Maricopa County officials have been worried they would face expensive lawsuits from property owners affected by a 2006 state law intended to protect Luke Air Force Base, and they were absolutely right.
Goldwater Institute just announced a little while ago that it’s now pursuing $20 million in claims against the county, only a week after a Superior Court judge ruled the state law didn’t violate the state constitution. That law significantly restricts property development around Luke AFB and its auxiliary fields in the West Valley to reduce the potential for noise complaints and jets accidentally crashing into homes.
Goldwater’s litigator Carrie Ann Sitren is now pursuing the theory that the law might be allowed, but the property owners deserved to be compensated under Proposition 207 for the inability to use their land. The claims might be hampered by the fact that Prop. 207 went into effect after the Legislature passed the law intended to protect Luke AFB. But the county has never enforced that law, so Sitren is going to argue that Prop. 207 provisions to pay landowners for government “takings” still apply.
From a libertarian perspective, Goldwater is absolutely right. Government power to basically stop any use of someone’s private property, without paying for it, should be severely limited in a free-market society. But the Air Force has decided it can’t afford to buy up enough land around its U.S. air bases to protect them from encroachment. Instead, the Pentagon leans heavily on local and state governments to use zoning restrictions to accomplish the same thing. The result is landowners usually are stuck with property they can’t use and they can’t sell, either.
Maricopa County shouldn’t be on the hook to pay the landowners near Luke AFB. The Legislature passed a state law because lawmakers decided the air base’s future is a priority for all Arizonans. And that means all Arizonans should share in the expense of compensating the individual landowners who are affected.
Of course, the state can’t afford to come up with $20 million (or more) for this cause. So I’m guessing Goldwater’s actions will spur Maricopa County to appeal last week’s judicial ruling in the hope that a higher court will overturn the state law.
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