Hoehne v. County of San Benito

• Decision Date: 15 March 1989
• Docket Number: No. 87-2825,87-2825
• Citation: 870 F.2d 529
• Parties: Karl O. HOEHNE and Phyllis Hoehne, Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. COUNTY OF SAN BENITO; Henry Solorio; Frank Sabbatini; Enos Silva; and Edward Lydon, Defendants/Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 529

870 F.2d 529

Karl O. HOEHNE and Phyllis Hoehne, Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. COUNTY OF SAN BENITO; Henry Solorio; Frank Sabbatini Enos Silva; and Edward Lydon, Defendants/Appellees.

No. 87-2825.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Dec. 12, 1988.

Decided March 15, 1989.

Steven G. Baird, Mountain View, Cal., for plaintiffs/appellants.

David E. Pipal, Hollister, Cal., for defendants/appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Before ALDISERT ^*, BRUNETTI and LEAVY, Circuit Judges.

ALDISERT, Circuit Judge:

We are to decide, under the specific facts in this case, whether the district court erred in dismissing for lack of ripeness the complaint of San Benito County, California, landowners Karl O. Hoehne and Phyllis Hoehne, filed against the County of San Benito and certain County officials. The court ruled that the Hoehnes' claims were not ripe because there had been no final decision by the County concerning the Hoehnes' land-use application. If a final decision had been made by County authorities, the Hoehnes were eligible to seek federal relief; if no such decision was made by the County, it was premature for the Hoehnes to bring the federal action. We hold that any further attempt by the Hoehnes to seek relief from the County would have been futile. Accordingly, we will reverse the judgment of the district court dismissing the complaint for lack of ripeness.

I.

In 1984, the Hoehnes purchased a sixty-acre parcel of land in San Benito County, California. The property was zoned "Rural," permitting single-family residences with a five-acre minimum lot size. The Hoehnes submitted a subdivision application to the San Benito County Planning Commission. The application proposed dividing the property into four lots with an average size of fifteen acres per lot (specifically, one seventeen-acre lot, one fifteen-acre lot, and two fourteen-acre lots). The Hoehnes intended to build their retirement home on one lot and sell the other three.

The Commission staff recommended denying the subdivision application. CR.51 at Ex.3:2. On August 15, 1985, the Commission held a hearing on the application and voted on a split vote for denial. The denial was based on staff findings that: (1) the site is not physically suited for the proposed type or density of development; and (2) the design or proposed improvements are likely to cause substantial environmental damage. Id.; CR.58 at Ex.A:16.

The Hoehnes appealed the decision to the County Board of Supervisors, raising five objections to the Commission's conclusions: (1) that the proposed parcels are within the density requirements imposed by the County's General Plan; (2) that the proposed densities would not create significant environmental damage; (3) that the project site is adequately served by a transportation system for ingress and egress; (4) that proper grading, septic preparation, and erosion control measures would mitigate environmental impacts; and (5) that the proposed subdivision is consistent with the policies embodied in the County General Plan. CR.73 at 3-4 (district court order granting defendants' motion for summary judgment).

The Board of Supervisors held a hearing on the appeal on September 16, 1985, and a closed meeting on October 1, 1985, at which they voted to affirm the Commission's denial. A review of the minutes of the Board's meetings indicates that the major concerns of the supervisors were articulated in the following statement of Rob Mendiola, County Planner:

Our policies within our General Plan [include] one specifically which says that there will not be a development permitted on lands greater than 30% [slope], and this parcel is greater than 30% [slope]. There are other policies that say we will not allow development where there could be substantial environmental damage. All those issues were taken into consideration by the Planning Commission.

CR.58 at Ex.B:6.

The Board added a third reason to the two stated by the Commission: that the quantity of water would be inadequate in drought conditions. Id. at Ex.C:3-4. Subsequent to the Board's decision, the County amended its General Plan land-use designation and zoning maps to change the designation of this parcel to "Agricultural Rangeland" (forty-acre minimum lot size).

Thereafter, on May 12, 1986, appellants filed a complaint in federal district court against appellees County of San Benito and supervisors Henry Solorio, Mike Graves, Frank Sabbatini, Enos Silva and Edward Lydon. The complaint alleged, inter alia, deprivations of substantive due process, procedural due process, and equal protection, and inverse condemnation. The County filed an answer followed by a motion for summary judgment. The court heard the County's motion on July 10, 1987, and on August 7, 1987, granted the motion on the grounds that the case was not ripe because the Board's decision was not final and because plaintiffs had not sought compensation under state law. Plaintiffs moved for reconsideration. The court heard that motion on September 11, 1987, and, on September 30, 1987, denied the motion, dismissing the claims without reaching the merits. The Hoehnes appeal.

We are to decide whether the Hoehnes were required to pursue other remedies or take other action before the appropriate County agencies as a prerequisite to seeking relief in the federal forum.

Jurisdiction was proper in the trial court under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1343(a)(3). Jurisdiction on appeal is proper under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291. This court reviews de novo a district court's order of summary judgment. McMillan v. Goleta Water Dist., 792 F.2d 1453, 1456 (9th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 906, 107 S.Ct. 1348, 94 L.Ed.2d 519 (1987). Ripeness is a question of law, also reviewed de novo. Herrington v. Sonoma County, 857 F.2d 567, 568 (9th Cir.1988).

II.

The Hoehnes contend, inter alia, that the County's application of its land-use regulations as to them effects a taking of their property interest without just compensation, and that this action denies them protections afforded them under the federal constitution. It is settled that such a claim is not ripe until the landowner has received a final decision regarding how it will be allowed to develop its property. Williamson County Reg'l Planning Comm'n v. Hamilton Bank, 473 U.S. 172, 190, 105 S.Ct. 3108, 3118, 87 L.Ed.2d 126 (1985). See also Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Ass'n, Inc., 452 U.S. 264, 101 S.Ct. 2352, 69 L.Ed.2d 1 (1981); Agins v. Tiburon, 447 U.S. 255, 100 S.Ct. 2138, 65 L.Ed.2d 106 (1980); Penn Central Transp. Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104, 98 S.Ct. 2646, 57 L.Ed.2d 631 (1978). The task before us, as it was before the district court, is to determine whether, under the circumstances of this case, the San Benito County officials had reached a final decision.

We emphasize that our decision here turns on the specific facts presented in this case. Our determination follows the common law tradition of deciding only specific cases and controversies. Thus our holding here is "simply a precept[ ] attaching a definite detailed legal consequence to a definite, detailed state of facts." Floyd v. Lykes Bros. S.S. Co., 844 F.2d 1044, 1050 (3d Cir.1988) (quoting United States v. Criden, 633 F.2d 346, 354 n. 4 (3d Cir.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1113, 101 S.Ct. 924, 66 L.Ed.2d 842 (1981)). We also emphasize that ruling case law makes it very difficult to open the federal courthouse door for relief from state and local land-use decisions. The Supreme Court has erected imposing barriers in MacDonald, Sommer & Frates v. Yolo County, 477 U.S. 340, 106 S.Ct. 2561, 91 L.Ed.2d 285 (1986), and Williamson County, 473 U.S. 172, 105 S.Ct. 3108, to guard against the federal courts becoming the Grand Mufti of local zoning boards.

A claim that the application of government regulations effects a taking of a property interest is not ripe until the government entity charged with implementing the regulations has reached a final decision regarding the application of the regulations to the property at issue. Williamson County, 473 U.S. at 186, 105 S.Ct. at 3116. The Court has explained its reluctance to examine takings claims until such a final decision has been made as follows:

Although "[t]he question of what constitutes a 'taking' for purposes of the Fifth Amendment has proved to be a problem of considerable difficulty," [citing Penn Central ], this Court consistently has indicated that among the factors of particular significance in the inquiry are the economic impact of the challenged action and the extent to which it interferes with reasonable investment-backed expectations [citations omitted]. Those factors simply cannot be evaluated until the administrative agency has arrived at a final, definitive position regarding how it will apply the regulations at issue to the particular land in question.

Williamson, 473 U.S. at 190-91, 105 S.Ct. at 3118-19.

This court has held that the final decision requirement is applicable to substantive due process and equal protection claims brought to challenge the application of land use regulations, Kinzli v. City of Santa Cruz, 818 F.2d 1449, 1455-56 (9th Cir.), as amended, 830 F.2d 968 (1987), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 775, 98 L.Ed.2d 861 (1988); Shelter Creek Dev. Corp. v. City of Oxnard, 838 F.2d 375, 379 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 134, 102 L.Ed.2d 106 (1988); Herrington, 857 F.2d at 569, and is most likely applicable to related procedural due process claims, id. (applying final decision requirement to procedural due process claim); Kinzli, 818 F.2d at 1456 (no denial of procedural due process because substantive due process claim not ripe); Norco Constr., Inc. v. King County, 801 F.2d 1143, 1145 (9th Cir.1986) (final decision requirement applicable to procedural due process claim for unlawful delay in processing development...