Homewood Associates Inc., et al. v. Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia

In Koontz v. St. John’s River Water Mgmt. Dist., 570 U.S. 595 (2013) and Sheetz v. Cnty. of El Dorado, 601 U.S. 267 (2024), this Court held that certain monetary exactions tied to an identified piece of property can be subject to the nexus and rough proportionality requirements set forth in Nollan v. California Coastal Comm’n, 483 U.S. 825 (1987), and Dolan v. City of Tigard, 512 U.S. 374 (1994), even where the assessments derive from legislative action, not merely ad hoc administrative action. Picking up where Koontz and Sheetz left off, this case concerns a constitutional challenge to a legislatively mandated stormwater fee enacted by Respondent, much like fees imposed by municipalities around the country. Here, Respondent provided Petitioners’ properties with no benefit, and the fees charged bore no relation to the cost Respondent incurred in relation to each property. For example, for one petitioner, Homewood Village, LLC, quarterly assessed fees totaled over $10,000 in one year. Respondent’s property-specific cost amounted to no more than $150 over three years, roughly the cost of inspecting a small culvert. The petition presents two questions:  Does the Takings Clause apply to municipal ordinances imposing fees on classes of property outside the permitting context?  If the answer to Question 1 is yes, does the Nollan/Dolan framework govern the analysis of such fees? (i)