Hill v. City of Portland

“[T]he Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments permit the government to exact a dedication of private property as a condition of approval of a land use permit if the government demonstrates (1) a nexus between a governmental interest that would furnish a valid ground for the denial of the permit and the exaction of property, and (2) that the nature and extent of the exaction are roughly proportional to the effect of the proposed development. Brown v. City of Medford, 251 Or App 42, 47, 283 P3d 367 (2012).

Petitioner sought review of the Land Use Board of Appeals’ (LUBA) decision affirming the City of Portland’s rejection of petitioner’s challenges to the conditions placed on his application to divide his land into three parcels. Petitioner assigned error to the City’s imposition of the conditions. On appeal, petitioner argued that the conditions did not apply to his land and that the City and LUBA misapplied prior case law. In response, the City of Portland argued that petitioner’s land was subject to the condition and that they had applied case law correctly. “[T]he Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments permit the government to exact a dedication of private property as a condition of approval of a land use permit if the government demonstrates (1) a nexus between a governmental interest that would furnish a valid ground for the denial of the permit and the exaction of property, and (2) that the nature and extent of the exaction are roughly proportional to the effect of the proposed development. Brown v. City of Medford, 251 Or App 42, 47, 283 P3d 367 (2012). The Court of Appeals held that the test was improperly applied. Reversed.