Governments grapple with the impacts of private developments on transportation systems, and schools, while the electorate generally opposes raising taxes to pay for public improvements. Like Sisyphus, the Greek mythological figure condemned by Zeus to an eternal punishment of having to forever push a boulder uphill, governments struggle to finance public projects at appropriate levels but with fewer dollars. This myopic fiscal obstinance to critical public needs leads to infrastructure deficits. Everyone wants to travel the yellow brick road, but no one wants to buy the bricks.
Because taxpayers do not want to pay for public services at sustainable levels, governments impose conditions like impact fees on development approvals which require landowners and developers to dedicate property or pay money to the government to defray infrastructure costs. These development exactions offer local planners a perfect opportunity to shift the cost of paying for roads, schools, and utilities from taxpayers to permit seeking developers. They have created a “Perfect Storm” as local governments try to exact money or property as conditions for land use approvals. Takings Clauses, however, impose important limits on their ability to shift costs to landowners and developers.
Jay Small prepared written materials and was a keynote speaker before the Greater Orlando Builders Association on the limits on government’s ability to exact monetary or property dedications as conditions for land use approvals.
Copies of his materials are below. Please contact Jay Small practices in the areas of eminent domain, condemnation, property rights, inverse condemnation, and land use. If you have any questions about how government regulations can affect your property, contact him at (407) 425-9044 by email at [email protected], or follow him on LinkedIn.
https://mateerharbert.com//wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Powerpoint-Presentation-GOBA-04.29.21.pdf
https://mateerharbert.com//wp-content/uploads/2021/04/GOBA-Developers-Council.pdf
This blog and these materials are not intended to provide legal advice. They do not represent the legal opinions of the firm, nor should they be regarded as the legal positions of any client of the law firms of Mateer Harbert, P.A. They are provided for general informational purposes only. These materials are should not be used as a substitute for the advice of qualified legal counsel.