| Venue: | Fed. Ct. App. 4th Cir. |
| Facts: | Geo-Tech wants to put up a landfill, but local executives (empowered by statute to take public opinion into account) say no, on the basis that they got some letters asking them not to allow it. The site was chosen by experts, and is well-suited; it's just NIMBY tactics, basiscally. |
| Posture: | Summary judgment for plaintiffs at trial (the WV Solid Waste Management Act is facially unconstitutional). Appeal. |
| Issue: | Is the denial of permits solely because they are "significantly adverse to the public sentiment" constitutional? |
| Holding: | No. Affirmed. |
| Rule: | Statutes must have a substantial or rational relationship to the state's interest in promoting the general public welfare. |
| Reasoning: | Local residents aren't bound by any official duty. They can be selfish, capricious, and arbitrary. Land-use regulations must find their justification in some aspect of the police power, asserted for the public welfare. There's no meaningful standard by which the Director is supposed to measure public sentiment, so this statute effectively permits mob rule. |
| Dicta: | |