Significance Recent Takings Rulings for Implementation of the Georgia Planning Act
Abstract
At a joint meeting of the Georgia and South
Carolina Planning Associations in the fall of 1994, a number
of planners expressed dismay that city and county attorneys
are advising elected officials against the adoption of such
traditional zoning tools as setbacks and buffers as well as
more innovative surface and groundwater protection options
due to recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings. While these
decisions impose limits on controls, they also affirm the
public interest in, and legitimacy of, land use regulation. They
should not discourage the use of carefully drafted regulations
and policies protecting water resources critical to the economy
and environmental health of a community. This piece
discusses the recent Supreme Court cases and outlines a
variety of water resource protection tools with suggestions on
how local governments can avoid, or prevail in, legal
challenges to them.