HIGHLANDS AIRPORT AUTH. v. Singleton Auto Parts, Inc.

OPINION BY Justice LEROY F. MILLETTE, JR.

This appeal involves the interaction of a local zoning ordinance establishing an airport safety overlay zone and an avigation easement 1 sought by the Virginia Highlands Airport Authority 2 (Airport Authority) to remove obstructions on the property of Singleton Auto Parts, Incorporated (Singleton), which were preserved pursuant to a grandfather clause in the ordinance. We are presented with the novel issue whether the easement constitutes a taking of airspace requiring compensation when the property was already subject to preexisting restrictions on…