April 20, 2016
Donna Murr and her siblings Joseph Murr, Michael Murr and Peggy Heaver have been barred from developing a vacant lot that they own along the St. Croix River, in St. Croix County, Wisconsin because they also own a neighboring lot with a recreational cabin on it.
The amicus filing challenges a widespread practice by land use regulators that bars landowners from using their properties if they own a neighboring parcel. The amicus opposes the idea that regulators can treat two legally distinct parcels as if they were one unified parcel and thereby prohibit all development on one of the parcels without providing compensation as required by the Fifth Amendment.