Agripost v. Miami-Dade County

195 F.3d 1225
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedNovember 15, 1999
Docket97-5654
StatusPublished

This text of 195 F.3d 1225 (Agripost v. Miami-Dade County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Agripost v. Miami-Dade County, 195 F.3d 1225 (11th Cir. 1999).

Opinion

[PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT 11/15/99 No. 97-5654 THOMAS K. KAHN CLERK D.C. Docket No. 94-2031-CV-EBD

AGRIPOST, INC., a Florida Corporation, AGRI-DADE, LTD., a Florida Limited Partnership,

Plaintiffs-Appellees,

versus

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, through its Manager and Board of County Commissioners,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida

(November 15, 1999)

Before TJOFLAT and EDMONDSON, Circuit Judges, and KRAVITCH, Senior Circuit Judge.

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge: In 1987, the Board of Commissioners of Dade County, Florida, granted

Agripost, Inc. an unusual use zoning permit for the construction and operation of a

waste disposal facility. In 1991, the Dade County Zoning Appeals Board revoked the

permit. After an appellate panel of the Dade County Circuit Court affirmed the

revocation, and the Florida District Court of Appeal declined review, Agripost

brought this suit against Dade County, claiming that the revocation constituted a

taking without just compensation, in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth

Amendments.1 The district court dismissed Agripost’s takings claim as unripe

because Agripost had failed to pursue Florida’s inverse-condemnation remedy. The

County now appeals,2 contending that the district court should have dismissed

Agripost’s takings claim under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine3 for want of subject

matter jurisdiction, or, alternatively, granted it summary judgment on the ground that

1 Agripost’s complaint contained several other claims based on the revocation of Agripost’s permit. In its order dismissing Agripost’s taking claim as unripe, the district court concluded that Agripost’s other claims were legally insufficient and directed the entry of final judgment in the County’s favor on all claims. With the exception of an equal protection claim, which we address in note 9 infra, none of these other claims are before us or are germane to this appeal. 2 See infra part II. 3 The Rooker-Feldman doctrine derives from District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 103 S. Ct. 1303, 75 L. Ed. 2d 206 (1983), and Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 44 S. Ct. 149, 68 L. Ed. 362 (1923), and reserves to the United States Supreme Court the authority to review final decisions from a state’s highest court. See also infra, note 6.

2 principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel barred the claim. We agree with the

district court that Agripost’s takings claim was unripe. We therefore affirm its

dismissal of the suit.

I.

In 1986, Dade County’s Board of Commissioners (the “Board”) sought

proposals for the construction and operation of a waste disposal plant that would

create an environmentally safe, useful end product from the county’s solid waste.

Agripost submitted a proposal, which the Board subsequently accepted. Agripost

then leased a site for its facility.4 Because the site was zoned for agricultural use,

Agripost needed to obtain from the Board an unusual use zoning permit before it

could construct and operate the plant. Agripost therefore applied for such a permit.

On March 5, 1987, the Board approved Agripost’s application, but made its

approval subject to several conditions. One condition required Agripost to operate

its facility in accordance with the plot use plan to be devised by Agripost and

approved by the County’s Zoning Director. Another required Agripost to comply

4 Agripost’s plant would convert garbage to agricultural fertilizer by grinding the garbage into small particles and then applying chemicals that enhanced the natural decay of the resulting waste. The site that Agripost selected for this facility abutted Dade County’s landfill and was near the County’s transfer station from which waste was distributed to disposal facilities. Unfortunately, the site was located in a residential neighborhood and was adjacent to an 800-student elementary school.

3 with all “conditions and requirements”of Dade County’s Department of

Environmental Resource Management (“DERM”),5 which included specific

requirements for the storage of waste products, and that the facility not cause a

nuisance.6

Agripost’s facility began operating in the fall of 1989, and soon thereafter,

area residents began complaining that finely ground waste particles were

emanating from the plant and that a vile stench covered the area. According to

officials from an adjacent elementary school, a “black, thick glue-like mold” was

covering nearly every surface of the school, and students and teachers alike were

developing various illnesses.

In October 1990, DERM informed Agripost that its facility was creating a

nuisance; DERM alleged both that noxious odors were emanating from the plant,

and that Agripost was storing waste products in a manner contrary to the

conditions of its permit and in a location other than that prescribed by the plot use

5 DERM reviewed Agripost’s permit application and issued a memorandum detailing a list of requirements that were in turn incorporated as conditions in the Board’s resolution authorizing the unusual use zoning permit. 6 On July 7, 1987, Agripost and Dade County signed an agreement for the construction and operation of the facility (the “Agreement”). The Agreement set out the amount of waste that the County would deliver per week to Agripost and the compensation that Agripost would receive for disposing of the waste. The Agreement also incorporated the conditions that the Board had placed on its approval of the unusual use zoning permit. 4 plan. The County’s Building and Zoning Department (“B&Z”) then initiated

procedures to revoke Agripost’s unusual use zoning permit; B&Z issued zoning

violation notices that alleged that Agripost had breached the conditions of its

permit, and requested a hearing before the Zoning Appeals Board (“ZAB”) to

determine whether the permit should be revoked. After a hearing on January 16,

1991, the ZAB concluded that Agripost had failed to comply with the conditions of

its unusual use permit, and therefore revoked it. The Board affirmed the ZAB’s

decision.

Having exhausted its administrative remedies, Agripost appealed the

Board’s decision to a three-judge panel of the appellate division of the Dade

County Circuit Court (the “Circuit Court”). After reviewing the administrative

record, the court concluded that Agripost had failed to comply with the conditions

of its permit; the court therefore affirmed the revocation of Agripost’s permit. The

Florida District Court of Appeal thereafter denied Agripost’s petition for certiorari

review. See Agri-Dade, Ltd. v. Metropolitan Dade County, 605 So. 2d 1272 (Fla.

3d DCA 1992).

On September 29, 1994, Agripost brought the present lawsuit against Dade

County in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Agripost claimed that by revoking the permit, the Board, and therefore Dade

5 County, deprived it of all economically viable use of its leasehold interest, of its

facility, and of its rights under the Agreement. Because the County had not

provided just compensation, Agripost contended, the permit revocation constituted

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195 F.3d 1225, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/agripost-v-miami-dade-county-ca11-1999.