UDOT v. Coalt, Inc.
UDOT v. Coalt, Inc., 2020 UT 58 (Petersen, J.)
Takings
UDOT condemned a piece of undeveloped land as part of a large property to mitigate the environmental impacts of the Legacy Parkway Project. The landowner challenged the condemnation, arguing that the taking was not for public use. The district court and the court of appeals reasoned that UDOT could condemn the land. The Utah Supreme Court affirmed, holding:
- UDOT condemned the land to mitigate the environmental impacts of the Parkway and to allow it to proceed with construction of the Parkway, which it is allowed to do under Utah Code § 72-5-102. The fact that public interest litigants influenced the final amount of mitigation is not necessarily material.
- The landowner did not provide a plausible basis for overturning the court of appeals’s decision on valuation.