## Facts

- William J. Charles owned land in the Village of Camillus, Onondaga County, New York, and planned three apartment buildings totaling 36 units.
- Local law required the apartments to connect to the village sewage system.
- The village board authorized issuance of a building permit (May 9, 1972).
- The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) notified Charles that he could not connect to the village system until the village corrected sewage-system deficiencies (May 22, 1972).
- DEC also directed the county health department not to authorize Charles’s connection until the deficiencies were corrected.
- The restrictions were tied to preventing discharge of untreated or inadequately treated sewage into Nine Mile Creek and to ongoing governmental enforcement efforts.
- Charles claimed the combined actions prevented economically viable use of his property for the proposed development.

## Issues

1. Whether a municipality’s unreasonable and prolonged failure to correct an inadequate sewer system, preventing sewer connections required for development, can constitute a taking requiring just compensation.
2. Whether courts may enjoin or otherwise interfere with state administrative enforcement efforts that restrict further sewer connections until sewage-system deficiencies are corrected.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals held that an unreasonable and extended municipal delay in correcting sewer deficiencies that effectively denies any reasonable use of property may, on sufficient proof, amount to an unconstitutional taking requiring compensation.
- The court refused to bar the state’s administrative enforcement process and recognized DEC’s authority to insist on abatement and to restrict new sewer connections pending correction of deficiencies.
- The matter was remanded for further proceedings to determine, based on the facts, whether the delay was unreasonable and whether a compensable taking occurred.

## Legal Principles

- Exercises of the police power to protect public health and the environment (including restricting sewer hookups to prevent water pollution) are generally permissible without compensation.
- Governmental delay initially justified by police power may become a taking if it is unreasonable in duration and effect and deprives an owner of any reasonable or economically viable use of the property.
- Whether a delay constitutes a taking depends on a fact-specific inquiry into the length of the restriction, governmental efforts to remedy the problem, the connection between the restriction and legitimate objectives, and the impact on beneficial use.
- Courts should not lightly disrupt or preempt administrative environmental enforcement proceedings designed to abate pollution and secure compliance.

## Conclusion

The court recognized a potential inverse-condemnation claim where a municipality’s unjustified and prolonged sewer-system inaction blocks development, but it simultaneously preserved state authority to enforce pollution controls and to withhold sewer connections until deficiencies are corrected.


Matter of Charles v. Diamond, 41 N.Y.2d 318, 392 N.Y.S.2d 594, 360 N.E.2d 1295 (1977)