Is Property Owner Entitled to Compensation When Zoning Bars Extraction of Underlying Sand, Gravel?
State ex rel. Shelly Materials, Inc. v. The Clark County Board of Commissioners, Case no. 2006-0165 2nd District Court of Appeals (Clark County) ISSUE: Does the action of county zoning officials in denying a property owner a conditional use permit that would allow the owner to operate a sand and gravel pit on its property constitute a governmental “taking” of the owner’s property right to the sand and gravel underlying the land, and therefore entitle the owner to compensation? BACKGROUND: In 1998, Shelly Materials, a company that conducts sand and gravel extraction operations at multiple sites in Ohio and other states, paid $1.9 million for a plot of approximately 306 acres in Clark County on which it planned to open a new sand and gravel pit. At the time Shelly acquired the land, it was zoned for agriculture, with a number of other conditionally permissible uses including mineral extraction. In order to use the property for a purpose other than agriculture, county zoning regulations r
