inversecondemnation.com

Coastal Land Use Law Seminar

There is still time to sign up to attend an upcoming seminar, Coastal Engineering and Land Use Issues, in Honolulu.  It's being held on Thursday, August 14, 2008, at at Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio Hotel.  My colleagues and fellow law bloggers Mark Murakami and Jesse Souki are among the faculty.  Topics on the agenda include: Development and Land Use Issues in the Special Management Area, Construction and Land Use Issues in the Shoreline Area, and Managed Retreat Through the Redevelopment Process.  Go here for more information including the complete agenda and faculty list, and registration information. 

Seminar: Land Use Institute - Planning, Regulation, Litigation, Eminent Domain and Compensation (August 13-16)

Get ready for this year's Land Use Institute conference on "Planning, Regulation, Litigation, Eminent Domain, and Compensation," to be held in Boston on August 13-16, 2008.  I can't attend this year, but have in the past, and like all ALI-ABA land use conferences, it looks like it will be well worth going if you can.  The faculty is first-rate and includes professor-bloggers Gideon Kanner (Gideon's Trumpet) and Patricia Salkin (Law of the Land) and other notables from our practice area. 

The keynote address will be presented by Harvard Law School Professor Charles M. Haar, revisiting his seminal 1955 law review article on land use planning "In Accordance With a Comprehensive Plan" (is there a single land use lawyer who hasn't read this article at least once?).  The agenda for the conference, and other information is posted here.

Takings Round Up

• Heads up for an upcoming teleconference of interest - Supreme Court Rules on Eminent Domain for Private Development.  It will be held on July 16, 2008 starting at noon EDT, and features some of the A-listers in our area of law.  More information and registration information here.

• "First fence condemnation case reaches federal appeals court" reports the Dallas-Ft. Worth ABC affiliate, about one of the cases challenging the federal government's attempt to take property for a fence along the US-Mexico border:

Attorneys for Hilaria and Baldomero Muniz and another landowner have asked a panel of judges at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to void a federal judge's order that they open their land to surveyors for the border fence.

They argue that the district judge erred when he allowed government officials to attempt to negotiate property access after suing. They say the law requires the government to try to strike a deal before — not after — filing a lawsuit.

The issues in a similar case were discussed here.

• Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Extends Williamson County Ripeness Requirements to First Amendment Land Use Claims - the title says it all.  Read about the decision on Professor Salkin's Law of the Land Blog here.

Water Law Seminar Links and Materials

To all who attended Wednesday's Integrating Water Law and Land Use Planning seminar, thank you.  Here are links to the cases and statutes I discussed:

• In re Water Use Permit Applications (Waiahole), 94 Haw. 97, 9 P.3d 409 (2000) (the mother of all Hawaii water law cases -- the decision so vast it required its own table of contents)
• In re Waiola O Molokai, Inc., 103 Haw. 401, 83 P.2d 664 (2004) (burdens of proof)
• Haw. Const. art. XI, § 7  (the declaration of public trust)
• Hawaii's Takings Clause
• U.S. Constitution, amend. V (federal takings clause)
• U.S Constitution amend. XIV (federal due process clause)
• 42 U.S.C § 1983 (federal civil rights statute)
• 42 U.S.C § 1988 (prevailing party attorney's fees statute)

Upcoming Water Law Seminar

There's still time to sign up for the "Integrating Water Law and Land Use Planning in Hawaii," to be held on May 14, 2008.  I'm on the faculty, leading a session on "Water Rights, Property Rights and the Law of Settled Expectations."  More information here, including registration information.  If you attend, please stop by and say hello.

Upcoming Land Use and Eminent Domain Seminars

Head's up to two upcoming seminars worth attending: "Planning Zoning and Eminent Domain" (May 8-9, 2008), and "Planning and Zoning 101" (May 7, 2008), both of which will be put on by the Center for American and International Law, in Plano, Texas.  Registration information for both seminars is here.  The faculty is first-rate, and includes many of the stars in our field -- Gideon Kanner, Dwight Merriam, and Robert Freilich.  I won't be able to attend, but I have in the past, and highly recommend it.

Cases and Links From Today's Seminar

To all those who attended today's seminar, thank you.  Here are the links to the cases I mentioned.  From the morning session on Case Law Update:

• Wilkie - Government Gone Wild! - no comprehensive federal remedy for federal interference with property
• My Advertiser op-ed on Wilkie
• Crown Point - Ninth Circuit abandons Armendariz doctrine
• Cine SK8 - one way to prove a substantive due process case
• Post-Kelo claims of pretext:

• Franco - District of Columbia Court of Appeals - allegations of pretext cannot be summarily dismissed

• Goldstein v. Pataki - Second Circuit - government's claim of public use trump claims of pretext - cert. petition filed March 31, 2008

• Brescia - shoreline setback and equitable estoppel - HAWSCT holds you gotta get your "official assurances" from the right party
• Private agreements and public process - development and settlement agreements not a substitute for zoning process

From the afternoon session on Appealing an Administrative Zoning Decision:

• Hawaii Home Infusion - venue in administrative declaratory actions under § 91-7
• CARD - can a § 91-8 declaratory action substitute for an appeal?
• Colony Surf - nonconforming uses and reliance on administrative procedures
  
• E & J Lounge - what is a "contested case?"  See also Aha Hui Malama v. Kaniakapupu v. Land Use Comm'n (July 24, 2006)
• Rees v. Carlisle - private rights of action
• Silva v. City and County of Honolulu - the basis for rational basis equal protection arguments must be in the record

Questions?  Want a copy of the vested rights/zoning estoppel law review article? Drop me an email.

Land Use Seminar This Week

There's still time to sign up for the "Practical Guide to Zoning and Land Use Law" seminar, to be held Thursday, April 3, 2008, in Honolulu.  I will be leading sessions on Current Case Law and Legislative Update, and Appealing an Administrative Zoning Decision.  A detailed agenda and registration information are posted here. 

Land Use Seminar - April 3, 2008

On April 3, 2008, I will be on the faculty of "Practical Guide to Zoning and Land Use Law" in Honolulu.  I'll be presenting two subjects, "Current Caselaw and Legislative Update," and "Appealing an Administrative Zoning Decision.  Also on the faculty are Jesse Souki and A. Bernard Bays.  The complete agenda and registration information are available here. 

Links From Today's Seminar

Thank you to all those who attended today's Advanced Land Use Seminar.  Here are the links to the cases I discussed.  Also, for anyone who wants the Powerpoint presentation from the first session, email me.

• Wilkie v. Robbins - no Bivens claim for retaliation against property owner
• My Honolulu Advertiser op-ed on Wilkie
• Crown Point Development, Inc. v. City of Sun Valley - Ninth Circuit jettisons the Armendariz doctrine.  A follow up post here.
• Cine SK8, Inc. v. Town of Henrietta - how to prove a substantive due process case
• Franco v. National Capital Revitalization Corp. - DC Court of Appeals on evidence of pretext in Public Use challenges
• Goldstein v. Pataki - Second Circuit on pleading pretext in Public Use challenges
• Divine v Town of Nantucket - Massachusetts court invalidates 40 year old taking for lack of proper notice (includes my limerick!)
• Brody v. Village of Port Chester - "conspicuous mention" of time limitations in eminent domain
• Silva v. City & County of Honolulu - Hawaii Supreme Court lowers the bar in equal protection "rational basis" analysis
• Diamond v. State Board of Land and Natural Resources -  the shifting sands of the definition of "shoreline"
• Brescia v. North Shore Ohana - estoppel and shoreline setbacks (ps - it was the Red Hot Chili Peppers)
• Here's the money quote from the other case I mentioned, Waianae Model Neighborhood Area Ass'n v. City & County of Honolulu, 55 Haw. 40, 514 P.2d 861 (1973):

[A]n act of an administrative official which is without any semblance of compliance with or authorization in an ordinance, is beyond his competence and is utterly void; but if an act of such official, done in good faith and within the ambit of his duty, upon an erroneous and debatable interpretation of an ordinance, is no more that an irregularity, and the validity of such act may not be questioned after expenditures have been made and contractual obligations incurred in reliance thereon in good faith.

• Everything you ever wanted to know about the Hawaii Superferry case.