Nollan v. California Coastal Commission

Summary

The United States Supreme Court held that the California Coastal Commission violated the Takings Clause by conditioning a coastal development permit on the Nollans' grant of a public lateral-access easement across their beachfront property. The Court concluded that the easement condition lacked an essential nexus to the stated public-access impacts of the proposed construction. The judgment of the California Court of Appeal was reversed.

Holdings

1. A permanent and continuous public right to pass across private property is a physical occupation and effects a taking unless the government provides compensation.
2. A land-use permit condition requiring the dedication of a property interest is constitutional only if it serves the same governmental purpose as the development restriction it replaces; there must be an essential nexus between the condition and the legitimate state interest advanced by the restriction.
3. The Commission's condition was unconstitutional because the required lateral easement did not substantially advance the asserted interests in preserving visual access, reducing psychological barriers to beach use, or preventing congestion.

Questions Presented

1. Whether requiring a beachfront property owner to convey a permanent public-access easement as a condition of a development permit effects a taking when the easement lacks an essential nexus to the development-related burden asserted by the government.
2. Whether the public-access easement condition was a valid exercise of land-use regulation under the Fifth Amendment, as applied to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment.

Disposition

reversed