Buckles v. King County

• Decision Date: 15 July 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-35270,98-35270
• Citation: 191 F.3d 1127
• Parties: (9th Cir. 1999) BRUCE BUCKLES; LINDA BUCKLES; and ALVIN BANKS, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. KING COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Washington; JOSEPH W. TOVAR; CHRIS SMITH TOWNE; M. PETER PHILLEY, Defendants-Appellees
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1127

191 F.3d 1127 (9th Cir. 1999)

BRUCE BUCKLES; LINDA BUCKLES; and ALVIN BANKS, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. KING COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Washington; JOSEPH W. TOVAR; CHRIS SMITH TOWNE; M. PETER PHILLEY, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 98-35270

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

Argued and Submitted July 15, 1999--Seattle, Washington

Filed September 10, 1999

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

Richard M. Stephens, Esq., Groen & Stephens, Bellevue, Washington, for the plaintiffs-appellants.

H. Kevin Wright and Darren Carnell, King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Seattle, Washington, for defendant appellee King County; Marjorie T. Smitch and Richard A. Heath, Office of the Attorney General, Olympia, Washington, for defendants-appellees Joseph W. Tovar, et al.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington; John C. Coughenour, District Judge, Presiding, D.C. No. CV-96-00710-C.

Before: Thomas M. Reavley,¹ Arthur L. Alarcon, and M. Margaret McKeown, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge McKeown

McKEOWN, Circuit Judge:

This case arises from a zoning decision, under the Washington Growth Management Act of 1990, to maintain the existing boundary between a residential area and a neighborhood business zone in King County, Washington. Landowners Bruce and Linda Buckles and Alvin Banks appeal from the district court's summary judgment in favor of members of the Growth Management Hearings Board and King County. As a threshold matter, we address whether members of the Washington Growth Management Hearings Board are entitled to absolute immunity from damages. We then decide whether the landowners' procedural due process, substantive due process, and takings claims against King County can withstand summary judgment. Finally, in light of City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd., 119 S. Ct. 1624 (1999), we consider whether the landowners' takings claim should be tried before a jury. We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Margolis v. Ryan, 140 F.3d 850, 852 (9th Cir. 1998). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. S 1291 and we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Appellants Bruce Buckles, his wife, Linda Buckles, and her father, Alvin Banks (collectively, "the Buckles") own an approximately 10-acre piece of property in unincorporated King County, Washington. On the property is a single-family residence, a small guest house, and a barn. A stream that supports salmon spawning crosses the property and is part of an environmentally sensitive riparian corridor. From the time the Buckles bought the property in 1974² until this dispute arose in 1994, the property was zoned for residential use. The Buckles have lived on the property since 1979 and have always used it for residential purposes.

The Buckles' property is adjacent to a large residential subdivision and is surrounded on all sides by land zoned for rural residential use. A school and a fire station are nearby. Some neighboring properties, however, are zoned or used for industrial and commercial use. A small neighborhood business center abuts one side of the Buckles' property. A portion of another side of the property is adjacent to a small parcel used for industrial purposes. The surrounding residential area dwarfs the small (approximately nine-acre) business area and the pre-existing commercial properties are like a few small islands in a sea of residential property.

In November 1994, the Buckles received notice that King County was adopting new zoning pursuant to the Washington Growth Management Act of 1990, RCW 36.70A, which requires each county in Washington to adopt a comprehensive land use plan and designate an urban growth area "within which urban growth will be encouraged and outside of which urban growth will be prohibited." See RCW 36.70A.110. King County advised the Buckles that their property would be zoned as residential. More specifically, the notice informed the Buckles of the proposed zoning change to their property from "SE-P" ("Suburban Estates," or residential with a 1-acre minimum lot size) to "RA-5-P" ("Rural Area,"³ permitting residential use with a 5-acre minimum lot size). ⁴

The Buckles hired an attorney, who petitioned the King County Council to designate the Buckles' property "Rural Neighborhood," i.e., for limited retail and commercial use. The Buckles' initial lobbying was successful. On November 17, 1994, the day before the adoption of the King County Comprehensive Plan, which had been developed over several years, the King County Council adopted Amendment 101, which designated the Buckles' property "Rural Neighborhood." In January 1995, the King County Council passed Ordinance 11653 which adopted zoning to implement the comprehensive county-wide plan required by the Growth Management Act. Within the Plan, the Buckles' property was zoned as "Neighborhood Business."⁵

The Comprehensive Plan was challenged on numerous grounds in multiple petitions filed with the Washington Growth Management Hearings Board ("the Board") including a claim that the redesignation of the Buckles' property was adopted in violation of the public participation requirements of the Growth Management Act. The petitions were consolidated into a single proceeding. Vashon-Maury v. King County, No. 95-3-0008, at 1245, 1247 (CPSGMHB Oct. 23, 1995). The Board considered procedural challenges to several portions of the plan and concluded that Amendment 101 (designating the Buckles' property for commercial use), along with several other amendments, were invalid because of the absence of public participation and "remanded to[King] County with directions to provide a reasonable opportunity for public comment prior to consideration by the Council of any subsequent re-adoption of such amendments." Id. at 1285. The Board did not determine whether the redesignation of the Buckles' property substantively violated the Growth Management Act, but only that the redesignation, in the absence of public participation, was a procedural violation under the Act. See id. at 1284, 1285 n.48. The Buckles were not parties to, and did not receive notice of, this 1995 proceeding before the Board. This lack of notice forms the basis for two of their major grievances in this case. The Buckles were parties to a second proceeding before the Board in 1996, the result of which they also challenge in this appeal.

On remand, King County began new proceedings to reconsider portions of the 1994 Comprehensive Plan in accord with the Board's 1995 decision. The land use designation for the Buckles' property was among the issues reconsidered. Four public hearings were held. Ultimately, the King County Council adopted Ordinance No. 12170 which, among other modifications, designated the Buckles' property "Rural Residential," and classified it as RA-5 for zoning purposes. The ordinance included no less than 16 different amendments to the Plan. The Buckles filed an administrative appeal to the Board challenging the redesignation and the Board rejected the Buckles' appeal. Buckles v. King County, No. 96-3-0022, at 10-16 (CPSGMHB Nov. 12, 1996). The Buckles did not appeal the Board's decision directly to the superior court, a right of appeal provided in the Growth Management Act. RCW 36.70A.300(5). Instead, they filed suit in King County Superior Court against King County and the members of the Board, alleging that they were "victims of a zoning change," and stating substantive and procedural due process claims under 42 U.S.C. S 1983. Defendants removed the case to federal court, where the Buckles amended their complaint to add a takings claim under the federal and state constitutions. The district court dismissed the claims against the Board members under the doctrine of quasi-judicial immunity and held that the Buckles could not maintain a federal substantive due process claim under Macri v. King County, 126 F.3d 1125, 1129 (9th Cir. 1997), because the claim was essentially a takings claim. The district court subsequently granted summary judgment for King County on the Buckles' takings, procedural due process, and state substantive due process claims.

DISCUSSION

I. Absolute Immunity for Growth Management Hearings Board Members

The first issue is whether members of the Growth Management Hearings Board are protected by absolute immunity from a suit for damages arising out of the Board's ruling on the Buckles' petition.⁶ The district court held that the Board members were entitled to absolute immunity. Determination of immunity is a question of law reviewed de novo. Bennett v. Williams, 892 F.2d 822, 823 (9th Cir. 1989).

The Growth Management Act created three Growth Management Hearings Boards for the State of Washington: an Eastern Washington board, a Western Washington Board, and a Central Puget Sound board. The latter board has jurisdiction over matters pertaining to King County, and thus is the board at issue in this case. RCW 36.70A.250. Each regional board consists of three members "qualified by experience or training in matters pertaining to land use planning." RCW 36.70A.260. Referred to in the Washington Administrative Code as a "quasi-judicial body," WAC 242-04-020, the Board presides over and rules on petitions challenging compliance with the requirements of the Growth Management Act. RCW 36.70A.280(1)(a). If the Board determines that a local government entity (the state, a county, or a city) is not in compliance with the Growth Management Act, the Board remands the matter to the affected entity. RCW 36.70A.300(3)(b). Although comprehensive plans and development regulations are "presumed valid upon adoption," RCW 36.70A.320(1), the Board has the authority to determine that part or all of a comprehensive plan or development regulation is invalid if the Board specifies the reasons for the invalidity and concludes that the "continued validity of part or parts of the plan or...