Farmington-Girard, LLC v. Planning
| Decision Date | 26 February 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. 3:17-cv-1915 (MPS),3:17-cv-1915 (MPS) |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut |
| Parties | FARMINGTON-GIRARD, LLC Plaintiff, v. PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF HARTFORD, et al., Defendants. |
Plaintiff Farmington-Girard, LLC ("Farmington-Girard") brings this action against Defendants City of Hartford ("Hartford") and the Planning & Zoning Commission of the City of Hartford ("PZC" and together, the "Municipal Defendants"), alleging that PZC has unlawfully blocked the development of Farmington-Girard's property at 510 Farmington Avenue in Hartford, Connecticut as a drive-through fast food restaurant. Farmington-Girard asserts claims under 42 U.S.C § 1983 for defendants' alleged violation of its rights under the U.S. constitution, a declaratory judgment claim, and state law claims for inverse condemnation and municipal estoppel. After Farmington-Girard initially filed suit in state court, Hartford removed the case to this Court. The Municipal Defendants now move under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) to dismiss the Amended Complaint (ECF No. 37, "Am. Compl."), arguing that Farmington-Girard's claims are not ripe, that the Amended Complaint fails to allege any constitutional violations, and that it does not adequately plead the state law claims. Because I find that Farmington-Girard's claims are ripe but that some of them fail as a matter of law, I GRANT in part and DENY in part the motion to dismiss. (ECF No. 42.)
The facts below are drawn from the Amended Complaint and, where relevant, documents referenced therein or of which the Court may take judicial notice.1
Farmington-Girard acquired the property at 510 Farmington Avenue from Shell Oil Company in 2005. (Am. Compl. ¶ 22.) Due to the property's previous use as a gas station, the structures had to be razed for environmental remediation efforts, and the property is currently an empty lot. (Am. Compl. ¶ 23.) A Burger King restaurant with drive-through window service immediately abuts the property to the west and a residential zone abuts it to the north. (Am. Compl. ¶ 24.) Between its acquisition in 2005 and December 2012, 510 Farmington Avenue was located in a B-3 (Linear Business) zoning district, which, under Hartford's zoning regulations then in effect, permitted the property to be used as a fast food restaurant with a drive-through window. (Am. Compl. ¶ 25.)
Since its acquisition of 510 Farmington Avenue, Farmington-Girard has actively tried to market the property for use as a fast food restaurant with a drive-through window. (Am. Compl. ¶ 26.) According to Farmington-Girard, "[a]ny other use renders the property highly unmarketable for purposes of generating sufficient cash flow to recoup the purchase, remediation and carrying costs of the property, because, inter alia, the property is competitively disadvantaged because it is bordered by a fast food restaurant with drive-thru window service (Burger King), the market price at the time of purchase factored in allowance for a restaurant with drive-thru window service," and because the zoning changes discussed below affected the property. (Id.)
On September 12, 2012, Farmington-Girard and McDonald's USA, LLC ("McDonald's") executed a letter of intent to enter into a ground lease2 for 510 Farmington Avenue, subject to a zoning contingency to allow for the construction of a McDonald's restaurant on the property. (Am. Compl. ¶ 28.) Despite various zoning changes discussed below, Farmington-Girard and McDonald's continued to negotiate and executed a final ground lease for the development of a McDonald's restaurant with drive-through window service at 510 Farmington Avenue on August 21, 2013. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 29, 36, 37.) The ground lease was subject to a contingency that McDonald's secure land use approvals to allow the construction of a McDonald's restaurant with drive-thru window service. (Am. Compl. ¶ 37.) The ground lease had a limited period for satisfaction of the contingency, which the parties later extended through November 15, 2013, and ultimately, through February 20, 2015. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 38, 43.)
On February 20, 2015, the ground lease expired, and because of the PZC's efforts to block the development described below, McDonald's halted its pursuit of 510 Farmington Avenue. (Am. Compl. ¶ 78.)
Beginning in 2012, PZC purported to make extensive changes to the zoning and use rules affecting 510 Farmington Avenue and took other actions to prevent the development of a fast food restaurant with a drive-though window.
In late 2012, while negotiating the terms of the ground lease with McDonald's, Farmington-Girard learned of a proposal to change the zoning of 510 Farmington Avenue to prohibit fast-food restaurants with drive-through windows. (Am. Compl. ¶ 29.) To preserve its rights, Farmington-Girard hired a professional engineer to submit a site plan for a fast food restaurant with drive-through window service at 510 Farmington Avenue. (Am. Compl. ¶ 30.) On December 10, 2012, the engineer submitted a "site plan/special permit application" for a fast food restaurant and paid the $300 required fee (hereinafter the "December 10, 2012 application"), which the Planning Division of the Hartford Department of Development Services ("DDS")3 accepted and assigned an application number. (Am. Compl. ¶ 30.)
Following the application, Kim Holden, the Chief Staff Planner of the Planning Division of DDS, informed Farmington-Girard by letter dated December 19, 2012 that its application was "considered incomplete and as such, the time clock on the application has been stopped," and further that, "[i]f you wish to proceed with your submittal, please submit the required information" (hereinafter the "Holden letter"). (Am. Compl. ¶ 34.)
On December 11, 2012, the PZC held a public hearing on and approved the rezoning of 510 Farmington Avenue and five other non-contiguous properties on Farmington Avenue from the B-3 (Linear Business) zoning district to the B-4 (Neighborhood Business) zoning district (the "December 11, 2012 rezoning decision"). (Am. Compl. ¶ 31.) Due to grandfathering rules, 510 Farmington Avenue was the only property actually affected by the change. (Am. Compl. ¶ 32.)The new B-4 zoning prohibited use of 510 Farmington Avenue as a fast food restaurant with drive-through window service. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 33, 39.)
Farmington-Girard timely appealed the December 11, 2012 rezoning decision to Hartford Superior Court.4 (Am. Compl. ¶ 35.) On August 19, 2014, the Superior Court upheld Farmington-Girard's appeal of the 2012 zone change on the basis of defective pre- and post-hearing notice. (Am. Compl. ¶ 40.) As a result of this decision, 510 Farmington Avenue was "restored to the B-3 (Linear Business) zoning district and the Hartford Zoning Regulations then in effect allowed the property to be used as a fast food restaurant with drive-thru window service by special permit." (Am. Compl. ¶ 41.) At that point, Farmington-Girard "could have submitted a new site plan/special permit application for a fast food restaurant with drive-thru window service which would have been a permitted use under and been processed pursuant to the zoning regulations then in effect, the restored B-3 (Linear Business) zoning district." (Id.) However, "in reliance on defendants' actions and statements . . . including defendants' acceptance of plaintiff's December 10, 2012 application, defendants' retention of plaintiff's $300 application fee, and defendants' December 19, 2012 letter stating that plaintiff could proceed with the December 10, 2012 application upon submission of further information, [Farmington-Girard] did not submit a new site plan/special permit application." (Id.) Rather, in October 2014, Farmington-Girard "provided further information supplementing and in support of its December 10, 2012 application," as discussed below. (Id.; Am. Compl. ¶ 51.)
On September 23, 2014, PZC, "without notice to [Farmington-Girard]," held a public hearing on proposed text amendments to the Hartford Zoning Regulations and approved the amendments (the "Text Amendments"). (Am. Compl. ¶ 45.) One of the text amendments prohibited "fast food restaurants with drive-thru window service abutting residential districts or being located with 300 feet of another such establishment." (Id.) Because 510 Farmington Avenue abutted both the Burger King with a drive-through window and a residentially-zoned property, the text amendments effectively prohibited the use of 510 Farmington Avenue as a fast food restaurant with a drive through-window. (Am. Compl. ¶ 46.) The text amendments were set to become effective a month later, on October 18, 2014. (Id.)
Following McDonald and Farmington-Girard's second extension of the contingency conditions in the ground lease, McDonald's hired a land use lawyer, Daniel E. Kleinman, as well as a civil engineering firm and a traffic engineering firm, to process the land use applications for 510 Farmington Avenue. (Am. Compl. ¶ 44.) On October 10, 2014, Kleinman, unaware of the text amendments due to go into effect a week later, scheduled a meeting with two individuals from DDS, Thomas Deller and Khara Dodds, to discuss the proposed plans for 510 Farmington Avenue. (Am. Compl. ¶ 47.) At Deller's behest, Dodds twice postponed the meeting with Kleinman until October 20, 2014, two days after the amendments were due to go into effect. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 48-49.) Although no reason for the postponements were given, Farmington-Girard alleges that "[d]efendants intentionally delayed the . . . meeting until after the October 18, 2014 effective date of the text amendments in order to preclude and...
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