Citizens for Honesty & Integrity v. San Diego Cty.

• Decision Date: 15 April 2003
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 02 CV 1855 B(RBB).
• Citation: 258 F.Supp.2d 1132
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
• Parties: CITIZENS FOR HONESTY AND INTEGRITY IN REGIONAL PLANING and Karl J. Turecek, Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO and Does 1 Through 50, et al., Defendants.

258 F.Supp.2d 1132

CITIZENS FOR HONESTY AND INTEGRITY IN REGIONAL PLANING and Karl J. Turecek, Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO and Does 1 Through 50, et al., Defendants.

Civ. No. 02 CV 1855 B(RBB).

United States District Court, S.D. California.

April 15, 2003.

B. Demar Hooper, Law Office of B. Demar Hooper, Sacramento, CA, for Plaintiffs.

C. Ellen Pilsecker, Office of County of San Diego, County Counsel, San Diego, CA, for Defendants.

ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND GRANTING DEFEDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

BREWSTER, Senior District Judge.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. § 3801 et seq.) ("FSA"), governing wetland conservation, is commonly known as "Swampbuster." Any person who produces an agricultural commodity on converted wetland forfeits eligibility for a variety of federal loans and farm subsidies. See 16 U.S.C. § 3821(a). Thus, Swampbuster acts as an incentive for the conservation of wetlands.

The Swampbuster provisions define "wetland" as any property consisting of: (1) hydric soils, (2) wetland hydrology, and (3) hydrophytic vegetation. See 16 U.S.C. § 3801(a)(18). In contrast, the County of San Diego's Resource Protection Ordinance ("RPO") defines "wetland" as any property containing: (1) hydric soils, (2) wetland hydrology, or (3) hydrophytic vegetation. See RPO Art. II, ¶ 16. Clearly, the RPO definition of "wetland" is far broader than the definition found in Swampbuster. Therein lies the dispute between the parties to this litigation.

Plaintiff Karl A. Turecek is the managing general partner of Jacumba Valley Ranch Ltd. Partnership ("Jacumba"), an entity that owns and farms land located in San Diego County ("the County"). Turecek filed with the County a specific plan and an application for a major use permit to develop his property.

In September 1994, Turecek received a letter from the County Department of Planning and Land Use ("DPLU") informing him of the County's intention to apply the RPO definition of "wetland" to his property.¹ See Decl. of C. Ellen Pilsecker in Supp. of County's Mot. for Summ. J. ("Pilsecker Decl") at Ex. B, p. 2. (letter dated September 6, 1994). Turecek urged the County to utilize the federal definition, and in March 1995, he received a letter from the DPLU stating that if "the land under tillage is not wetland, under federal definitions, then the [DPLU] will recommend that the appropriate hearing bodies also accept that conclusion." See Pilsecker Decl. at Ex. D, p. 10. (letter dated March 28, 1995). Whatever became of the DPLU's promised recommendation is unknown to the Court, but the County made no attempt to enforce the RPO against Turecek while his aforementioned application was pending for more than eight years. For reasons apparently unrelated to the RPO, the application was finally denied on January 15, 2003.

Turecek and Citizens for Honesty and Integrity in Regional Planning ("CHIRP")² filed this action on September 17, 2002, seeking a declaratory judgment (28 U.S.C. § 2201) that the RPO definition of "wetland" is preempted by the FSA's Swampbuster provisions. On October 28, 2002, the County filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to subsections (b)(1) and (b)(6) of FRCP 12. The County maintained that a dismissal was warranted because: (1) the plaintiffs lacked standing; (2) the matter was not ripe for adjudication; and (3) the Swampbuster provisions do not preempt the RPO.

In an Order filed December 20, 2002, the Court found that Plaintiff CHIRP lacked standing to adjudicate and dismissed CHIRP's claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. See Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Defendant County of San Diego's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Complaint Pursuant to FRCP 12(B)(1) ("Order of December 20, 2002") at 6. The Court held that Turecek had standing and the matter was ripe for adjudication, but that the ultimate question of preemption ought to be handled in the context of a summary judgment motion rather than a motion to dismiss. See id. at 5-6. Accordingly, the Court invited the parties to file cross-motions for summary judgment.

The Court heard oral argument on the cross-motions on Monday, April 14, 2003.

II.STANDARDS OF LAW

A. Summary Judgment

The standard for summary judgment is well known. Summary judgment is appropriate where the moving party demonstrates the absence of a genuine issue of material fact and entitlement to judgment as a matter of law. See FED.R.CIV.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). A fact is material when, under the governing substantive law, it could affect the outcome of the case. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Freeman v. Arpaio, 125 F.3d 732, 735 (9th Cir.1997).

The outcome of this case does not turn on facts, for it ultimately presents a pure question of law, i.e., whether a federal statute that narrowly defines the term "wetland" preempts a local ordinance that broadly defines "wetland." As such, this matter is "an excellent candidate for summary judgment....." Valdez v. Hunt and Henriques, 2002 WL 433595, at * 2 (N.D.Cal. March 19, 2002). See also Smith v. Califano, 597 F.2d 152, 155 n. 4 (9th Cir.1979), cert. denied sub nom. Smith v. Harris, 444 U.S. 980, 100 S.Ct. 481, 62 L.Ed.2d 406 (1979) (stating that summary judgment is appropriate where the sole dispute concerns the proper interpretation of statutes and regulations).

B. Federal Preemption

The Supremacy Clause, U.S. Const. Art. VI, cl. 2, invalidates state laws that "interfere with, or are contrary to, federal law." National Audubon Society, Inc. v. Davis, 307 F.3d 835, 851 (9th Cir. 2002) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Federal preemption may be divided into three categories: (1) express preemption; (2) conflict preemption; and (3) field preemption. See id. Express preemption occurs when Congress states expressly, within the federal statute, its intention to preempt state law. Conflict preemption is implied whenever compliance with both the federal and state law is physically impossible or when the state law "stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress." California v. ARC America Corp., 490 U.S. 93, 100-101, 109 S.Ct. 1661, 104 L.Ed.2d 86 (1989). Field preemption occurs whenever federal regulation is "so pervasive as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it." See Wisconsin Public Intervenor v. Mortier, 501 U.S. 597, 604, 111 S.Ct. 2476, 115 L.Ed.2d 532 (1991).³

Ultimately, the question of preemption turns on whether there is clear and manifest evidence of Congressional intent to supplant state authority. See id. Furthermore, there is a presumption against preemption in areas historically regulated by the States. See Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U.S. 452, 460-461, 111 S.Ct. 2395,115 L.Ed.2d 410 (1991).

III.DISCUSSION

The parties' cross-motions present three issues: (1) whether Turecek has standing; (2) whether Turecek's claim is moot; and (3) whether the Swampbuster definition of "wetland" preempts the RPO definition of "wetland."

A. Standing

The Court thoroughly addressed this issue and resolved it in the Plaintiffs favor in the Order of December 20, 2002. See Order of December 20, 2002 at 5-6.

B. Mootness

On January 15, 2003, the County denied the Plaintiffs long pending application for a major use permit. The County contends that the denial has rendered the Plaintiffs claim moot. Since the January 15th denial, however, the Plaintiff has filed an application for a major use permit to construct an orchard on his property. This second application triggers the RPO and raises the same legal issues at stake in the first application. See RPO Art. Ill, ¶ 3. Thus, a dismissal on the ground of mootness would serve only to delay the resolution of the important preemption question at issue herein.

Moreover, the denial of the Plaintiffs initial application does not cure the uncertainty that exists concerning what uses he can make of his property. As the Court noted in the Order of December 20, 2002, this uncertainty is the source of a cognizable injury to the Plaintiff: it diminishes the value of his property. See Order of December 20, 2002 at 5. Therefore, the Court finds that this case is not moot.

C. Federal Preemption

1. Legislation Passed Pursuant to the Spending Clause does not Preempt the Laws or Regulations of an Unconsenting State and its Political Subdivisions.

In the moving papers, both parties immediately dive into preemption analysis without considering a fundamental (and, in the Court's opinion, the decisive) question in this case: upon which Article I power did Congress rely to adopt the Swampbuster provisions? The answer is the spending power. See United States v. Dierckman, 201 F.3d 915, 922 (7th Cir. 2000) ("The FSA is not an exercise of direct regulatory power; instead, the FSA conditions the receipt of USDA farm benefits on the preservation of wetlands. This is indirect regulation invoking the spending power.... Even though Congress may lack the authority to regulate directly a strictly intrastate wetland, the incentive provided by the [FSA] is a valid exercise of the spending power."). As the following paragraphs illustrate, a law enacted under the Spending Clause does not automatically preempt state law or local regulations

Congress routinely employs the spending power to extend its reach beyond the confines of the limited and enumerated powers contained in Article I of the Constitution. "[T]he power of Congress to authorize expenditure of public moneys for public purposes is not limited by the direct grants of legislative power found in the Constitution. Thus, objectives not thought to be within Article I's enumerated legislative fields may nevertheless be attained through the use of the spending power...