Clayland Farm Enterprises, LLC v. Talbot County, Maryland

672 F. App'x 240
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedDecember 2, 2016
Docket15-1755
StatusUnpublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 672 F. App'x 240 (Clayland Farm Enterprises, LLC v. Talbot County, Maryland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clayland Farm Enterprises, LLC v. Talbot County, Maryland, 672 F. App'x 240 (4th Cir. 2016).

Opinions

SHEDD, Circuit Judge:

Clayland Farm Enterprises, LLC appeals the district court’s order dismissing its claims against Talbot County, Maryland, and other defendants for lack of ripeness: Because Clayland Farm’s claims are ripe, we reverse.

I.

Clayland Farm is a 106 acre property located in Talbot County, Maryland. At all relevant times, Clayland Farm has been zoned as a “Village Center,” which is generally the “preferred location” in rural areas for “single and multi-family residential development.” J.A. 15-16.1

The owners of Clayland Farm cannot pursue their land use goals, however, because of three Talbot County ordinances, two that are moratoriums on development, and one that limits sewer availability. Bill Nos. 1214 and 1257, enacted in 2012 and 2014, have indefinitely prohibited certain types of development in areas zoned as Village Centers, including Clayland Farm. The moratoriums prohibit owners from seeking or obtaining approval to subdivide their property. They also impose more restrictive zoning density rules by prohibiting subdivision of properties zoned as “Village Centers” into more than two lots. The affected property owners, including Clay-land Farm, have no ability to seek a variance from, or a waiver to, the moratoriums and are otherwise unable to challenge them outside of court.

[243]*243The third challenged ordinance established a classification method that determines the availability, if any, and type of sewer system for a property. The Talbot County Council adopted Bill No. 1229 in 2012, pursuant to the Maryland Sustainable Growth and Agricultural Preservation Act of 2012 that required each county to map existing property and designate it in one of seven “tiers.” A property’s tier designation determines the property’s allowed type of subdivision and allowed wastewater treatment system. J.A. 26. Talbot County placed all but six acres of Clayland Farm in Tier IV, which is property intended for natural resources protection and without sewer access. The County took this action even though Clayland Farm had sewer access prior to this new designation and despite the advice of the Maryland Department of Planning,2 which informed Talbot County in a private letter that Clayland Farm had been improperly designated as a Tier IV area. Talbot County did not take any action in response to the department’s advice.3

In response to these ordinances, Clay-land Farm filed suit in state court against Talbot County, various county officials, and the Maryland Department of Planning. Clayland Farm’s complaint asserted seven claims, arising under state and federal law. Counts I—III assert federal claims against Talbot County for violations of Clayland Farm’s Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Count I asserts a regulatory takings claim that the moratorium is facially unconstitutional. Count II alleges that Talbot County deprived Clayland Farm of their procedural due process rights by enacting the moratoriums with no postdepri-vation remedies, and Count III alleges that Talbot County deprived Clayland Farm of its substantive due process rights by enacting the ordinances.

Count IV asserts a § 1983 conspiracy claim against Talbot County and its officials for violating Clayland Farm’s Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Counts V and VI assert state declaratory judgment claims against various defendants, and Count VII seeks injunctive relief against various defendants to enjoin the violations alleged in the other counts.

Talbot County removed the case and then moved to dismiss. The district court granted the motion “on the ground that the issues raised by [Clayland Farm] are not yet ripe for adjudication. It is beyond the province and competence of this court to make zoning decisions.... The record does not suggest that the Talbot County Council has yet denied any of [Clayland Farm’s] constitutional rights.” J.A. 72. Clayland Farm timely appealed.

II.

We review de novo the district court’s grant of a motion to dismiss, Lebron v. Rumsfeld, 670 F.3d 540, 547 (4th Cir. 2012), accepting the facts as alleged in Clayland Farm’s complaint. See Aziz, 658 F.3d at 390. For the following reasons, we reverse the district court’s dismissal of Clayland Farm’s complaint because all of these claims are ripe.

’ Ripeness is a justiciability doctrine intended to prevent the courts from entan[244]*244gling themselves in premature disputes. gee, e.g., National Park Hospitality Ass’n v. Department of Interior, 538 U.S. 803, 807-08, 123 S.Ct. 2026, 155 L.Ed.2d 1017 (2003). “The ripeness doctrine is drawn both from Article III limitations on judicial power and from prudential reasons for refusing to exercise jurisdiction.” Id, (internal quotations and citations omitted). A claim should be dismissed for lack of ripeness if the plaintiff has not yet suffered injury and any future impact “remains wholly speculative.” Gasner v. Bd. of Supervisors, 103 F.3d 351, 361 (4th Cir. 1996). In determining ripeness, “[a] case is fit for judicial decision when the issues are purely legal and when the action in controversy is final and not dependent on future uncertainties.” Miller v. Brown, 462 F.3d 312, 319 (4th Cir. 2006) (internal citation omitted). We now address Clayland Farm’s claims under this standard.

Count I is a facial challenge to the moratoriums and is thus clearly ripe. See Complaint at 27, J.A. 34 (“Talbot County has deprived and continues to deprive [Clayland Farm] of its Fourteenth Amendment rights by enacting and perpetuating the Village Growth Moratorium, an illegal, illegitimate and inequitable regulatory taking.”) (emphasis added); see also Appellant’s Br. at 22-28.4 When an ordinance on its face is alleged to have effected a taking, as in Count I, the claim accrues when the ordinance interferes in a clear, concrete fashion with the property’s primary use. National Advertising Co. v. City of Raleigh, 947 F.2d 1158, 1163 (4th Cir. 1991). Facial takings challenges to a regulation are “generally ripe the moment the challenged regulation or ordinance is passed.... ” Suitum v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 520 U.S. 725, 736, n. 10, 117 S.Ct. 1659, 137 L.Ed.2d 980 (1997).5

Clayland Farm suffered concrete and certain injury as soon as the moratoriums were enacted; the ordinances prohibit Clayland Farm from subdividing more than one additional lot from its property and from developing more than one dwelling unit on the lot, which had previously been allowed. The possibility that Talbot County may enact future zoning or planning ordinances that affect Clayland Farm’s ability to develop its property does not call into question the finality of the three ordinances that currently restrict Clayland Farm. Thus, Count I’s facial challenge is ripe.6

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672 F. App'x 240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clayland-farm-enterprises-llc-v-talbot-county-maryland-ca4-2016.