Pinoleville Indian Community v. Mendocino County

• Decision Date: 18 March 1988
• Docket Number: No. C-87-4320 EFL.,C-87-4320 EFL.
• Citation: 684 F. Supp. 1042
• Parties: GOVERNING COUNCIL OF PINOLEVILLE INDIAN COMMUNITY, Plaintiff, v. MENDOCINO COUNTY, Board of Supervisors of Mendocino County, Ross Mayfield, and Brent Mayfield, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California

684 F. Supp. 1042

GOVERNING COUNCIL OF PINOLEVILLE INDIAN COMMUNITY, Plaintiff, v. MENDOCINO COUNTY, Board of Supervisors of Mendocino County, Ross Mayfield, and Brent Mayfield, Defendants.

No. C-87-4320 EFL.

United States District Court, N.D. California.

March 18, 1988.

David J. Rapport, California Indian Legal Service, Ukiah, Cal., for plaintiff.

H. Peter Klein, County Counsel, Ukiah, Cal., for defendants.

Ross & Brent Mayfield, in pro per.

ORDER GRANTING PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

LYNCH, District Judge.

Plaintiff, an Indian tribal council (the "Council"), brings this motion for a preliminary injunction against the authorization and operation of an asphalt plant and a cement or concrete plant (the "plants") on property owned by the Mayfield defendants and located within the boundaries of an Indian rancheria (the "Pinoleville Rancheria" or "Rancheria").¹ The Council claims that one of its ordinances, which imposes a moratorium on new industrial uses on the Rancheria, preempts application of the County's zoning authority, under which the Mayfields were granted a permit to operate the plants.

BACKGROUND

As best they can be ascertained on this motion, the relevant facts are as follows. In 1911, under appropriation acts passed by Congress in 1908, the United States purchased approximately 99.53 acres of land for the benefit of the Pomo Indians in the Pinoleville area of California. Pursuant to congressional legislation, Act of August 18, 1958, Pub.L. 85-671, 72 Stat. 619, as amended by the Act of August 11, 1964, 78 Stat. 390 hereinafter the Rancheria Act, numerous reservation areas including the Pinoleville Rancheria lost their status as Indian lands. At Pinoleville, individual members of the Rancheria received fee simple title to nineteen parcels of property. Some Indian owners thereafter sold or otherwise transferred all or portions of their parcels to non-members of the tribe. Both Indians and non-Indians now own property within the original boundaries of the Rancheria.

In 1979, Indians from the original Rancheria joined in a class action lawsuit to restore the reservation status of numerous lands including those at Pinoleville, alleging that they had been illegally terminated under the Rancheria Act. Hardwick v. United States, No. C-79-1710 SW (N.D. Cal.1979). Pursuant to settlement stipulations with defendants Mendocino County and the United States, judgments were entered against the federal government on December 22, 1983, and March 5, 1986, and against the County on November 18, 1985, restoring the Rancheria. The effect of the judgments was that all land within the Rancheria boundaries, as they existed immediately prior to the illegal termination, were declared to be "Indian Country," as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 1151, and the United States and the County agreed to treat the Rancheria like any other federally recognized Indian reservation.

On March 23, 1985, the Pinoleville Indian Community reorganized its tribal government, and it is currently governed by plaintiff Council under a provisional constitution apparently recognized as valid by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (the "B.I.A."). See Plaintiff's Complaint, Exhibit B (Letter of B.I.A. Area Director, June 19, 1987) hereinafter the B.I.A. Letter. On or about May 18, 1987, the Council published notice in the local press and mailed notice to all property owners on the Rancheria announcing that it would hold hearings on a proposed ordinance imposing a moratorium on new industrial uses of property on the Rancheria. The stated purpose of the moratorium was to allow the Council to evaluate the impact of industrial uses on the restoration of the Rancheria as a residential community for its members and to allow the adoption of a comprehensive zoning ordinance for the Rancheria. After holding hearings, the Council adopted an ordinance on June 2, 1987, prohibiting for one year new industrial uses commenced after May 1, 1987, unless a hardship exemption was obtained.

On March 24, 1987, a few months before the Council began considering its moratorium, the Mayfields applied to the County for permission to begin operation of the new plants on the Rancheria. On April 23, 1987, the County approved operation of the plants with some conditions, and appeals were taken by both the Mayfields and the Council. On June 22, 1987, after enactment of the Council's ordinance and despite being informed of it, the County heard the appeals and approved operation of the plants. The Council subsequently filed the instant suit on August 20, 1987.

DISCUSSION

A. The Power of Indians to Regulate Activities of Non-Indians on Reservation Land.

To determine whether the Council has the power to regulate the land on the Rancheria held in fee by non-members of the tribe, the Court looks to the standard set forth in Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544, 101 S.Ct. 1245, 67 L.Ed.2d 493 (1981). See, e.g., Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Indian Nation v. Whiteside, 828 F.2d 529, 533-34 & n. 1 (9th Cir.1987). Under the "tribal interest" test, the Council "retains inherent regulatory authority over the conduct of non-Indians on fee land when the conduct `threatens or has some direct effect on the political integrity, the economic security, or the health or welfare of the tribe.'" Id. at 534 (quoting Montana, 450 U.S. at 566, 101 S.Ct. at 1258). Applying this test in Yakima, the Ninth Circuit found that:

Zoning, in particular, traditionally has been considered an appropriate exercise of the police power of a local government, precisely because it is designed to promote the health and welfare of its citizens. By enacting zoning ordinances, a tribe attempts to protect against the damage caused by uncontrolled development, which can affect all of the residents and land of the reservation. Tribal zoning is particularly important because of the unique relationship of Indians to their lands.

... Although the fee land owned by non-Indians is clustered primarily in one part of the reservation, the reservation still exhibits essentially a checkerboard pattern. If we were to deny Yakima Nation the right to regulate fee land owned by non-Indians, we would destroy their capacity to engage in comprehensive planning, so fundamental to a zoning scheme. This we are unwilling to do.

Yakima, 828 F.2d at 534-35 (citations and footnote omitted).

The Council argues that under Montana and Yakima it clearly had authority to pass its moratorium on new industrial uses on the Rancheria, because such uses have a direct effect on the health and welfare of the tribe. Among the interests listed in the Council's ordinance are the need to regulate land use to protect "the peace, health, safety and general welfare of the Pinoleville Indian Community" through a "comprehensive zoning ordinance and development plan" that will ensure development that is "compatible with the predominantly residential and agricultural use of land." Plaintiff's Complaint, Exhibit H at 3-4. The ordinance also specifies the need to protect Ackerman Creek as a spawning ground for salmon and steelhead trout and as a habitat for other wildlife, as well as a water source.

In particular, the Council argues that the Mayfields' plants would have a direct effect on the health and welfare of the Pinoleville Indian community. In support of this contention the Council offers the declaration and report of an environmental expert, Wilson B. Goddard, Ph.D. He states that the plants would, inter alia, increase gravel extraction from Ackerman Creek and thus siltation and turbidity in the creek and the Russian River; produce particulate and gaseous emissions in violation of California Ambient Air Quality standards; result in storage and use of large quantities of oil and diesel fuel; produce strong and offensive odors from petroleum and combustion products detectable throughout the Rancheria; vastly increase heavy-truck traffic; and produce noise levels greatly in excess of federal and County standards for residential suburban areas.

Defendants offer no convincing response. The Court therefore finds that the Council has passed the tribal interest test, because the plants would be likely to have "some direct effect on ... the health or welfare of the tribe." Yakima, 828 F.2d at 534.² Accordingly, the Council appears to have the authority to zone non-Indian fee land within the boundaries of the Rancheria.

The Court must next consider whether the interests of the Council outweigh those of the County with respect to the moratorium ordinance. See Yakima, 828 F.2d at 532, 535-36. As discussed above, the Council asserts numerous, substantial interests in controlling industrial development, and provides detailed evidence that the plants threaten those interests. The County defendants assert a general interest in overseeing and regulating activities on non-Indian fee lands, arguing that those activities have a direct effect on the functions and services of the County. The defendants do not, however, point to any vital or specific interest that is harmed by the Council's moratorium on new industrial uses, as they might be able to if the Council were to adopt zoning less protective of the environment than the County's. Accordingly, the Court finds that the balance of interests tips in favor of the Council and its moratorium. Unless there is some other limitation on the Council's power, it thus appears that the moratorium should be effective.

B. The Effect of the Hardwick Judgments on the Council's Power to Regulate.

Defendants' other principal defense to this motion is that the terms of the stipulated judgments in Hardwick preclude application of the Council's moratorium to the Mayfields, because they are third party purchasers for value.³ This argument hinges on the meaning of the following paragraph contained in the stipulated judgment between the County and the Indian plaintiffs in Hardwick:

B. 3) As a consequence this Court has

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