City National Bank v. United States

33 Fed. Cl. 224, 42 ERC (BNA) 1153, 1995 U.S. Claims LEXIS 66, 1995 WL 157170
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedApril 7, 1995
DocketNo. 93-249L
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 33 Fed. Cl. 224 (City National Bank v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City National Bank v. United States, 33 Fed. Cl. 224, 42 ERC (BNA) 1153, 1995 U.S. Claims LEXIS 66, 1995 WL 157170 (uscfc 1995).

Opinion

ORDER

MILLER, Judge.

Before the court after argument is plaintiffs 1 motion in limine. The issue is whether a landowner seeking damages for a taking of his property must take into account existing state and county regulatory restrictions concerning limerock mining when valuing the property prior to the date on which the United States Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit necessary to develop the property for mining.

FACTS

The following undisputed facts replicate some of the background set forth in the earlier order issued in this case, City National Bank v. United States, 30 Fed.Cl. 715 (1994), denying defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the basis of statute of limitations and ripeness. Dr. Lloyd A. Moriber (“plaintiff”)2 owns a 75-percent interest in a 1,247 acre tract of land in Dade County, Florida, adjacent to the Florida Everglades. Plaintiff acquired the property on December 29, 1972, with the intention of mining lime-rock.

On February 20, 1976, the Dade County Building and Zoning Department notified plaintiff that the Board of County Commissioners had approved his request for an unusual use permit for lake excavation. Shortly thereafter, plaintiff’s excavating firm began mining operations on the property. These activities ceased when plaintiff received a letter dated December 2, 1977, from the United States Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”) notifying plaintiff that the activities being conducted on-site involved the filling of wetlands and that such activities could proceed only after plaintiff obtained a section 404 permit pursuant to the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1344 (1988) (the “CWA”).

Plaintiff then submitted a joint permit application to the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation (the “Florida DER”) and the Corps on February 7, 1979.3 The Florida DER denied the application on September 22, 1980, because plaintiff failed to provide adequate assurances that the proposed project would not violate state water quality standards. Plaintiff appealed this decision, but subsequently agreed to a voluntary dismissal based on the belief that it was best to postpone pursuing the regulatory requirements until such time as the courts resolved Florida Rock Indus., Inc. v. United States, 8 Cl.Ct. 160 (1985), aff'd in part and vacated in part, 791 F.2d 893 (Fed.Cir.1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1053, 107 S.Ct. 926, 93 L.Ed.2d 978 (1987), on remand, 21 Cl.Ct. 161 (1990), vacated, 18 F.3d 1560 (Fed.Cir.1994), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 115 S.Ct. 898, 130 L.Ed.2d 783 (1995), a case involving the Corps’ denial of a CWA section 404 permit for a parcel of land adjacent to plaintiff’s property.4

While plaintiff awaited the outcome of Florida Rock, many changes occurred in the state and local regulatory scheme. For example, in 1988 the Dade County Board of [226]*226County Commissioners adopted a new Comprehensive Development Master Plan (the “Comprehensive Plan”) pursuant to the requirements of chapter 163 of the Florida Statutes.5 Under the Comprehensive Plan, plaintiffs property falls within Environmental Protection Subarea B, the Dade-Broward Levee Basin. “The Environmental Protection designation applies to those areas in the County most environmentally significant, most susceptible to environmental degradation and where such degradation would adversely affect the supply of potable fresh water or environmental systems of County, regional, State or national importance____” Metropolitan Dade County Planning Department, Comprehensive Development Master Plan for Metropolitan Dade County, Florida I-29-30 (1994 rev.). The Comprehensive Plan, in general, did not include limerock mining as a permitted use. Other regulatory changes included the Dade County Class IV permit requirement, established in 1983, for projects involving the dredging or filling of wetlands.

On or about January 14, 1991, plaintiff filed a second joint permit application with the Florida DER and the Corps. On March 8, 1993, the Corps denied the permit without prejudice.6 Thereafter, on June 4, 1993, the Florida DER denied plaintiffs application for failure to submit required information. Although plaintiff applied to both the Florida DER and the Corps, the record reflects that plaintiff did not seek other state and county approvals for conducting limerock mining on the subject property. Specifically, the record indicates that plaintiff did not attempt to comply with the 1988 Comprehensive Plan and that plaintiff failed to apply for either the Class IV permit or the surface water management permit, which, as of 1991, was issued by the South Florida Water Management District. The record further indicates that the unusual use zoning permit that plaintiff previously had acquired expired on June 13, 1988, prior to the effective date of the 1988 Comprehensive Plan.

Plaintiff filed a complaint in the United States Court of Federal Claims on April 26, 1993, seeking just compensation for the alleged taking caused by the Corps’ permit denial. On January 3, 1994, defendant filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that plaintiff’s claim was barred by the statute of limitations, or alternatively, was not ripe. Defendant further argued that plaintiffs takings claim must be limited to 190 acres. The order in City National Bank, 30 Fed.Cl. 715, denying defendant’s motion held: 1) The relevant accrual date for purposes of the statute of limitations was the Corps’ March 8, 1993 denial of plaintiffs second permit application, as opposed to the Corps’ denial of adjacent landowner Florida Rock’s permit application in 1980; 2) the Corps’ March 8, 1993 denial letter represented a final agency action, rendering the claim ripe for review; and 3) the record was unclear as to the exact amount of acreage covered by plaintiffs takings claim, making summary judgment inappropriate.

On January 11, 1995, plaintiff filed a motion in limine, arguing that defendant should be precluded from presenting evidence as to existing state and county regulations concerning limerock mining for purposes of valuing the property pre-taking. Defendant opposed and again moved for summary judgment, arguing that plaintiff lacked a compensable property interest in limerock mining, or alternatively, that the Corps’ permit denial [227]*227had no effect on the value of the property because, prior to the date of denial, state and local regulatory restrictions precluded lime-rock mining on plaintiffs property. The court thereafter instructed plaintiff to reply only to the opposition to the motion in limine. The court also deferred briefing concerning defendant’s motion following decision on plaintiffs motion.

DISCUSSION

1. Ripeness

During argument defendant voiced its disagreement with the court’s prior ruling that the denial of the second permit application on March 8, 1993, constituted a final agency action, rendering the claim ripe for review. See City Nat'l Bank v. United States, 30 Fed.Cl. 715, 719-20 (1994).

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Bluebook (online)
33 Fed. Cl. 224, 42 ERC (BNA) 1153, 1995 U.S. Claims LEXIS 66, 1995 WL 157170, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-national-bank-v-united-states-uscfc-1995.