1. Dolan v. City of Tigard, (1994)
2. Facts: Dolan owned a hardware store set on an upaved lot downtown in the City of Tigard. Adjacent to her property was a stream which flooded often, causing damage to the downtown area. Dolan wished to get a permit to enlarge her store and pave the lot for parking. A city planning commission had developed regulations for managing the heavy traffic and flooding in the downtown area by requiring local business owners to donate a portion of their land adjacent to the stream as an unimproved greenbelt and a paved section along their land as a bicycle/pedestrian route if they wished to get improvement permits. The local legislature had justified the regulations based on findings that more paving would cause more run-off (thus requiring the greenbelt), and more development would cause more traffic (thus requiring the bicycle/pedestrian path).
3. Procedural Posture: Dolan brought an action against the city claiming that the conditional grant of a portion of her land in return for approval of her building permit was an unconstitutional taking. The lower courts found that the city’s dedication requirements were “reasonably related” to the public interest in water and traffic management, and so the cost should be borne by Dolan for the management of the increased water flow and traffic that her development would bring.
4. Issue: Whether the local dedication requirement is sufficiently connected to the purpose for the taking, i.e. water and traffic managment.
5. Holding: No.
6. Majority Reasoning: One of the principle purposes of the takings clause is to bar the government from forcing individuals to bear public burdens which, in all fairness, should be borne by the public as a whole. Thus, under the doctrine of “unconstitutional conditions” the city may not require an individual to give up her 5th amendment right of just compensation in exchange for a government granted benefit where the property sought has little or no relationship to the benefit. Although there is a nexus between preventing flooding and limiting development along the sides of the creek, it is not a sufficiently close nexus to justify an uncompensated taking. There must be a “reasonable relationship” or a “rough proportionality” between the flooding and the city’s taking of the land. The required dedication must be related both in nature and extent to the impact of the proposed development. Although there is a need to have an adjacent greenway, it is not necessary that the city own the property itself. Also, the bicycle/pedestrian walkway is not sufficiently justified by statistics shown by the city, who has the burden of proof here.
7. Dissent Reasoning: [Stevens] The burden of proof should not lie with the city. A statute should be given the presumption of constitutionality, putting the burden on the challenger to show that it is not constitutional. Furthermore, the taking must be viewed from the entirety of the value of the property. A commercial developer views these exactions as a business regulation, and a cost of doing business. They should not be invalidated unless they are sufficient to deter the owner from proceeding with his planned development.
