The Supreme Court held that the government may not attach conditions to building permits that result in the taking of private property without just compensation, in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Florence Dolan applied for a building permit to expand her plumbing and electrical supply store in Tigard, Oregon. As part of a land-management program, the city refused to issue the permit unless she dedicated 10 percent of her land for two purposes: a public greenway for flood control and a pedestrian/bicycle pathway to relieve traffic congestion in the city. Dolan claimed that this requirement of dedicating land for a permit constituted a taking of private property without compensation. The state’s high court rejected her claim.
The Rehnquist Court in the same year it passed down the Dolan decision.
By a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court remanded the case for reconsideration. Speaking for the majority, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist
Nollan v. California Coastal Commission
Property rights
Takings clause
Zoning