City of Fresno v. Cloud

26 Cal. App. 3d 113, 102 Cal. Rptr. 874, 1972 Cal. App. LEXIS 924
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 16, 1972
DocketCiv. 1604
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 26 Cal. App. 3d 113 (City of Fresno v. Cloud) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Fresno v. Cloud, 26 Cal. App. 3d 113, 102 Cal. Rptr. 874, 1972 Cal. App. LEXIS 924 (Cal. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

Opinion

GARGANO, J.

This litigation concerns two adjoining and separately owned 10-acre parcels of land located within the City of Fresno near the intersection of East Gettysburg Avenue and North First Street. The intersecting city streets are included in Fresno’s master plan of streets and highways. The first parcel, hereafter referred to as Parcel 1, is owned by George Cloud and fronts on East Gettysburg Avenue to the north and on North First Street to the west. The second parcel, hereafter referred to as Parcel 2, is owned by Valentine Cloud and fronts on North First Street to the west.

The two parcels are located in an R-A (residential-agricultural) zone as established by the city’s comprehensive land use ordinance; an R-A zone is an area in which only residential, agricultural and similar limited land uses are permitted until such time as the need for more extensive land development warrants a change in the zone; and, it is the city’s position that if it is determined that such a change in zoning of property fronting on a street shown on the master plan of streets and highways could result in an increase in vehicular traffic generated by the use of the property, the city council, before approving the change, may require street dedications necessary to conform the street to the master plan. 1

In 1968, the City of Fresno, to widen the two city streets, instituted this action to condemn a 40-foot strip from the frontage of Parcel 1 on Gettysburg Avenue and. a 40-foot frontage strip from the frontages of Parcels 1 and 2 on North First Street; a prescriptive easement was located within the strips taken by the city, and because of this easement, the court, for all practical purposes, determined that only a 20-foot frontage was *116 actually taken from Parcel 1 along East Gettysburg Avenue and a 26-foot frontage from Parcels 1 and 2 along North First Street. 2 The court also found that the proposed improvement did not bring the streets to their full master plan widths and that an additional 10-foot strip from the frontage of Parcel 1 on East Gettysburg and an additional 10-foot strip from the frontages of Parcels 1 and 2 on North First Street would be required in the future to bring the streets to their, full widths. 3

After issue was joined on the complaint, defendants waived severance damages, and the cause proceeded to trial on the value of the property taken. James H. Hopper, a private appraiser, appointed by the court, testified for defendants; Charles Briggs, the Assistant Property Management Agent of the City of Fresno, testified for the city.

In arriving at the value of the property taken, Mr. Hopper assumed that the R-A zone, in which the main parcels were located, was a “holding” zone and that there was a reasonable probability that a more favorable zoning change would be made in the near future. On the basis of this assumption, Hopper visualized three different zones of value for Parcel 1: a 176' x 160.3' service station site on the northwest corner having a value of $70,000 or $2.50 per square foot, a “wraparound” zone for professional offices around the service station with a 150-foot frontage on Gettysburg and a 150-fcot frontage on North First having a value of $1 per square foot, and a multiple residential unit area for the remaining 7.03 acres having a value of $13,500 per acre. The court-appointed appraiser then allowed $2.50 per square foot for the strip taken from the service station site, $1 a foot for the strip taken from the professional offices site, and $13,500 per acre for the strip taken from the remaining area; he fixed the value of the “take” from Parcel 1 at $23,334. 4

Mr. Hopper concluded that the highest and best use for Parcel 2 was multiple residential and that it had a value of $13,500 per acre. He fixed the value of the frontage strip taken from this parcel at $5,306.50.

*117 Charles Briggs agreed with Hopper’s opinion that the highest and best use for the northwest corner of Parcel 1 was a service station site with a “wraparound" zone for professional offices; he visualized a planned unit development area for the remaining acreage. The city appraiser also agreed with Hopper’s opinion that the highest and best use for Parcel 2 was multiple residential. He assumed, however, that the parcels could not be used for any of these purposes without a change in the existing zoning, and that before the city council would have approved the change, it would have required street dedications needed to conform the widths of Gettysburg Avenue and North First Street to the master plan of streets and highways. He also assumed that before building permits for the construction of a gas station and professional office buildings would have been issued, street dedications would have been required under subsection (c) of section 11-208 of the city’s Municipal Code. 5 Briggs then concluded that the frontage strips taken from Parcels 1 and 2 could never be used for any purpose other than residential-agricultural, that residential-agricultural land had a value of $5,300 an acre and that the value of the “takes” -should be calculated accordingly.

The trial judge accepted Hopper’s opinion of the highest and best uses for Parcel 1. He also accepted the court-appointed appraiser’s opinion that the service station site had a value of $70,000, the “wraparound" zone a value of $67,500, and the remaining acreage a value of $13,500 an acre. Finally, he found, that the land could not be used for these purposes without a zoning change and that the change would not be made by the city council without street dedications. But the judge restricted the probable dedications to the 10-foot frontage strips which he determined would still be needed by the city to bring the two- streets to their full planned widths, after the present improvement is completed. For example, the judge decided that an area encompassing 150' x 150', or 22,500 square feet, was suitable for a service station site and had a value of $70,-000; to this usable site he added an additional 10-foot strip to the north and an additional 10-foot strip to the west, increasing the area to 25,600 square feet; the judge apparently theorized that a buyer would want 160' x 160' so that he could make the dedications needed to- get the city to change the zoning regulations for the property. The court, then, divided the $70,000 potential purchase price by 25,600 square feet, determined that the site was worth $2.73 per square foot, and compensated the condemnee at that rate for the strip taken, from the theoretical area. Using essentially similar reasoning, the court determined that the value of the *118 professional offices zone was 96 cents a foot instead of $1 per foot and. compensated the defendant, George Cloud, at that rate for the property taken from that zone. For the strip taken from the remaining acreáge, the judge compensated the defendant at the rate of $13,500 an acre. He awarded a total of $31,030.30 for the property taken from Parcel 1.

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Bluebook (online)
26 Cal. App. 3d 113, 102 Cal. Rptr. 874, 1972 Cal. App. LEXIS 924, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-fresno-v-cloud-calctapp-1972.