ELR Citation: ELR 20060
No(s). 4815 (N.H. Super. Ct. Sep 24, 1973)

A state Water Resources Board decision denying plaintiff landowners' request for permission to fill four acres of tidal marsh on their property for the purpose of developing houses did not constitute a taking of plaintiffs' property and is upheld. Plaintiffs have failed to support their burden of proving the Board's action to be unreasonable or unlawful, and the court finds that the denial was a valid exercise of the police power rather than a taking since the marsh is a valuable part of the state's environment and would be destroyed by the filling operation. The Board's action does not render the property useless, but merely deflates its speculative value. The court notes that plaintiffs have already made a profit on the initial purchase price of the property by building and selling a house on a nontidal portion of the tract.

Counsel for Plaintiffs
Shaines, Mardigan & McEachern
McIntosh Building
62 Congress St.
Portsmouth, NH 03801

Counsel for Defendant
Warren Rudman Attorney General
Concord, NH 03301