U.S. Supreme Court holds that permit conditions may be challenged

The court ruled that permit conditions could be challenged as unconstitutional even at the time the government denies a permit. A recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion will have a big impact on those applying for land use permits.  The decision in Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management Dist., 570 U.S. __ (2013) represents a useful new tool for land owners to challenge permit conditions that may be disproportionate to the harm caused or that bear no relationship the permitted project. In the past, anyone wishing to challenge permit conditions had to accept the conditions and then file a challenge in court seeking just compensation under the Fifth Amendment for a taking. Under Koontz, parties can now choose to reject unconstitutional conditions and file a challenge immediately upon denial of a permit.

There is a useful summary of this case at http://tinyurl.com/q88st7e and the full text of the decision can also be downloaded from a link in that article.