Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians' Tribal Council v. City of Palm Springs

347 F. Supp. 42, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13705
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedMay 17, 1972
Docket71-767-JWC
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 347 F. Supp. 42 (Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians' Tribal Council v. City of Palm Springs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians' Tribal Council v. City of Palm Springs, 347 F. Supp. 42, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13705 (C.D. Cal. 1972).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CURTIS, District Judge.

This is an action for declaratory relief, seeking the settlement of a long standing controversy between the Tribal Council of the Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians and the municipal officers of the City of Palm Springs over whether the City’s zoning laws are directly applicable to Indian Reservation lands, allotted and unallotted, even though they are held in trust by the United States. The City has maintained that since the adoption of Public Law 280 (Act of August 15, 1953, ch. 505; 67 Stat. 589, as amended; 18 U.S.C. § 1162; 28 U.S.C. § 1360), its zoning laws and all other ordinances apply to Indians and to Indian Trust lands located within the City, just as it applies to all other persons and lands so situated.

In 1965, the Tribal Council, being then concerned with this problem, brought suit in this court 1 to enjoin the application of the City’s zoning laws to Indian Trust lands. After some negotiation, however, it was agreed, by way of compromise, that the Department of the Interior, under authority it presumed to possess, would adopt these zoning laws and make them applicable to Indian Trust lands. As a result, the action was dismissed by stipulation.

The plaintiffs, apparently no longer content with this arrangement, have commenced the instant suit for declaratory relief, asserting their desire to be free from the City’s zoning control and their further desire to regulate the use of tribal and allotted Indian lands by means of their own tribal zoning ordinance.

It is conceded that jurisdiction in this court is proper under Title 25 U.S.C. § 349, Title 28 U.S.C. § 1362, Title 28 U. S.C. § 1360, and Title 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

*44 PLAINTIFFS HAVE AUTHORITY TO BRING THIS ACTION

As a threshold question, the intervenors, who are members of the Tribe, but are not members of the council, assert that the tribal constitution and by-laws do not authorize the Tribal Council to bring or prosecute this action, nor do they authorize the Council to make regulations concerning the use of the allotted lands.

Poafpybitty v. Skelly Oil Co., 390 U.S. 365, 370-371, 88 S.Ct. 982, 19 L.Ed.2d 1238 (1968), holds that an Indian landowner has standing to maintain an action to protect his rights, notwithstanding the fact that the Government, as guardian, can also sue.

The intervenors argue, however, that the Tribal Council has no authority under the constitution and by-laws of the Tribe to include in this action, which relates to tribal property, other lands allocated to individual Indians. Article V(a) provides, in part, that the Tribal Council shall exercise the following powers:

“[T]o protect and preserve the Tribal property . . . and the rights of its members; . . . and to protect the security and general welfare of the Band and its members.”

The provisions of Article V(l) are somewhat enlightening in that it empowers the Tribal Council:

“To negotiate with the Federal, State and local governments on behalf of the Band and obtain advice and opinions from representatives of any such governmental units on matters relating to the jurisdiction of the particular governmental unit involved and which concern the status of the Band and its property, such as matters of taxation, the application of State, civil and criminal laws, and annexation of tribal lands to the City of Palm Springs.”

It appears that the prosecution of this action for declaratory relief comes clearly within the powers of the Tribal Council, as provided in its constitution and by-laws, and I so hold.

I shall not discuss, at this point, what powers, if any, the Tribal Council has to impose its own zoning regulations upon lands within its reservation, as this court’s final conclusion will make it unnecessary to do so.

We come, then, to the principal issue raised: May the City of Palm Springs enforce its zoning laws upon Indian lands located within the city limits ?

Plaintiffs’ contentions can be grouped under three main headings.

1. Was Indian Trust land legally included within the City of Palm Springs upon its incorporation ?
2. Does the application of the City’s zoning ordinance to Indian Trust land constitute an unlawful interference with tribal sovereignty ?
3. Is Public Law 280 unconstitutional ?

WAS THE INDIAN LAND IN QUESTION LEGALLY INCLUDED WITHIN THE CITY OF PALM SPRINGS UPON ITS INCORPORATION ?

The plaintiffs contend that although the Indian land was located within the territory to which the Palm Springs incorporation purported to relate, the Indian land could not legally be included as a part of the city since there was no express federal consent.

There is little doubt that Congress could require such consent, but there appears to have been no such federally prescribed mandate at the time of incorporation. It is well established that so long as the law of the state in which the land lies permits the incorporation or annexation of federally owned land, no federal consent is necessary. In Surplus Trading Co. v. Cook, 281 U.S. 647, 650-651, 50 S.Ct. 455, 456, 74 L.Ed. 1091 (1930), the Supreme Court said:

“It is not unusual for the United States to own within a state lands which are set apart and used for public purposes. Such ownership and use without more do not withdraw the lands from the jurisdiction of the *45 state. On the contrary, the lands remain part of her territory and within the operation of her laws, save that the latter cannot affect the title of the United States or embarrass it in using the lands or interfere with its right of disposal. ■
“A typical illustration is found in the usual Indian reservation set apart within a state as a place where the United States may care for its Indian wards and lead them into habits and ways of civilized life. Such reservations are part of the state within which they lie and her laws, civil and criminal, have the same force therein as elsewhere within her limits, save that they can have only restricted application to the Indian wards.”

In Howard v. Commissioners of Louisville Sinking Fund, 344 U.S. 624, 626-627, 73 S.Ct. 465, 467, 97 L.Ed.

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Bluebook (online)
347 F. Supp. 42, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/agua-caliente-band-of-mission-indians-tribal-council-v-city-of-palm-cacd-1972.