Last month, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an
important decision in the area of property rights, development
exactions, and the Fifth Amendment. In Knight v. Metropolitan
Government of Nashville & Davidson County, Tennessee, case
number 21-6179, plaintiffs James Knight and Jason Mayes challenged
the constitutionality of a City of Nashville's
"sidewalk" ordinance, which imposes sidewalk-related
conditions on landowners who seek building permits.
Specifically, to obtain a building permit, the City requires the
developer to either grant an easement across its land and agree to
build a sidewalk, or otherwise pay an "in-lieu" fee to
help build sidewalks in other parts of the City. The plaintiffs,
who were subjected to the ordinance as part of a proposed housing
development application, argued that the ordinance and the
resulting condition of approval constituted a takings without just
compensation.
