A Florida developer petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a $10 million takings case against the Florida Department of Environmental Protection  The developer alleged that the DEP’s denial of a development permit for a beachfront parcel was an unlawful taking. The developer intended to build 17 luxury townhouse units Fort Pierce, Florida.

The trial court found the DEP’s denial constituted a taking. However, the Florida Court of Appeals reversed that decision and the Florida Supreme Court denied the developer’s petition to hear the case. The Court of Appeals found that the developer should have applied for a variance or waiver after its permit was initially denied even though the trial court found that a request for variance or waiver would have been futile. Therefore, the Court of Appeals held, the case was not “ripe.”

The developer’s petition for writ to Scotus states, “This Court should grant Beach Group’s Petition for writ of certiorari to address the miscarriage of justice resulting from the court of appeal’s reversal of the trial court’s order of taking, and to address the important federal questions of (1) whether landowners must submit and be denied economically impracticable development plans to ripen a regulatory taking claim, and (2) whether regulatory taking ripeness always requires pursuit of a variance, essentially doing away with this Court’s futility exception.”

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