Legislating: Reeling In The Aftermath Of Kelo, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Local Economic Development Incentives In An Era Of Globalization: The Exploitation Of Decentralization And Mobility, Audrey Mcfarlane

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay discusses the dilemma corporate mobility through globalization presents for cities that are fixed geographically. Corporations seek and cities offer business incentives that with questionable benefits to local residents. The essay recommends that the local government dilemma and susceptibility to exploitation be acknowledged. While the essay recommends that cities seek to limit their efforts to be providers of local infrastructure (eg., roads, utilities, an educated workforce) it also recommends that the cities are incapable of addressing the corporate mobility issue on their own and are prone to continued exploitation.

A Remedy On Paper: The Role Of Law In The Failure Of City Planning In New Haven, 1907-1913, Mark Fenster

UF Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this paper provides an overview of the dominant conservative legal doctrines and governing practices that limited planners' goals and strategies in New Haven during the period from 1907 through 1913, and that planning advocates sought to change. Part II provides a narrative of the New Haven planning movement prior to the publication of a 1910 report by Cass Gilbert, a well-known New York-based architect, and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., a nationally recognized city planner, on how best to improve New Haven's physical environment and infrastructure. To illustrate the difficulties facing the nascent planning movement in New Haven, …

Agenda: Regulatory Takings And Resources: What Are The Constitutional Limits?, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, Byron R. White Center For The Study Of American Constitutional Law

Regulatory Takings and Resources: What Are the Constitutional Limits? (Summer Conference, June 13-15)

Sponsored by the University of Colorado's Natural Resources Law Center and the Byron R. White Center for American Constitutional Study.

Conference organizers, faculty and/or moderators included University of Colorado School of Law professors David H. Getches, Lawrence J. MacDonnell, Gene R. Nichol, Jr. and Mark Squillace.

Governmental regulation for environmental protection and other important public purposes can affect the manner in which land and natural resources are developed and used. The U.S. constitution (and most state constitutions) prohibit the government from "taking" property without payment of compensation. Originally intended to apply to situations where the government physically seized private property …

Regulatory Takings And Resources: What Are The Constitutional Limits?, Virginia S. Albrecht

Regulatory Takings and Resources: What Are the Constitutional Limits? (Summer Conference, June 13-15)

52 pages.

Contains footnotes.

Water Transfers And Exchanges: Using The Market To Improve Water Use—A Legal/Institutional View, Gary D. Weatherford

Western Water: Expanding Uses/Finite Supplies (Summer Conference, June 2-4)

18 pages.

Recent Developments In Eminent Domain In Arkansas, Robert R. Wright

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Wilson V. Beville, Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

Landowner was not required to file a claim with the city before obtaining compensation for taking a part of his property for a public street easement under the doctrine of inverse condemnation.

Severance Damage In Eminent Domain Proceedings, Sheldon J. Plager

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Harden V. Superior Court Of Alameda County, Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

A writ of prohibition restraining eminent domain proceedings was proper where the landowners had no remedy by appeal, the city had no authority to proceed against property outside its limits, and the superior court lacked jurisdiction in the action.

Brief Of T.M. Cooley, Cook And Waldron V. Hillsdale, 1859, Thomas M. Cooley

Other Publications

Mr. Cooley writes this Brief as counsel for the Complainants. Cook & Waldron own a grist mill and the Village of Hillsdale feels that the owners "voluntarily" gave leave for a public way to be conducted through the property. Cook & Waldron disagree.