Legacy of the Takings Clause as a Primary Check on Government Power at REBA's All-Virtual 2024 Spring Conference

Legacy of the Takings Clause as a Primary Check on Government Power at REBA's All-Virtual 2024 Spring Conference ^Featured

Written by Gregor I. McGregor, Esq.

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Legacy of the Takings Clause as a Primary Check on Government Power at REBA's All-Virtual 2024 Spring Conference

Gregor I. McGregor, Esq., founding partner, McGregor Legere & Stevens PC, will present an online webinar on the U.S. Constitution’s Takings Clause and 100 years of the Pennsylvania Coal v. Mahon doctrine.

Pennsylvania Coal has transcended its primary relevance as a touchstone for compensation for the taking of private property to become a limit on governmental power over the individual and business interests in a range of land use and financial settings.

This session will survey the origin and evolution of Regulatory Takings through the U.S. Supreme Court and Massachusetts SJC cases, with attention to the essential holdings, latest decisions, and who has to prove what to win invalidation of government restrictions or money damages or both.

It also will identify the reasons why Regulatory Takings cases are so hard to win and why clients’ expectations are so out of sync with what legal counsel must prove to the satisfaction of the judge or jury.

Public Lands Preservation Act and EOEEA Regulations for Article 97 Bills at REBA's All-Virtual 2024 REBA Spring Conference

Kurt Gaertner, EOEEA Director of Land Policy & Planning, and Gregor I. McGregor, Esq., McGregor Legere & Stevens PC will present an online session on the new Public Lands Preservation Act (PLPA), effective last year.

This law establishes a process for submitting an “Article 97 bill” to the Massachusetts Legislature to authorize a new use and/or disposition (“Article 97 Action”) affecting “Article 97 Land” that is protected by Article 97 of the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution. This session summarizes the new law offering practical tips to help your clients.

Article 97 lands are those public areas of state, regional or local government originally taken or acquired, or subsequently dedicated. for “natural resource purposes.” Typically, they are called parklands, but they also include many other types of open space, conservation land and water areas, and other properties. Sometimes, these parklands are the subject of sales, swaps, leases, or transfers within government, with or without or changes in use. These trigger your Article 97 obligations and new procedures.

Public and private landowners, agency officials, property managers, land use planners, facility operators, boards and agencies, and legal counsel involved in transactions, permitting and authorizing legislation should be familiar with the new PLPA duties and process. This breakout is a synopsis of the new law and practical tips to help your clients comply.

To register for REBA's all-virtual 2024 Spring Conference, you may do so online at the REBA website or by phone at (617) 854-7555. Registration is open to REBA members. The 2024 Spring Conference has been approved by the RIMCLE for six general video replay credits, or five general + one ethics video replay credits.

Beginning Monday, May 6, recordings of the 12 RIMCLE-accredited breakout session presentations, together with the session materials, PowerPoint presentations, and conference syllabus, will be posted to a dedicated webpage, accessible only to conference registrants, for a period of one year. REBA members, click the REGISTER button below, then click the Login to Register button.

Read 114 times Last modified on Wednesday, 24 April 2024 12:59

Published in Regulatory Taking

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Gregor I. McGregor, Esq.

GREGOR I. McGREGOR, Esq. is the founder of New England’s oldest environmental law firm McGregor & Associates, PC in Boston, formed in 1975 and now McGregor Legere & Stevens,PC (formerly McGregor & Legere PC). The firm handles all aspects of environmental law, land use, real estate, and related litigation. The firm is a founding member of the Environmental Law Network (ELN), an alliance of specialty law firms, in the United States and abroad, sharing their legal expertise and practical experience for the benefit of their clients. Mr. McGregor enjoys Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating for attorneys (AV).

In 45 years of environmental practice, Mr. McGregor's cases in court broke new ground in the law of Environmental Impact Statements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), wetland and floodplain protection under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, hazardous waste cleanup liability and cost-recovery under the Massachusetts Superfund, reduced taxes and tax exemptions for qualified land conservation transactions, constitutional protections for open space and parkland, Home Rule environmental ordinances and bylaws of cities and towns, law enforcement and contempt remedies, and the constitutional doctrine of Regulatory Takings.

Before 1975, Mr. McGregor was an Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts and the first chief of the Attorney General’s Division of Environmental Protection. In that capacity he advised and represented the Commonwealth during the formative years of Massachusetts environmental statutes, agencies, regulations, enforcement and cases in court.

Mr. McGregor is editor of the two-volume treatise on Massachusetts Environmental Law, published by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc.(MCLE). He is co-chair of MCLE’s annual Environmental, Land Use, and Energy Law Conference and MCLE’s Real Estate and Environmental Law Curriculum Advisory Committee. He received from MCLE in 2013 its Scholar-Mentor Award recognizing his dedication to legal scholarship and leadership.

Mr. McGregor chairs the Environmental Committee of the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts (REBA) and serves as a member of the REBA Board of Directors. He is an active member of the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association (MMLA), which honored him for his career contributions to legal education and effective advocacy on the Home Rule Doctrine. At the National CLE Conference in Vail, CO, Mr. McGregor co-chairs an annual seminar on Environmental Law, Land Use, Energy & Litigation for attorneys from across the United States.

Mr. McGregor is a long time member of the board of directors of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions (MACC) having served as Board President twice. He has handled several cases for MACC as amicus and is a regular presenter at their annual meeting.

Mr. McGregor is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School.

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