Supreme Court Limits Government's Ability To "Constructively Take" Land

In a recent and long-awaited ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada has delivered an important decision on the de facto expropriation of land. In Annapolis Group Inc. v Halifax Regional Municipality, the Supreme Court opined on situations where the state basically takes away land rights from property owners without expropriating the lands in the formal sense.

Annapolis Group Inc. ("Annapolis") is a Halifax-based land developer that has been accumulating vacant land since the 1950s. It had eventually amassed nearly 1000 acres intending to develop it (the "Lands"). The Halifax Regional Municipality (the "Municipality") set out a new planning strategy in 2006 which identified part of the Lands for possible use for a park in the future and denoted them as "Urban Settlement" and "Urban Reserve." Meaning that the Municipality may develop the Lands within or after 25 years. Also, as part of the strategy, Annapolis was prohibited from developing the Lands before the