Real Estate & Property Law

Further Amici Supporting Grant of Cert in Pratt (Penn Central and Williamson County)

By Robert Thomas (inversecondemnation.com)

Here is the brief amici curiae of the National Association of Home Builders, California Building Industry Association, Building Industry Association Legal Defense Foundation, and Home Builders Association of Northern California urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review the California Court of Appeal's decision in Charles A. Pratt Const. Co. v. California Coastal Comm'n, 76 Cal. Rptr. 2d 466 (Cal. Ct. App. 2008) (slip opinion available here). 

We blogged about the lower court decision here, the rehearing petition here, and the cert petition here. We filed an amicus brief in the case, posted here.

The NAHB argues:

The increasingly complex structure of the land use regulatory system stands as an obstacle to housing development. Against this backdrop, the holdings of this Court in Penn Central Transportation Company v. City of New York, 438 U.S. 104 (1978) and Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank, 473 U.S. 172 (1985), have led increasingly to harsh and unfair rulings by lower courts on claims of regulatory takings by homebuilders and land developers. Further, many local jurisdictions hide behind the rulings in those two cases to create administrative delay, spuriously justify denials of projects, and impose unreasonable conditions even when approving a project, thus stifling the provision and increasing the costs of housing.

. . .

The potential delay and uncertainty created by the holdings in Penn Central and Williamson County (among other factors) in many cases substantially add to the cost of housing, putting houses and even rents out of reach for too many Americans.

Brief at 3-5.

Full post as published by inversecondemnation on December 29, 2008 (boomark / email).