Corn v. City of Lauderdale Lakes

• Decision Date: 23 September 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-4351,95-4351
• Citation: 95 F.3d 1066
• Parties: Herman CORN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF LAUDERDALE LAKES, Howard Craft, Alfonso Gereffi, Jerome Cohan, Morris Klein, Lyman L. Allen, Louis Greenwald, Harry Kaufman, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1066

95 F.3d 1066

Herman CORN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF LAUDERDALE LAKES, Howard Craft, Alfonso Gereffi Jerome Cohan, Morris Klein, Lyman L. Allen, Louis Greenwald, Harry Kaufman, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 95-4351.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

Sept. 23, 1996.

Andrew T. Lavin, Romanik Lavin Huss & Paoli, Hollywood, FL, for appellant.

Michael C. Mattson, Pamela R. Kittrell, Cooney, Mattson, Lance, Blackburn, Richards & O'Connor, P.A., Ft. Lauderdale, FL, for appellee, City of Lauderdale Lakes.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before COX and BARKETT, Circuit Judges, and BRIGHT ^*, Senior Circuit Judge.

COX, Circuit Judge:

On this appeal, we address for the fourth time a 20-year-old dispute between Herman Corn and the City of Lauderdale Lakes, Florida (the "City"), over the City's refusal to allow Corn to build a mini-warehouse on his property. Corn alleges that the City's actions effected a taking of his property entitling him to just compensation. The district court held that there was no taking of Corn's property. We affirm in part, but must vacate and remand in part for the district court to make further factual findings.

I. FACTS ¹

A. The Property and Proposed Development

In 1966, Corn purchased 261 acres of land in an unincorporated area of Broward County, Florida. After negotiations with the City about annexation of the land, Corn submitted a proposed development plan. Before annexing Corn's land, the City created a new C-1A zoning category, incorporating the permissible uses in the existing C-1 category and requiring that a site development plan be submitted before building permits would be issued. By ordinance, the City then formally annexed Corn's land. By separate ordinance, Ordinance No. 105, the City zoned Corn's land. Approximately 8.5 acres were zoned C-1A, while Corn's adjacent land was zoned for residential use.

Between 1966 and 1977, Corn developed much of the land according to the development plan originally submitted to the City. His development expenditures exceeded $100,000. The district court found that Corn did not prove that these expenditures were aimed at any specific use of the land, as opposed to general commercial preparation. On the portion of his land zoned residential, Corn first built single family residences and then condominiums. In April 1977, Corn submitted a preliminary site plan (the "Site Plan") proposing to construct a 67,000 square foot shopping center and a 900-unit, 103,000 square foot mini-warehouse on the land zoned C-1A (the "Parcel"). At the time, both uses were permitted on land zoned C-1 and, hence, on land zoned C-1A.

Before building his mini-warehouse, Corn had to obtain the approval of the City Council. The City's Planning and Zoning Board twice recommended that the City Council approve the Site Plan. The City Council heard from Corn as well as city residents opposing the mini-warehouse project at three public meetings, tabling consideration of the Site Plan at each meeting.

B. The Re-Zoning Ordinances and Moratorium

Before voting on the Site Plan, the City Council eliminated mini-warehouses as a use permitted on C-1A property. At a public meeting attended by Corn's attorney, the City Council passed Ordinance No. 548, eliminating mini-warehouses as a permitted use on C-1 (and consequently C-1A) land. The City Council also passed Ordinance No. 549, re-zoning the Parcel to category B-3, a more restrictive zoning category. Then the City Council voted unanimously to deny approval of the Site Plan.

The City Council also passed Ordinance No. 552, imposing a moratorium on the issuance of building permits for C-1 property to allow the Planning and Zoning Board to conduct a study of the City's zoning scheme. In particular, the study was to address the propriety of situating commercially zoned property adjacent to residential property. Originally, the moratorium was to last for 150 days, but it eventually was extended to last almost a year.

The record is ambiguous as to whether the moratorium applied to Corn's property for its entire duration. By its terms, Ordinance No. 552 applied to C-1 property; the Parcel, however, was re-zoned B-3 by Ordinance No. 549 within a month of the moratorium's inception. The parties have proceeded on this appeal under the assumption that the moratorium nevertheless applied to the Parcel for its duration and prevented Corn from building anything on the Parcel during that time. It is clear that once the moratorium expired on July 4, 1978, the Parcel's B-3 zoning classification permitted many uses, including the proposed shopping center, though not a mini-warehouse.

C. The State Court Litigation

In August 1977, Corn filed suit in state court, challenging the City's denial of his Site Plan and the validity of Ordinance No. 548 (prohibiting storage warehouses on C-1 property), Ordinance No. 549 (re-zoning Corn's parcel from C-1A to B-3), and Ordinance No. 552 (imposing the moratorium). The state circuit court found that Corn had "certain vested rights in the zoning classification C-1A ... as applied to [the] property by Ordinance # 105" and that the City "is estopped to deny [Corn's] rights in such zoning classification." (R. 1, Ex. O at 14.) The court held that Ordinance No. 548, Ordinance No. 549, and Ordinance No. 552 were "void and unenforceable" as against Corn or the property because, in passing the ordinances, the City failed to follow its own notice and procedural requirements. (Id. at 13.) The court ordered the City to approve Corn's Site Plan when three deficiencies were corrected, (id. at 14), and to issue Corn building permits, (id. at 15).

The state circuit court's judgment was stayed while the City pursued an appeal. In February 1983, the state court of appeals affirmed the circuit court's judgment, finding that substantial evidence supported the circuit court's order equitably estopping the City from denying approval of the Site Plan. City of Lauderdale Lakes v. Corn, 427 So.2d 239, 243 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1983). Seven months after the appellate court's mandate issued, Corn submitted a revised site plan to the City. The City Council refused to approve the plan unless Corn platted the property, as required by a Broward County platting requirement enacted since the original Site Plan was submitted.

A year later, Corn filed in the state circuit court a "Motion to Enforce Final Judgment," requesting an order requiring the City unconditionally to approve the revised site plan and issue a building permit without Corn platting the property. The City did not oppose the motion and, in March 1985, the state court granted Corn relief from the platting requirement. Finally allowed to build his mini-warehouse project, Corn decided not to do so. Instead, he has prosecuted this § 1983 action in federal court for the last twelve years.

II. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1984, Corn filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the City, the Mayor, the members of the City Council, and the City Building Official. In Count One of his complaint, Corn alleges a taking of his property without just compensation in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. ² In Count Two, Corn alleges that the City's refusal to approve the Site Plan and issue building permits violated his substantive due process rights. Before trial, Corn dismissed Count Three, alleging procedural due process violations, and Count Four, alleging an equal protection violation.

The district court dismissed Corn's complaint on ripeness grounds under Williamson County Regional Planning Comm'n v. Hamilton Bank, 473 U.S. 172, 105 S.Ct. 3108, 87 L.Ed.2d 126 (1985). This court reversed and remanded. Corn v. City of Lauderdale Lakes, 816 F.2d 1514 (11th Cir.1987). On remand, the City moved for summary judgment based on res judicata and the statute of limitations. The district court denied the City's motion but certified its order for interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). We granted permission to appeal and affirmed the denial of summary judgment. Corn v. City of Lauderdale Lakes, 904 F.2d 585 (11th Cir.1990). The case was remanded for trial.

After a bench trial, the district court found that the City had acted arbitrarily and capriciously in denying approval of the Site Plan. The court held that the denial violated Corn's substantive due process rights and awarded Corn $727,875.02 in damages. The court reserved judgment on the Fifth Amendment just compensation claim (Count One), finding that damages would be the same as on the substantive due process claim. Not satisfied with the damages award or the district court's dismissal of individual members of the City Council from the suit, Corn appealed. The City cross-appealed.

We reversed, holding that the district court erred in concluding that Corn's substantive due process rights were violated. Corn v. City of Lauderdale Lakes, 997 F.2d 1369. Our painstaking review of the record revealed that Corn had failed to prove that the City had acted arbitrarily and capriciously. Id. at 1373. Indeed, the record affirmatively showed that the City's decision to prevent Corn from building the 900-unit mini-warehouse in a residential area was substantially related to the general welfare. Id. We did not address the other component of the substantive due process claim: whether Corn was deprived of any constitutionally protected property interest. Id. at 1374. Because the district court had not ruled on the just compensation claim, we remanded for further proceedings. Id. at 1393.

The City and Corn agreed that the district court did not need to conduct a new trial on the just compensation claim. After receiving status reports from the parties, the district court entered its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law Upon Remand. The court framed the issue as "whether CORN's property (either his interest in the land or in the development...