Ci f t deck 



Lucas Verdict 



The wheels of justice have finally 

 churned out a ruling in the Lucas vs. 

 S.C. Coastal Council lawsuit. 



In a recent decision, the S.C. 

 Supreme Court ordered the state to 

 pay beachfront property owner David 

 Lucas for the temporary loss of the use 

 of his land. 



The loss covered a four-year 

 period from 1988 — when the state 

 barred development on Lucas' 

 property — to 1992. The court, 

 however, did not specify the amount 

 of compensation due or a means for 

 calculating it. 



The roots of the case reach back to 

 1986, when Lucas paid $975,000 for 

 two beachfront lots on the Isle of 

 Palms. At the time, no permits to build 

 were required from the Coastal 

 Council. 



But in 1988, the state enacted the 

 Beachfront Management Act to 

 preserve and protect the South 

 Carolina coastlands by restricting then- 

 use and by establishing a 40-year plan 

 for moving construction setback lines 

 landward. 



Lucas' property was on the 

 coastward side of the setback line, and 

 as a result, was no longer eligible for 

 any construction larger than a walk- 

 way or small deck. 



The resulting lawsuit traveled as 

 far as the U.S. Supreme Court, where 

 Lucas claimed the state owed him 

 compensation for the land regardless 

 of its reasons for passing the act. 



The nation's high court ruled in 

 June that the Coastal Council had 

 failed to prove that any state interest 

 justified the total taking of Lucas' 

 land, and it indicated he was due 

 payment. The case was returned to the 

 S.C. Supreme Court to determine 

 whether any South Carolina nuisance 

 and property law would block Lucas' 

 development plans. 



The S.C. Supreme Court subse- 

 quently ruled that the Coastal Council 

 failed to give any common-law basis 

 for limiting use of the land. But it 

 deemed the taking of Lucas' land only 

 temporary because a 1990 amendment 

 to the Beachfront Management Act 

 allowed him to apply for a special 

 permit to build. 



The case is expected to be a 

 shaping force in policy that weighs 

 the rights of property owners to use 

 their land against the power of 

 regulatory agencies to restrict uses of 

 certain areas. 



The circumstances that gave rise 

 to the Lucas case are not unusual, 

 especially on the coast, says Walter 

 Clark, Sea Grant coastal law special- 

 ist. There has been an evolution in 

 recent years of regulations to deal 

 with a growing number of people 

 competing for natural resources and 

 land, particularly environmentally 

 sensitive and hazardous areas, he says. 



The winter 1993 issue of Sea 

 Grant's Legal Tides will feature an 

 article on the ruling, co-authored by 

 David Brower, Department of City 

 and Regional Planning at the Univer- 

 sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 

 and Dave Owens, Institute of Govern- 

 ment at UNC-Chapel Hill. For a copy 

 of Legal Tides, write Sea Grant at Box 

 8605, N.C. State University, Raleigh, 

 NC 27695. 



Zebra Mussel 

 Conference 



Sea Grant programs from five 

 Mid- Atlantic states will join in a 

 March conference in Baltimore, Md., 

 to discuss the latest efforts to control 

 the spread of the non-native zebra 

 mussels. 



The meeting will target biologists, 

 water-use managers, educators and 

 outreach specialists concerned about 

 the havoc waged in Great Lakes 



waters by the fast-spreading mollusks. 

 Their colonies can damage boats, docks 

 and buoys and block water intake pipes 

 of industries and municipalities. 



The conference, scheduled March 

 10-12, will be a first for the coalition of 

 Sea Grant programs that is preparing 

 for and fighting the invasion of the 

 zebra mussel. The region includes 

 North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, 

 Delaware and New Jersey. 



Speakers will discuss other states' 

 experiences with the mollusk, including 

 its economic impact in the Northeast; 

 biological and physiological character- 

 istics that may have a bearing on the 

 Chesapeake and Mid- Atlantic estuaries; 

 dispersal in freshwater and estuarine 

 systems; impacts on recreational water 

 use; control measures and monitoring 

 strategies. 



Coastal water quality specialist 

 Barbara Doll will participate in the 

 March conference and give a synopsis 

 of North Carolina efforts to prepare for 

 the mollusk, which has not yet reached 

 Tar Heel waters. 



Coastal Celebration 



The fifth annual Save Our Sounds 

 Coastal Celebration is scheduled for 

 April 3-4 at the Kerr Scott Building on 

 the N.C. State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. 



The theme this year is "Preserving 

 the Environment ... For the Children," 

 with an emphasis on involving North 

 Carolinians in preserving their coastal 

 resources and heritage. 



More than 15,000 people attended 

 the 1992 celebration, which featured 

 about 40 booths and demonstrations. 

 Among last year's attractions were 

 exhibits by Sea Grant, the N.C. Nature 

 Conservancy, the Sierra Club, the N.C. 

 Aquarium, the N.C. Coastal Federation 

 and the Ocracoke Preservation Society. 



In addition to these displays, coastal 

 artisans will exhibit their crafts in boat 

 building and decoy carving, balladeers 



22 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1993 



