Significance Recent Takings Rulings for Implementation of the Georgia Planning Act

Proceedings of the 1995 Georgia Water Resources Conference, April 11 and 12, 1995, Athens, Georgia.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.Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of TechnologyThis book was published by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 with partial funding provided by the U.S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey, through the Georgia Water Research Institute as authorized by the Water Resources Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-397). The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of the University of Georgia or the U.S. Geological Survey or the conference sponsors