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Property Keyed to Merrill
Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council
Citation:
505 U.S. 1003Facts
In 1986, the plaintiff, Lucas, paid $975,000 for two residential lots in the Isle of Palms in South Carolina, where he planned to build single-family homes. At the time Lucas purchased his lots he was not legally obligated to obtain a permit from the defendant, the Council, in advance of any development activity. In 1988, South Carolina passed the Beachfront Management Act, which directed the Council to establish a baseline connecting the landward-most points of erosion during the past forty years in the Isle of Palms region where Lucas’s lots were. The Council fixed this baseline landward of Lucas’s parcels, and, under the act, construction of occupiable improvements seaward of that line was flatly prohibited, no exceptions. Lucas sued. In 1990, after Lucas’s case had already been heard by the South Carolina Supreme Court, but before it issued its decision, the Beachfront Management Act was amended to authorize the Council, in certain circumstances, to issue “special permits” for the construction or reconstruction of habitable structures seaward of the baseline.
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Topic Resources
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Eminent Domain