O'Neill v. Town of Middletown, C.A. No. 1069-N (DE 1/18/2006)
| Decision Date | 18 January 2006 |
| Docket Number | C.A. No. 1069-N. |
| Parties | CATHERINE G. O'NEILL, VINCENT J. O'NEILL and PATRICIA A. POTTS, Plaintiffs, v. TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN, a Delaware municipal corporation, MAYOR & COUNCIL OF MIDDLETOWN, 301 WEST VENTURES, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, KOHL, L.L.C., a Delaware limited liability company, DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, an agency of the State of Delaware, DELAWARE OFFICE OF STATE PLANNING COORDINATION, an agency of the State of Delaware, and WAL-MART STORES, INC., a Delaware corporation, Defendants. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Delaware |
NOBLE, Vice Chancellor.
A tract of land in Middletown, Delaware was rezoned and received subdivision approval to allow for the construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter. This action was brought to contest those decisions. Among the questions framed by the pending motions to dismiss or for summary judgment are: (1) whether the rezoning was to a use consistent with the municipality's comprehensive plan which manifests the policy judgment that the appropriate use of the land is for manufacturing and office purposes; (2) whether and to what extent citizen-plaintiffs may challenge the actions of the Delaware Office of State Planning Coordination during the municipal land use approval process; (3) whether and under what conditions citizen-plaintiffs have standing to challenge a municipal subdivision approval; (4) whether and under what circumstances citizen-plaintiffs may challenge the Delaware Department of Transportation's entry into agreements with private developers regarding payment for infrastructure improvements; and (5) whether and under what circumstances citizen-plaintiffs may challenge the decisions of the Delaware Department of Transportation not to require a site-specific traffic impact study.
The parties have filed cross-motions for summary judgment.1 For the reasons that follow, the Court concludes that the record of the rezoning does not set forth a sufficient basis for any conclusion that it was consistent with the controlling comprehensive plan, but the Court conditions award to Plaintiffs of summary judgment on their subsequent cure of the lack of a properly supported record to demonstrate their standing to challenge the rezoning. With the determination that the rezoning was invalid, the Plaintiffs' challenge to the subdivision approval becomes moot. All of the Plaintiffs' other claims are dismissed.
Plaintiffs Catherine G. O'Neill, Vincent J. O'Neill and Patricia A. Potts, reside in Middletown, Delaware near the site of the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Defendant Kohl, L.L.C. owns a parcel of land located on the northwest side of U.S. 301, south of Bunker Hill Road and SR 299, in Middletown, Delaware (the "Kohl Property"). Defendant 301 West Ventures, LLC ("Ventures") is purchasing the Kohl Property with the intent to develop 25 acres of it for a Wal-Mart Supercenter and the balance for a
mix of office and commercial uses. The municipal defendants are the Town of Middletown, a Delaware municipal corporation, and the Mayor and Council of Middletown, who govern the Town of Middletown (collectively, the "Town"). Two entities of state government also have been named as defendants: the Delaware Department of Transportation ("DelDOT") because of its responsibility for public highways, and the Delaware Office of State Planning Coordination ("OSPC") because of the responsibilities assigned to it by the General Assembly to coordinate the State's response to local land use initiatives. During the course of briefing of the pending motions, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. was added as a defendant because it or one of its affiliates expects to acquire title to the 25-acre parcel.
The Kohl Property consists of approximately 98 acres on the northwest (sometimes referred to as the north) side of U.S. 301 in the southwest part of the Town. It was annexed into the Town on June 4, 2001,
and placed in the manufacturing-industrial (MI) zoning category. On December 6, 2004, it was rezoned to a combination of commercial (C-3) and office park (OP). The Town's decision to rezone the Kohl Property to C-3 spawned this litigation.
The Town, in 1997, adopted a comprehensive plan (the "1998 Plan")3 and, in 2001, revised it (the "2001 Update").4 The 1998 Plan reflected the recognition of the Town's leaders that the coming decade would bring massive development to Middletown.5
The 1998 Plan was adopted, in part, to provide "a basis for making annexation, zoning and subdivision decisions."6 It recommended "the expansion of manufacturing and industrial areas" and designated "an area west of existing industrial development along U.S. 301 as a location for
industrial development."7 A table, captioned "Proposed Industrial Park Expansion Properties,"8 included the following entry:
Property Location Size Land Use
Recommendations and
Comments
Kohl Property South of U.S. 301 111 acres Manufacturing and
and east of SR 15 industrial with a designed
overlay for natural areas
The "Kohl Property" identified in the table as being on the south side of U.S. 301 is generally known as the "Kohl South Property" and is not the "Kohl Property" at issue in this proceeding.9 Indeed, the 1998 Plan does not expressly identify the Kohl Property, the one at issue, as a site for industrial expansion.10
Instead, the 1998 Plan designated an area within two miles of the 1996 Town boundaries as the "intergovernmental coordination area." Within this area were several parcels, including the Kohl Property, projected
for immediate or mid-range development. The lands would be annexed into the Town, thereby divesting New Castle County of direct land use jurisdiction and allowing them to be governed under the Town's land use ordinances.
The 2001 Update established a goal of "preservation of options for the U.S. 301 corridor [and] development of an employment center,"11 and its general land use and growth management objectives included "[f]acilitat[ing] a mix of uses through the provision of adequate sites for industrial, office, commercial, residential and community services uses" and "[p]rovid[ing] for sufficient industrial office park sites with sufficient supporting infrastructure to attract economic development."12
A map attached to the 2001 Update13 depicts, inter alia, the intergovernmental coordination zone and, as a separate category, an "area proposed for industrial development." The area shown for industrial development lies to the south of U.S. 301 and includes the Kohl South Property. The Kohl Property, in contrast, falls within the intergovernmental
coordination zone to the north of U.S. 301.14 Another map attached to the 2001 Update shows the Kohl Property lying within a "proposed growth area."15
The 2001 Update, however, acknowledged "private sector requests for land zoned for office and industrial uses" and, in contrast to the 1998 Plan, recommended that the "western edge of Town along US 301 . . . be an industrial and office use that transitions to preserved agricultural land."16 This designation encompassed the Kohl Property.17 Thus, as a result of the 2001 Update, the Town's comprehensive plan projects industrial and office uses for those lands, which include the Kohl Property.18
Also recommended was the establishment of an office park zoning district to separate "office park development from retail commercial uses. This action [would] limit[] the possibility of property zoned in anticipation
of employment uses being developed as a commercial site."19 Therefore, the 2001 Update sets forth a policy of avoiding commercial rezonings that would diminish the area available for "employment uses," such as offices and manufacturing facilities.
In May 2000, Kohl initiated its efforts to bring the Kohl Property into the Town. Kohl sought MI zoning. Its goal, one supported by the State of Delaware, was to establish a site suitable for a computer chip manufacturing facility.20 Recognizing its need for additional areas for manufacturing activities, the Town approved the annexation on June 4, 2001, and bestowed the sought-after MI classification.
On August 20, 2004, Ventures requested an opportunity to make a zoning and concept plan presentation at the Town Council's September 13, 2004 meeting. On August 30, 2004, Ventures sent a Preliminary Land Use
Service ("PLUS") form to OSPC.22 The PLUS form described the project as one involving commercial uses with a floor area of one million square feet.23 The application sought review of both the proposed rezoning of the parcel from "MI Industrial" to "C-3 Commercial/Employment," as...
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