▪ Land Use Round-up

• Tim Sandefur at PLF on Eminent Domain makes an excellent point, often forgotten:

So when government wants to "preserve" a "view" by barring people from doing what they want with their property, it's infringing on their property rights and owes them just compensation. And that's all [Arizona's Proposition 207] does: requires just compensation. Prop. 207 does not prohibit government from "preserving views": if the taxpayers think the view is worth it, then they'll happily pay for it. What Ms. Balazs is complaining about is that the government is no longer able to simply take the property rights away without compensation.

Complete post here.  Tim correctly points out a common mindset in the era of the regulatory state: why should government pay for something when it can simply regulate it and get the same (or nearly the same) result?  Fortunately, the Fifth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendments say otherwise. 

• Big Island Big Box Ban May Not Ban Big Boxes.  From West Hawaii Today:

Proposed legislation tailored to ban "superstores" on the Big Island has loopholes that would allow construction of combined retail and grocery stores bigger than 11 football fields, according to information from South Kona Councilwoman Brenda Ford.

The council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the second reading of a bill designed to ban "big box" stores on the island, but Ford said loopholes in the legislation will render it ineffective.

Complete article here (free registration may be required).

• Law of the Land blog posts "NY Appellate Court Determines that Property Owner Has No Vested Rights in Thirty-Five Year Old Site Plan Approval."  For anyone interested in vested rights and zoning estoppel law, this is an interesting case.  The law of Hawaii is different than New York's, so the result may have been different were it taking place here instead of there. 

• The Federalist Society posts an audio/video summary of SCOTUS' last term, plus a preview of the upcoming term.  Two hours, but well worth it for anyone who follows the issues before the Supreme Court.  Download and listen/watch on your next long flight.