Constitutional Issue in Development Moratorium - Advice and Lawy er Recommendations

[Morrison, Mairi]

Everyone:

I am informally helping a group of Garrett Park (a small incorporated town
in Montgomery County, outside of Washington D.C.) fend off anti-development
measures which we feel violate their private property rights to the point of
constitutional implication. I am looking for both general reaction from you
all on its continued viability and possible recommendations of
constitutional lawyers or law firms who might be able to effectively do such
a case as a piece of impact litigation - the current lawyer of record is a
Montgomery County zoning lawyer who is used to thinking in the box.

The lawsuit stemmed originally from the Council's passage of a "temporary
moratorium" (six month) on demolition of houses.  The town, like many close
in Washington suburbs, has a number of smaller houses,some special, many
undistinguished and people there (as everywhere) are buying houses for the
site and building another one of their liking.  Most of the new houses have
been failry large, thought by no means as large as maning of the existing
Victorian houses built last century.

The Council passed the moratorium without havign the power to do so.  It
passed it without notice to the town and as an "emergency measure" the
emergency being the need for the town to "take a breath."  In fact, the
County,not the Town has juristidiction over the giving of demolition
permits.  Further, they passed it cynically with the knowledge that it lay
outside their power. We have documentation noting that it would be expensive
for residents to sue.

The original lawsuit focused on the state issues - the fact that the council
really didn't have the power etc., but also threw in a Civil Rights Claim
based on violation of both procedural and subsatantive due process (the
claim which some are using for invasions of property values that fall short
of a taking).  The Town removed the suit to federal court where the civil
rights arguments made by the original lawyer were not strong.  So far there
has been no ruling but, as the moratorium is now up, it seems reasonable to
assume that it will ultimately be dismissed as moot unless we are able to
strongly recharacterise it as a civil rights invasion that still requires
redress.

I have identified a few law firms among those who were involved in the Tahoe
case recently argued before the supreme court - Hogan and Hartson and the
Washington Legal Foundation. I am trying to get up to speed myself so that I
can help the people select a really strong lawyer this time. Any substantive
advice, lawyer recommendations would be most welcome.  The citizens are
hoping to refile soon. The town is completely torn apart by this as the
council now feels it can do anything without fear of legal redress and is
busily drafting a tree ordinance and drafting a request that the entire town
be made a historic district.  You would have to know this town to realise
how crazy this is.

Thanks for the consideration.

Mairi