Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 25, 1994 TAG: 9406280088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The court, in a 5-4 ruling, said an Oregon city, Tigard, did not justify its requirement that a store owner make part of her land a public bike path in exchange for a permit to build a larger store.
``The city's goals of reducing flooding hazards and traffic congestion and providing for public greenways are laudable but there are outer limits to how this may be done,'' Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote.
``The city must make some sort of individualized determination that the required dedication is related both in nature and extent to the impact of the proposed development,'' he said.
In a sharply worded dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens said the court ``has stumbled badly'' by giving government the burden of proving that land-use regulations are valid.
Rehnquist was joined by Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. Joining Stevens' dissent were Harry Blackmun and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justice David Souter wrote a separate dissent.
Some environmentalists said governments should be able to meet the court's standard for proving a need to regulate the use of private land.
``The good news is the court's explicit recognition that land use can and should be regulated,'' said John D. Echeverria of the National Wildlife Federation.
In other decisions, the court:
Said Oregon cannot bar judges in personal-injury lawsuits from reducing punitive-damages awards they consider excessive.
Ruled in a Mississippi case that federal juries do not have to be told a criminal defendant will be sent to a mental hospital if found innocent by reason of insanity.
Upheld in a Philadelphia case the way federal regulators reimburse hospitals for training young doctors who serve Medicare patients.
by CNB