Herrington v. Sonoma County
| Decision Date | 10 February 1988 |
| Docket Number | 86-2728,Nos. 86-2620,s. 86-2620 |
| Citation | 834 F.2d 1488 |
| Parties | John S. HERRINGTON, David S. Herrington and Quail Hill Ranch, a partnership, Plaintiffs/Appellees/Cross-Appellants, v. COUNTY OF SONOMA, Defendant/Appellant/Cross-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Jess S. Jackson, Barbara R. Banke, and Frederik A. Jacobsen, San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiffs/appellees/cross-appellants.
James P. Botz, Santa Rosa, Cal., Antonio Cosby-Rossmann, Anita E. Ruud, San Francisco, Cal., for defendant/appellant/cross-appellee.
John K. Van de Kamp, Atty. Gen., of the State of Cal., Andrea Sheridan Ordin, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., N. Gregory Taylor, Theodora Berger, Asst. Attys. Gen., Craig C. Thompson, Richard M. Frank, Deputy Attys. Gen., Sacramento, Cal., for amicus curiae State of Cal. ex rel. John K. Van de Kamp, Atty. Gen.
Michael H. Remy, Sharon E. Duggan, Remy & Thomas, Sacramento, Cal., for Western Sonoma County Rural Alliance.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Before CHOY, Senior Circuit Judge, SNEED and TANG, Circuit Judges.
John and David Herrington (the "Herringtons") brought suit under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 against the County of Sonoma (the "County") for, inter alia, alleged violations of their procedural due process, substantive due process, and equal protection rights secured under the Fourteenth Amendment. The constitutional claims arise out of the County's rejection of the Herringtons' subdivision application, and the subsequent downzoning of the area in which the Herringtons' land is located. The County appeals from a judgment awarding the Herringtons injunctive relief and a jury award of $2,500,600 in damages. We uphold the jury's verdict that the County is liable for due process and equal protection violations, and affirm the award of injunctive relief. We vacate the award of damages as grossly excessive, and remand for a new trial on the damages issue.
The Herringtons own a 540-acre property in Sonoma County, ten miles west of the town of Sebastopol. The property once operated as a dairy farm; the dairy operation was shut down in 1962 after being cited for polluting a stream. The Herringtons then leased their land to local farmers for grazing and production of oat hay. The farming efforts were largely unsuccessful, and, in 1976, the Herringtons contacted the County planning staff about the possibility of residential development of their property. Over the next two years, the Herringtons--in consultation with the County planning staff--began to prepare a subdivision proposal. The Herringtons originally envisioned a 103-unit residential development. The proposal became less ambitious over time in accordance with the planning staff's recommendations.
Meanwhile, between 1976-78, the County was preparing its General Plan. California law requires each county to have a valid and internally consistent general plan. Cal. Gov't Code Sec. 65300 (West 1987). The general plan is a "statement of development policies" consisting of "a diagram or diagrams and text setting forth objectives, principles, standards, and plan proposals." Id. Sec. 65302. It has been described as " 'a constitution for all future development[ ].' " deBottari v. Norco City Council, 171 Cal.App.3d 1204, 217 Cal.Rptr. 790, 795 (1985) (quoting O'Loane v. O'Rourke, 231 Cal.App.2d 774, 42 Cal.Rptr. 283, 288 (1965)). The general plan creates the basis for subsequent planning efforts, such as specific plans. See Cal. Gov't Code Secs. 65450-57 (West 1987). Development proposals which are inconsistent with the general plan must be rejected by the governing authority. Id. Sec. 66474(a) (West 1983).
Before the Herringtons formally initiated the subdivision application process, the County planning staff instructed the Herringtons to delay filing an application until the General Plan was complete. In January 1978, the County adopted its General Plan. The General Plan set a maximum density of 35 residential units for the Herrington property. The plan also contained qualitative policy goals in favor of maintaining the County's agricultural viability and preserving its forest resources. The 35-lot maximum on the Herrington property was subject to reduction if necessary to protect the General Plan's environmental goals.
From 1978-79, the Herringtons continued to work with the planning staff to develop an acceptable subdivision proposal. According to the Herringtons, the staff gave them no indication that the evolving proposal would be inconsistent with the General Plan. On May 24, 1979, the Herringtons filed an application with the County for a 32-unit subdivision. 1 The application was accompanied by a tentative subdivision map prepared by a civil engineer, a project proposal containing a narrative description of the project, and a $600 filing fee. The project preserved 300 acres of open space, a 35-acre redwood grove, and 90 acres of agricultural land previously used to raise oat hay.
On June 6, 1979, the County planning staff found the Herrington proposal to be inconsistent with the General Plan because of its density, design, and conflict with resource preservation.
The Herringtons appealed the County planning staff's determination of inconsistency to the County Planning Commission. The Planning Commission heard the appeal on August 2, 1979. The planning staff presented a report at the hearing which, according to the Herringtons, contained several misrepresentations of fact and law. These alleged misrepresentations were: the property lacked water; a Citizen's Advisory Committee had reacted negatively to the proposal; the property had development limitations such as unstable soils; and the proposal conflicted with the pending West Sebastopol Specific Plan and was therefore unacceptable. The Planning Commission nevertheless reversed the staff determination and found the Herringtons' subdivision to be consistent with the General Plan.
Pursuant to County procedure, County Supervisor Eric Koenigshofer appealed the Planning Commission's consistency finding to the County Board of Supervisors. On November 13, 1979, the Board of Supervisors held a hearing. The planning staff again prepared an allegedly inaccurate report and presented it to the Board. The Board deferred decision of the appeal, and delegated to the County's Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee the task of evaluating the agricultural viability of the Herringtons' property and the impact of the Herrington proposal on the County's agricultural resources.
The Agricultural Committee held a meeting on November 28, 1979, without giving notice to the Herringtons. The Herringtons nonetheless attended the meeting, but were prohibited from speaking. 2 At the meeting, a County planning staff representative who supervised the Agricultural Committee distributed copies of the Herrington development proposal. These copies had been altered from the original document submitted by the Herringtons. The County states that the original document was merely edited because the Agricultural Committee was concerned only with those parts of the document which pertained to agricultural resources. The Herringtons contend that the alterations were a deliberate attempt to misrepresent the Herrington proposal. The Agricultural Committee voted five to two against the Herringtons' subdivision.
On December 11, 1979, the Board of Supervisors met to review the Herrington proposal. The Agricultural Committee submitted a memorandum to the Board which allegedly misrepresented that the Herrington property was agriculturally viable and that the land surrounding the property was agricultural rather than residential. In accordance with the Agricultural Committee's recommendation, the five-member Board voted unanimously to find the 32-unit subdivision proposal inconsistent with the General Plan. Specifically, the Board found the proposed density to be inconsistent with the preservation of agricultural and timber resources on the Herringtons' parcel.
During this period, the Board of Supervisors had been developing the West Sebastopol Specific Plan, which was intended to implement the policies of the General Plan. See Cal. Gov't Code Sec. 65450 (West 1987). Under California law, the specific plan must include text and diagrams which specify, inter alia: "[s]tandards and criteria by which development will proceed, and standards for the conservation, development, and utilization of natural resources, where applicable." Id. Sec. 65451(a)(3).
The Herringtons participated in preliminary hearings regarding the Specific Plan. At a meeting on March 4, 1980, the Board adopted the Specific Plan, which called for the preservation of agricultural and timber resources, and down-zoned the Herrington property to 100-acre minimum lot sizes. This downzoning restricted the Herrington property to a maximum of seven residential units. The Herringtons claim that they were not given an adequate opportunity to be heard regarding the downzoning, apparently because they were excluded from the March 4 meeting. The County states that no members of the public were allowed to attend this final meeting, because it was held solely for deliberation by the Board of Supervisors.
In June 1980, the Herringtons filed suit against the County pursuant to 42 U.S.C Sec. 1983. At trial they asserted four claims against the County, and sought injunctive relief and monetary damages. First, the Herringtons contended that the County's determination that the 32-lot proposal was inconsistent with the General Plan, and the subsequent decision to downzone the Herrington property under the Specific Plan, had denied the Herringtons all economically viable use of their land because the land was unsuitable for agriculture. Thus, the Herringtons argued, the County's...
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