Adams Outdoor Advertising Limited Partnership v. City of Madison

2018 WI 70, 914 N.W.2d 660, 382 Wis. 2d 377
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedJune 19, 2018
Docket2016AP000537
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2018 WI 70 (Adams Outdoor Advertising Limited Partnership v. City of Madison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams Outdoor Advertising Limited Partnership v. City of Madison, 2018 WI 70, 914 N.W.2d 660, 382 Wis. 2d 377 (Wis. 2018).

Opinions

ANN WALSH BRADLEY, J.

*662*380¶ 1 The petitioner, Adams Outdoor Advertising Limited Partnership, seeks review of an unpublished per curiam decision of the court of appeals affirming the circuit court's grant of summary judgment dismissing Adams' takings claim against the City of Madison.1 The court of appeals concluded that Adams failed to show that the City took any property requiring just compensation. Specifically, it determined that Adams failed to demonstrate a cognizable right that underlies its asserted protected property interest.

¶ 2 Both parties agree that the City did not physically take any of Adams' property. They likewise agree that the City did not enact any zoning regulation restricting the use of previously acquired property interests. Instead, Adams asserts that its property was taken when the City constructed a pedestrian bridge over the Beltline Highway that blocked the visibility from the highway of the west-facing side of Adams' billboard.

¶ 3 According to Adams, the City took its property interest in its "vested rights in the legal nonconforming use" of its billboard. It alleges that a taking *381occurred because the City deprived it of all economically beneficial use of the west-facing side of its billboard, and therefore Adams is entitled to just compensation.

¶ 4 The City disagrees, arguing that Adams has failed to identify a recognized right sufficient to support its taking claim. Specifically, the City contends that property owners have no right to continued and unobstructed visibility of their property from a public road.

¶ 5 Like the court of appeals, we determine that a right to visibility of private property from a public road is not a cognizable right giving rise to a protected property interest. Because Adams' claim, in essence, rests on asserting this unrecognized right, its takings claim must fail. See Wis. Med. Soc'y, Inc. v. Morgan, 2010 WI 94, ¶ 38, 328 Wis. 2d 469, 787 N.W.2d 22.

¶ 6 Accordingly, we affirm the decision of the court of appeals.

I

¶ 7 The billboard at issue in this case is located near the Beltline Highway in Madison on a single, irregularly shaped parcel of land, less than one-half of an acre in size. It is a single pole sign structure with two opposite-facing panels that was built in approximately 1995. One panel faces east and the other west, allowing for separate and distinct advertising messages.

¶ 8 Adams bought the irregularly shaped parcel of land containing the billboard for $200,000 in 2007. No other building or structure is located on Adams' land. Adams has not made any substantial improvements to its billboard since it purchased the parcel.

*382Pursuant to Madison City Ordinance § 31.11(1), the billboard is nonconforming.2 As such, the billboard is permitted to remain, but Adams cannot modify its height or location.

*663¶ 9 In 2013, pursuant to an agreement with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the City built the Cannonball Bridge (the bridge), a pedestrian and bicycle overpass crossing the Beltline Highway. The bridge is located adjacent to, but not on, Adams' property.

¶ 10 The bridge obstructs the view of the west-facing side of the billboard from Beltline traffic.3 Adams asserts that since the construction of the bridge, it has not been able to sell advertising space on the west-facing panel of its billboard. The view from the east-facing side of the billboard remains unobstructed, and Adams continues to sell advertising space on the east-facing panel.

¶ 11 Adams' appraiser determined that before the construction of the bridge, the estimated value of *383Adams' property was $1,460,000. After the bridge was erected, it asserts that the value of Adams' property declined to $720,000.4

¶ 12 Adams filed a complaint alleging in relevant part5 that it has "constitutional protected property rights in [its] [p]roperty and [s]ign," and that the City has "occupied [its] [p]roperty and fully obstructed the west-facing [s]ign ...." It asserts that the City's construction of the bridge deprived Adams of substantially all beneficial uses of its property and sign. Therefore, according to Adams, it is entitled to initiate an inverse condemnation action pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 32.10 (2013-14)6 because the City took its property and sign without compensation.

*384¶ 13 The City moved for summary judgment, arguing that Adams' takings claims *664must fail because it does not identify a recognized property right taken by the City. Specifically, the City contends that there is no property right to continued visibility of a billboard. Further, the City argues that Adams cannot prove that the City took its property because there was neither an actual physical occupation of Adams' property by the City, nor did the City deprive Adams of all or substantially all of the beneficial uses of its property.

¶ 14 The circuit court granted the City's summary judgment motion. Relying on Randall v. City of Milwaukee, 212 Wis. 374, 249 N.W. 73 (1933), it concluded that "there is no property right at issue that has been taken by the placement of this bridge over the highway in close proximity but not on the property belonging to the plaintiff" because "[t]here's no property right to be seen."

¶ 15 It further explained that "[w]hat we have instead is a consequential or incidental result of the construction and maintenance [of the bridge] ... which is ... not a protectable interest that is if invaded subject to compensation for a taking." Finally, the circuit court determined that Zealy v. City of Waukesha, 201 Wis. 2d 365, 548 N.W.2d 528 (1996), requires that courts "value the billboard as a whole and not one side versus the other.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2018 WI 70, 914 N.W.2d 660, 382 Wis. 2d 377, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-outdoor-advertising-limited-partnership-v-city-of-madison-wis-2018.