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
