Earning Deference: Reflections on the Merger of Environmental and Land-Use Law

Professor Wolf suggests that there is a brooding omnipresence over local government efforts to protect the environment; that omnipresence is the idea of regulatory takings. Professor Wolf emphasizes that local governments need to earn deference. Since the decision in Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., local governments have been acting in a "Euclidean zone of comfort" when implementing traditional land-use regulations. However, he suggests that local governments may be acting outsides of that zone when they enact environmental regulations and that there is a rich history of negative decisions concerning local environmental regulations.

Professor Wolf then offers three strategies that local governments can employ to bring their environmental regulations within the shelter of Euclidean deference.