For the legal types, we had a BESS facility proposed right on the edge of city limits. Technically the development meets all required engineering/drainage requirements of the county but the county denied the permit based on public saftey concerns and the fact there is a county jail, hospital and nursing home within 500m (recommended evacuation zone).

The company threatened to file suit on the basis of regulatory taking and is seeking a mandatory injunctive relief and declaratory judgement.

The county I think is genuinely trying to do what they think is right in this situation (they've already approved other similar projects in more reasonable locations). But my assumption is they don't have a leg to stand on but curious to hear from those more familiar with regulatory taking.

You are going to have a really tough time proving regulatory taking when those development are that close, as it would be assumed it would be approved for retail, multi-family, office etc.

If it is actually within 500 meters of a hospital? I'd think you have an even harder time proving the proposed use is actually the highest and best use. Most BESS facilities are built on very low cost land but I don't have an aerial of the site.

Threatening to sue is virtually meaningless, city officials aren't the ones getting sued so they won't care.

Fair point on threatening, the county has already said "go for it" regarding suing them. I'm not aware of if they've actually filed suit.

It looks like all those properties (jail, nursing home and hospital) are all within 500m. The BESS property itself used to be a home on 9 acres. The back half of the property I'm told can't really be developed because of drainage restrictions. But the front could absolutely be a storage facility or any number of alternative uses.

The most limiting factor on the property is a somewhat narrow entrance (~55ft) that limits some things like mobile home or rv park

Even if you could somehow prove regulatory taking, which sounds unlikely, it will likely take years of litigation and a sizeable legal costs.

Whoever identified that site should have been more thorough in the vetting process. Anytime you start bringing industrial uses, and especially things like high voltage transmission lines which can cause fires up into hospital and senior care areas feathers will get ruffled.

Hospital systems themselves usually have extensive legal resources and you may be at odds with them in addition to the city.