Item B: Ordinance Concerning Goal 5 Natural Resources Study

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505 U.S. 1039 LUCAS v. SOUTH CAROLINA COASTAL COUNCIL , Cite as 112 S.Ct. 2886 (1992) 2905 area is notoriously unstable. In roughly half of the last 40 years, all or part of petitioner's property was part of the beach or flooded twice daily by the ebb and flow of the tide. 'fr. 84. Between 1957 and 1963, petitioner's property wasunder water. Id., at 79, 81~. Between 1963 and 1973 the shoreline was 100 to 150 feet onto petitioner's property. Ibid. In 1973 the f1l'St line of stable vegetation was about halfway through the property. Id., at This effort did not stop the loss of shore- 80. Between 1981 and 1983, the Isle of line. In October 1986, the Council appointed Palms issued 12 emergency orders for a "Blue Ribbon Committee on Beachfront ..hgsgsandbagging to protect property in the Management" to investigate beach erosion Wild Dune development. Id., at 99. Deter- an~propose possible solutions. In March mining that local habitable strnctures were in 1987, the Committee found that South Car- imminent danger of collapse, the Council is- olina's beaches were "critically eroding," and sued permitS for two rock revetments to proposed land-use restrictions. Report of protect condominiuni developments near pe~ the South Carolina Blue Ribbon Committee titioner's property from erosion; one of the on Beachfront Management i, 6-10 (Mar. revetments extends more than halfway onto 1987). In response, South Carolina enacted one of his lots. Id., at 102. the Beachfront Management Act on July l, 1988. S.C. Code Ann. ~ ~9-250 et seq. (Supp.1990). The 1988 Act did not change the uses permitted within the designated critical areas. Rather, it enlarged those ar- eas to encompass the distance from the mean high watermark to a setback line established on the basis of "the best scientffic and histOr- ical data" available.! S.C.Code Ann. ~ 48- 39-280 (Supp.1991). South Carolina began implementing the congressional directive by enactirig the South Carolina Coastal Zone Management Act of 1977. Under the 1977 Act, any construction activity in what was designated the "critical area" required a permit from the South Car- olina qoastal Council (Council), and the con- structionof any habitable structure was pro- hibited. The 1977 critical area was relatively narrow. B Petitioner Lucas is a contractor, manager, and part owner of the Wild Dune develop- ment on the Isle of Palms. He has lived there since 1978. In December 1986, he purchased two of the last four pieces of vacant property jn the development.3 The they are often driven. like battering rams, into adjacent inland homes." Ibid. Moreover, the development often destroys the natural sand dune barriers that provide stonn breaks. Ibid. 2. The setback line was determined by calculating the distance landward from the crest of an ideal oceanfront sand dune which is 40 times the annual erosion rate. S.C.Code Ann. ~ 48-39- , 280 (Supp.1991). C The South Carolina Supreme Court found that the Beachfront Management Act did not take petitioner's property without compensa- tion. , The decision rested on, two premises that until today were unassailable-that, the State has the power to prevent any use of property it finds to be harmful to its citizens, and that a state statute is entitled tQ a presumption of constitutionality. The Beachfront Management Act includes a finding by the South Carolina General As- sembly that the beach/dune system serves the purpose of "protect[ing] life and property by serving as a storm barrier which dissi- pates wave energy and contributes to shore- " 3. The properties were sold frequently at rapidly escalating prices before Lucas purchased them. Lot 22 was first sold in '1979 for $96.660, sold. in 1984 fQr, $187,500, then in 1985 for $260,000, and, finally, to Lucas in 1986' for $475,000. He estimated its worth in 1991 at $650.000. Lot 24 had a similar'past. The record does not indicate who purchased the properties prior to Lucas. or why none of the purchasers held on to the lots and built on them, Tr. 44-46.