Euclid at Threescore Years and Ten: Is This the Twilight of Environmental and Land-Use Regulation?

To the psalmist the age of seventy marks the end of one's days on earth, the last days so dimly lit in the poet's eyes. The calendar reminds us that 1996 marks the seventieth birthday of one of the most influential and enduring judicial decisions upholding the rights of communities to determine their demographic, economic, and societal future- Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. Case reporters, code compilations, and proposed legislation, along with treatises and law review articles warn us that the broad deference to regulators symbolized by the Euclid text is under attack. The eighth decade of constitutionally blessed regulation of land use and abuse would seem to be one of "labor and sorrow" for advocates of traditional planning, zoning, and environmental controls, and with good reason.