SCOTUS: Sheetz v. County of El Dorado: Can governments use building permits to extort property owners?

The Supreme Court’s Road to El Dorado​

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“Conditions on building permits are not exempt from scrutiny under Nolan and Dolan just because a legislative body imposed them,” wrote Justice Amy Coney Barrett in a unanimous decision for the court. “In fact, special deference for legislative takings would have made little sense historically, because legislation was the conventional way that governments exercised their eminent domain power.” The Takings Clause, wrote Barrett, “prohibits legislatures and agencies alike from imposing unconstitutional conditions on land-use permits.”

Sheetz’s attorney Paul Beard told reporters that “holding building permits hostage in exchange for excessive development fees is obviously extortion.” The Court “put a stop to a blatant attempt to skirt the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition against taking private property without just compensation.”

El Dorado County administrator Carla Hass countered that the ruling “answers only a narrow question on which the parties already agreed” and does not cancel county government’s ability to impose reasonable permitting conditions. A lower court will determine whether the fee charged Sheetz is proportionate to the impact caused by his single-family dwelling, which can’t amount to much. As the parties work it out people across the country might review some realities.

Government fees and taxes are essentially a distinction without difference, whether or not they proceed from a legislature or unelected administrative body. Taxpayers in all states might total up their local fees and taxes to assess the overall burden the ruling class imposes upon them. Compare that with the conditions the taxes and fees are supposed to fix, and the benefits local governments bestow on themselves.

With affordable housing in short supply, taxpayers might expect governments to relax taxes and fees that impact housing. ...

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