Kaiser Aetna v. United States

• Decision Date: 04 December 1979
• Docket Number: No. 78-738,78-738
• Citation: 62 L.Ed.2d 332,444 U.S. 164,100 S.Ct. 383
• Parties: KAISER AETNA et al., Petitioners, v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

444 U.S. 164

100 S.Ct. 383

62 L.Ed.2d 332

KAISER AETNA et al., Petitioners,

v UNITED STATES.

No. 78-738.

Argued Oct. 1, 1979.

Decided Dec. 4, 1979.

Syllabus

Through dredging and filling operations in developing a marina-style subdivision community, petitioners, the owner and lessee of an area which included Kuapa Pond, a shallow lagoon on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, that was contiguous to a navigable bay and the Pacific Ocean but separated from the bay by a barrier beach, converted the pond into a marina and thereby connected it to the bay. The Army Corps of Engineers had advised petitioners that they were not required to obtain permits for the development of and operations in the pond, and petitioners ultimately made improvements that allowed boats access to and from the bay. Petitioner lessee controls access to and use of the pond, which, under Hawaii law, was private property, and fees are charged for maintaining the pond. Thereafter, the United States filed suit in Federal District Court against petitioners to resolve a dispute as to whether petitioners were required to obtain the Corps' authorization, in accordance with § 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, for future improvements in the marina, and whether petitioners could deny the public access to the pond because, as a result of the improvements, it had become a navigable water of the United States. In examining the scope of Congress' regulatory authority under the Commerce Clause, the District Court held that the pond was "navigable water of the United States," subject to regulation by the Corps, but further held that the Government lacked authority to open the pond to the public without payment of compensation to the owner. The Court of Appeals agreed that the pond fell within the scope of Congress' regulatory authority, but held, reversing the District Court, that when petitioners converted the pond into a marina and thereby connected it to the bay, it became subject to the "navigational servitude" of the Federal Government, thus giving the public a right of access to what was once petitioners' private pond.

Held: If the Government wishes to make what was formerly Kuapa Pond into a public aquatic park after petitioners have proceeded as far as they have here, it may not, without invoking its eminent domain power and paying just compensation, require them to allow the public free access to the dredged pond. Although the dredged pond falls within the definition of "navigable waters" as this Court has used that term in delimiting the boundaries of Congress' regulatory authority under the Commerce Clause, this Court has never held that the federal navigational servitude creates a blanket exception to the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment whenever Congress exercises its Commerce Clause authority to promote navigation. Congress, in light of its extensive Commerce Clause authority over this Nation's waters, which does not depend on a stream's "navigability," may prescribe rules governing petitioners' marina and may assure the public a free right of access to the marina if it so chooses, but whether a statute or regulation that goes so far amounts to a "taking" is an entirely separate question. Here the Government's attempt to create a public right of access to the improved pond goes so far beyond ordinary regulation or improvement for navigation involved in typical riparian condemnation cases as to amount to a taking requiring just compensation. Cf. Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, 260 U.S. 393, 43 S.Ct. 158, 67 L.Ed. 322. Pp. 170-180.

584 F.2d 378, reversed.

Richard Charles Bocken, Honolulu, Hawaii, for petitioners.

Kathryn A. Oberly, Washington, D. C., for respondent.

Mr. Justice REHNQUIST delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Hawaii Kai Marina was developed by the dredging and filling of Kuapa Pond, which was a shallow lagoon separated from Maunalua Bay and the Pacific Ocean by a barrier beach. Although under Hawaii law Kuapa Pond was private property, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that when petitioners converted the pond into a marina and thereby connected it to the bay, it became subject to the "navigational servitude" of the Federal Government. Thus, the public acquired a right of access to what was once petitioners' private pond. We granted certiorari because of the importance of the issue and a conflict concerning the scope and nature of the servitude.¹ 440 U.S. 906, 99 S.Ct. 1211, 59 L.Ed.2d 453 (1979).

I

Kuapa Pond was apparently created in the late Pleistocene Period, near the end of the ice age, when the rising sea level caused the shoreline to retreat, and partial erosion of the headlands adjacent to the bay formed sediment that accreted to form a barrier beach at the mouth of the pond, creating a lagoon. It covered 523 acres on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and extended approximately two miles inland from Maunalua Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The pond was contiguous to the bay, which is a navigable waterway of the United States, but was separated from it by the barrier beach.

Early Hawaiians used the lagoon as a fishpond and reinforced the natural sandbar with stone walls. Prior to the annexation of Hawaii, there were two openings from the pond to Maunalua Bay. The fishpond's managers placed removable sluice gates in the stone walls across these openings. Water from the bay and ocean entered the pond through the gates during high tide, and during low tide the current flow reversed toward the ocean. The Hawaiians used the tidal action to raise and catch fish such as mullet.

Kuapa Pond, and other Hawaiian fishponds, have always been considered to be private property by landowners and by the Hawaiian government. Such ponds were once an integral part of the Hawaiian feudal system. And in 1848 they were allotted as parts of large land units, known as "ahupuaas," by King Kamehameha III during the Great Mahele or royal land division. Titles to the fishponds were recognized to the same extent and in the same manner as rights in more orthodox fast land. Kuapa Pond was part of an ahupuaa that eventually vested in Bernice Pauahi Bishop and on her death formed a part of the trust corpus of petitioner Bishop Estate, the present owner.

In 1961, Bishop Estate leased a 6,000-acre area, which included Kuapa Pond, to petitioner Kaiser Aetna for subdivision development. The development is now known as "Hawaii Kai." Kaiser Aetna dredged and filled parts of Kuapa Pond, erected retaining walls and built bridges within the development to create the Hawaii Kai Marina. Kaiser Aetna increased the average depth of the channel from two to six feet. It also created accommodations for pleasure boats and eliminated the sluice gates.

When petitioners notified the Army Corps of Engineers of their plans in 1961, the Corps advised them they were not required to obtain permits for the development of and operations in Kuapa Pond. Kaiser Aetna subsequently informed the Corps that it planned to dredge an 8-foot-deep channel connecting Kuapa Pond to Maunalua Bay and the Pacific Ocean, and to increase the clearance of a bridge of the Kalanianaole Highway—which had been constructed during the early 1900's along the barrier beach separating Kuapa Pond from the bay and ocean—to a maximum of 13.5 feet over the mean sea level. These improvements were made in order to allow boats from the marina to enter into and return from the bay, as well as to provide better waters. The Corps acquiesced in the proposals, its chief of construction commenting only that the "deepening of the channel may cause erosion of the beach."

At the time of trial, a marina-style community of approximately 22,000 persons surrounded Kuapa Pond. It included approximately 1,500 marina waterfront lot lessees. The water- front lot lessees, along with at least 86 nonmarina lot lessees from Hawaii Kai and 56 boat owners who are not residents of Hawaii Kai, pay fees for maintenance of the pond and for patrol boats that remove floating debris, enforce boating regulations, and maintain the privacy and security of the pond. Kaiser Aetna controls access to and use of the marina. It has generally not permitted commercial use, except for a small vessel, the Marina Queen, which could carry 25 passengers and was used for about five years to promote sales of marina lots and for a brief period by marina shopping center merchants to attract people to their shopping facilities.

In 1972, a dispute arose between petitioners and the Corps concerning whether (1) petitioners were required to obtain authorization from the Corps, in accordance with § 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, 33 U.S.C. § 403,² for future construction, excavation, or filling in the marina, and (2) petitioners were precluded from denying the public access to the pond because, as a result of the improvements, it had become a navigable water of the United States. The dispute foreseeably ripened into a lawsuit by the United States Government against petitioners in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. In examining the scope of Congress' regulatory authority under the Commerce Clause, the District Court held that the pond was "navigable water of the United States" and thus subject to regulation by the Corps under § 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act. 408 F.Supp. 42, 53 (D.Haw.1976). It further held, however, that the Government lacked the authority to open the now dredged pond to the public without payment of compensation to the owner. Id., at 54. In reaching this holding, the District Court reasoned that although the pond was navigable for the purpose of delimiting Congress' regulatory power, it was not navigable for the purpose of defining the scope of the federal "navigational servitude" imposed by the Commerce Clause. Ibid. Thus, the District Court denied the Corps' request for an injunction to require petitioners to allow public access and to notify...