Letter: Rules for Developing Land

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In "A Legal Blow to Sustainable Development" (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, June 27), John Echeverria suggests that as a result of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, government agencies will deny development permits outright in order to avoid lawsuits, rather than negotiate over conditions that would allow development to proceed. I disagree.

Koontz does nothing more than apply more uniformly two prior decisions, Nollan v. California Coastal Commission and Dolan v. City of Tigard, which recognized that governments can impose conditions on development provided the conditions are logically related and roughly proportional to the impacts of the project.

Empirical studies conducted in the wake of Nollan and Dolan show that government planners developed improved procedures and engaged in more thoughtful and systemic planning than before those rules were imposed. This is because development can present considerable public benefit, and agencies have a strong incentive to develop reasonable and lawful conditions that allow projects to proceed. The result of these rules has been superior planning and improved behavior by governments.

DANIEL L. SCHMUTTER
Woodbridge, N.J., June 27, 2013

The writer was lead counsel on a friend of the court brief submitted in the Koontz case.

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