Land Use

...if a taking is abandoned or dismissed prior to final judgment, the condemnor is on the hook for "damages."....

...It's unclear how much was spent paying people to collect signatures, or where the money came from, because those loudly demanding transparency don't practice it themselves....

...we have an old eminent domain code and don't have a whole lot of current decisional law applying it....

Guam land titles can be seriously messed up....

Here's what we are reading today....

The appointments are subject to confirmation by the Senate....

...the "agricultural lands" section of the Hawaii Constitution isn't self-executing....

Ancestral landowners in Guam who claim they were never fully compensated for property confiscated during World War II will have their day in court....

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today protected 157,000 acres of critical habitat for 125 species of plants and animals from the Hawaiian islands of Molokai, Maui and Kahoolawe....

...any policy that effectively discriminates against minorities, even if not intentional, violates the Fair Housing Act of 1968....

...Hawaii land use policies discriminate unfairly against minorities and the poor....

Bottom line: the plaintiff's takings claims are going to trial....

...We've asked whether Hawaii also might need a Property Rights Court....

The State removed the civil rights lawsuit to U.S. District Court in Honolulu....

Representative Yamane indicated that this effectively kills both bills for this session....

A message from the Kam Schools CEO....

Hawaii has done it before with lands supporting single-family and multi-family homes. Those historic actions gave the ordinary working person new opportunities for true homeownership....

Water flow and sediment monitoring on coral reefs off the island of Lāna‘i provides conservation projects with guide for Ridge-to-Reef Management....

The legislative session has yet to even begin, and House leaders are already poised to fast-track a set of blanket exemptions for power producers....

A case that we've been following with some mild amusement has reached the Hawaii Supreme Court....

Since about the 1970's, sugar plantations have been legal pariahs....

One of the leases at Banyan Drive has expired and has been placed on a month-to-month revocable permit. Other leases at Banyan Drive and in the Kanoelehua Industrial Area will expire in the next several years....

Full Transcript of Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) Floor Speech January 5, 2016....

If you want a crash course in Hawaii's unique (some would say weird) water law, you can't do better than this video....

...last week, the Hawaii Supreme Court issued a 4-1 ruling in Friends of Makakilo v. D.R. Horton-Schuler Homes, LLC....

"This appeal involves a long-standing issue in this state: balancing agricultural and urban land uses."

Pig hunting in this case involved dogs and a knife, not guns....

True to Form: Enviros win 90% in Hawaii Supreme Court....

...as it develops and adopts rules for its operation and administration....

The proposed species occupy 11 types of ecosystems....

A study reveals that urban containment, or smart growth policies, have been shown to drive the price of housing up....

...areas with restrictive land use regulations, often referred to as “smart growth,” were hit the hardest when housing crisis hit....

...Hawaii, California, Oregon, Vermont, Florida and Washington, which adopted some type of restrictive land-use policy over the last 30 years, all experienced some of the largest losses, in terms of home affordability....

I'd also like to hail my fellow law bloggers....

...once again, a property owner's federal constitutional claims -- raised in a federal forum -- get decided by a state court....

It's a fine balance, and until the Hawaii Supreme Court's recent decision in Kellberg v. Yuen, and the Intermediate Court of Appeals' decision in Hoku Lele, LLC v. City and County of Honolulu....

Last week, the Hawaii Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Sierra Club v. Castle and Cooke Homes Hawaii, Inc....

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy released the annual 50-State Property Tax Comparison Study, a comprehensive analysis of effective property tax rates in each state’s largest city....

In 2014, the State Office of Planning, on its own accord, initiated an examination of the State land use system....

"Affordable Housing Maui Style" - from NewGeography.com....

...They were under the impression that the bond sale process needed to begin by June 30 of this year. “No,” said the Department of Attorney General, “the law says that the bond sale needs to be DONE by June 30.”...

It's not often that we say a law review article is a "must-read."...

All three nominations are subject to confirmation by the Senate....

...we've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and today it did....