A recent court case holds important
implications for builders facing stringent
growth-control regulations.
The disposition of the First English
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glendale
v. County of Los Angeles has further
defined what constitutes a ``taking.''
Basically, a taking occurs when a
court finds that government regulation
or other action effectively
``takes'' private land from the owner
by rendering it essentially useless or
without value. Such a taking is unconstitutional.
The First English case,
which involved the question of
whether such a taking had occurred, is
notable on several grounds.
First, as noted last month in this
column, the U.S. Supreme Court,
before sending the case back to the
California Appellate Court for a decision,
ruled that a plaintiff may be