As climate change impacts are realized at the governance level, states and local governments are moving towards adaptation strategies that include increasing restrictions on how land is used in coastal zones. The purpose of this article is to review state regulatory strategies that are attempting to adapt to climate change in light of limits placed on those strategies by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution: the prohibition against the taking of private property by government action without a public purpose and just compensation. This article highlights the importance in identifying the roles governments can take beyond the role of “regulator” as a means of mitigating regulatory takings challenges. The analysis presented is then applied generally to Connecticut’s coastal management regime.