Southern Co-op. Development Fund v. Driggers
| Decision Date | 04 February 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 82-5305,82-5305 |
| Citation | 696 F.2d 1347 |
| Parties | SOUTHERN COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Louis E. DRIGGERS, et al., Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
F. Craig Richardson, Jr., Ross, Hardies, O'Keefe, Babcock & Parsons, Nancy E. Stroud, Boca Raton, Fla., Fred Bosselman, Edward F. Ryan, Keith A. Klopfenstein, Jr., Chicago, Ill., for Manatee.
James W. Jones, Chris R. Ottenweller, Steven J. Hoffman, Arnold & Porter, Washington, D.C., Morris W. Milton, Williams & Milton, St. Petersburg, Fla., for plaintiffs-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Before RONEY and JOHNSON, Circuit Judges, and DYER, Senior Circuit Judge.
This is an appeal from a summary judgment, 527 F.Supp. 927, entered in favor of the plaintiffs on two counts which alleged that the defendants, Manatee Board of County Commissioners, Manatee County, and individual County Commissioners, abridged plaintiffs' rights to due process in violation of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (Count 1), and plaintiffs' rights to due process under the Florida Constitution (Count 4), in refusing to approve a preliminary subdivision plat. The court granted an injunction and directed the defendants to issue the plat to the plaintiffs. The defendants assign error in the court's findings that the applicable regulations had been complied with and that they therefore violated an administrative duty to approve the plat; that there were no genuine issues of material fact that precluded the entry of summary judgment; and that the denial of the plaintiffs' application was arbitrary and capricious. We affirm.
Plaintiffs Southern Cooperative Development Fund, Inc. (SCDF), Small Farm Development Corporation (SFDC), and Manatee County Community Development Corporation are associated with a joint private-public program called the Family Farm Cooperative Program (FFC Program) whose purpose is to foster the creation and development of agricultural cooperative communities as a means of addressing rural poverty by making it possible for low-income and disadvantaged persons interested in agriculture to own and operate small family farms. The program is funded by a combination of government grants and low-interest loans, private sector loans, and internally generated revenues. Plaintiff Rutledge is a resident of Manatee County who applied for and was eligible to participate in the FFC Program.
In 1979 SCDF purchased a 1631 acre tract of land near the Myakka-Wauchula Road, approximately six miles from the unincorporated town of Myakka and twenty five miles from the city of Bradenton, Florida. The property is in the unincorporated area of East Manatee County and is zoned for agricultural use. The SFDC representatives contacted officials of the Manatee County Planning Department, the county agency principally responsible for land planning and development, to discuss the establishment of the agricultural cooperative and to determine what county requirements would apply to the project. The Planning Department advised SFDC that it would be necessary to prepare a subdivision plat and obtain approval of the Manatee County's Board of County Commissioners in accordance with Manatee County's Subdivision Regulations.
Under the Subdivision Regulations a developer must submit pre-application plans for review with the Planning Department, the Health Department, the Highway and Engineering Department, and the Utility System, prior to making an application for subdivision approval. Plaintiffs prepared and submitted a detailed pre-application plan describing the proposed agricultural community. They subsequently received permission from the Planning Department to submit an application for preliminary plat approval. A plat application, titled the Long Creek Subdivision, was submitted on February 1, 1980, and showed a subdivision of 49 ten-acre tracts, 4 one-acre tracts, and two tracts larger than 460 acres. As a result of discussions with the county staff and agencies, plaintiffs agreed to modify the design of some streets within the subdivision and to improve a portion of the Myakka-Wauchula County Road abutting plaintiff's property. They also agreed to change dead-end streets to cul-de-sacs and established setbacks for a power line easement. A revised plat reflecting the changes was submitted on February 29, 1980. As required by the Subdivision Regulations, the Highway and Engineering Department, the Health Department, and the Utility System reviewed the application for "conformity with all County regulations" and expressed no objections. The Planning Department, as required, recommended to the Manatee County Planning Commission (a public board appointed to advise the Commission on subdivision and zoning matters) that preliminary plat approval be granted, noting that the Long Creek Subdivision "meets all requirements of preliminary plat review" and that the other county departments had "no objections to the preliminary plat." The Planning Commission recommended to the County Commission that the plat be approved. Notwithstanding its compliance with all relevant county ordinances, SFDC's project was a subject of dissent among residents of Manatee County. At the first meeting of the Commission on the Long Creek Subdivision application on March 29, 1980, many members of the all-white community complained that the participants in the FFC program would be low-income blacks and Spanish-Americans and that the program was a federal "give away". During the hearing Commissioner Driggers wanted to consider factors other than compliance with the Subdivision Regulations because although the plat complied with the regulations he felt that this was not a "normal" subdivision. Rather than approve the plat, the Commission directed the Planning Department to undertake an additional study of the Long Creek Subdivision. This was accomplished and the Planning Department once again concluded that the SFDC's plat application complied with the Subdivision Regulations. 1 This report was submitted to each Commissioner before the May 1 hearing and noted that the "Long Creek Subdivision appears to meet all requirements of the Manatee County Zoning Ordinances and Subdivision Regulations..." On May 1, 1980 the Commission voted unanimously to disapprove the plat. Although Section 23 of the Manatee County Planning Act expressly requires the Commission to publicly state its reasons for disapproval of the plat, neither the Commission nor any of the Commissioners gave any reason for disapproving the plat.
Plaintiffs filed suit on May 30, 1980 and undertook discovery. Depositions of the Commissioners established that the Commission accepted the fact that the plat complied with the County's Subdivision Regulations. Plaintiffs filed a motion for partial summary judgment. The defendants did not controvert the fact of SFDC's compliance with the Subdivision Regulations.
On July 2, 1981 the district court entered an order finding that only factors contained in the Subdivision Regulations could constitute grounds for denial of the plat application, and since the Commission had failed to state reasons for its May 1, 1980 denial, the district court directed that "the County Commission should be and is afforded the opportunity to again consider Plaintiffs' plat application within the guidelines set forth above (the Subdivision Regulations 'enacted pursuant to the Manatee County Planning Act, Chapter 63-1559 ... which is attached ... as Exhibit B')." These were the Subdivision Regulations in effect at the time that the plat application and the suit were filed.
On August 11, 1981 the Commission again considered the plaintiffs' plat application. At the meeting the commissioners remained silent on the merits of the application. The conclusions of the Planning Department in their new review of the application were similar to those found in the first staff report in regard to the public facilities problem. After comments by the planning staff, plaintiffs' counsel, and an attorney representing local residents, the Commission proceeded immediately to vote unanimously against the subdivision. The Commission then instructed their legal staff to prepare a written order of their decision. Shortly thereafter, the attorney representing the County in this litigation returned to the meeting with the order denying preliminary plat approval. 2 The order made findings of fact that the road access to the proposed subdivision would be unsafe and inadequate; that public school facilities made necessary by the proposed development were not available and were not planned to be constructed; that necessary public or private facilities and sewers were inadequate; that there was no proximity to recreation and shopping facilities and schools and the extra traffic could not be handled safely; and that the proposed subdivision would constitute urban sprawl. 3
Based on these findings the Commissioners determined that the application did not meet either the requirements of the Subdivision Regulations in effect at the time of the initial consideration of the application on May 1, 1980, or the requirements of the Development Code. 4 The Commissioners further determined that the proposed plat would be in violation of Section 336.05(2) of the Florida Statutes which, they argue, authorizes a county commission to reject a plat if road access is not adequate or safe, and in violation of Section 235.193, Florida Statutes, which, they argue, authorizes denial of a subdivision application if public school facilities are not available or will not be made available concurrent with development. Finally, the Commissioners decided that the subdivision was not consistent with the Manatee County Local Government Comprehensive Plan.
On December 3, 1981, following the Commission's...
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