Joint Ventures, Inc. v. Dept. of Transp.

563 So. 2d 622, 15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 246, 1990 Fla. LEXIS 588, 1990 WL 55937
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedApril 26, 1990
Docket71878
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 563 So. 2d 622 (Joint Ventures, Inc. v. Dept. of Transp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joint Ventures, Inc. v. Dept. of Transp., 563 So. 2d 622, 15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 246, 1990 Fla. LEXIS 588, 1990 WL 55937 (Fla. 1990).

Opinion

563 So.2d 622 (1990)

JOINT VENTURES, INC., Petitioner,
v.
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Etc., Respondent.

No. 71878.

Supreme Court of Florida.

April 26, 1990.
Rehearing Denied July 27, 1990.

*623 S. Cary Gaylord and Alan E. DeSerio of Brigham, Moore, Gaylor, Wilson, Ulmer, Schuster & Sachs, Tampa, for petitioner.

Maxine F. Ferguson, Appellate Atty., and Thomas H. Bateman, III, General Counsel, Dept. of Transp., Tallahassee, for respondent.

BARKETT, Justice.

We have for review Joint Ventures, Inc. v. Department of Transportation, 519 So.2d 1069 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988), in which the district court asked in a certified question whether subsections 337.241(2) and (3), Florida Statutes (1987), unconstitutionally permit the state to take private property without just compensation.[1] We answer the question in the affirmative, finding those subsections invalid as a violation of the fifth amendment to the United States Constitution and article X, section 6(a) of the Florida Constitution.

Joint Ventures, Inc., owned 8.3 acres of vacant land located adjacent to Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa. Joint Ventures had contracted to sell this property contingent upon the buyer's ability to obtain the permits necessary to develop it. Thereafter, the Department of Transportation (DOT) determined that 6.49 acres of this vacant land was needed for storm water drainage associated with the planned widening of the highway. In November 1985, DOT recorded a map of reservation in accordance with subsection 337.241(1), Florida Statutes (1987).[2] DOT's recordation of the map of reservation precluded the issuance of development permits for this property under subsection 337.241(2):

Upon recording [the map of reservation], such map shall establish:
(a) A building setback line from the centerline of any road existing as of the date of such recording; and no development permits, as defined in s. 380.031(4),[[3]] shall be granted by any governmental entity for new construction of any type or for renovation of an existing commercial structure that exceeds 20 percent of the appraised value of the structure. No restriction shall be placed on the renovation or improvement of existing residential structures, as long as such structures continue to be used as private residences.
(b) An area of proposed road construction within which development permits, as defined in s. 380.031(4), shall not be issued for a period of 5 years from the date of recording such map. The 5-year period may be extended for an additional 5-year period by the same procedure set forth in subsection (1).

(Emphasis supplied.)

Joint Ventures contested DOT's reservation in an administrative hearing pursuant *624 to subsection 337.241(3).[4] The hearing officer found against Joint Ventures and DOT later adopted the officer's findings and conclusions in a Final Order. On appeal to the district court, Joint Ventures argued that the moratorium imposed by section 337.241(2) amounted to a taking because the statute deprived it of substantial beneficial use of its property.

In opposition, DOT contended that the legislature did not "take" but merely "regulated" in a valid exercise of the police power. The district court concluded that the challenged subsections were constitutional because Joint Ventures had a remedy by way of an action for inverse condemnation.[5]

Generally, the state must pay property owners under two circumstances. First, the state must pay when it confiscates private property for common use under its power of eminent domain. Second, the state must pay when it regulates private property under its police power in such a manner that the regulation effectively deprives the owner of the economically viable use of that property,[6] thereby unfairly imposing the burden of providing for the public welfare upon the affected owner.[7]

Under the power of eminent domain, the state has the inherent right to take private property for public use without the consent of the owner. Shavers v. Duval County, 73 So.2d 684, 688 (Fla. 1954). In so doing, the state is obliged to make full compensation.[8] Indeed, the Florida Legislature has implemented a complete statutory scheme in chapters 73 and 74, Florida Statutes (1987), to assure the payment of such compensation.

However, as Justice Holmes recognized, the "seemingly absolute protection" of required compensation is "qualified" by another inherent power of the state, the police power. Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, *625 260 U.S. 393, 415, 43 S.Ct. 158, 160, 67 L.Ed. 322 (1922). Although both powers impact on private property, there is a distinction between the power of eminent domain and the police power:

[T]he former involves the taking of property because of its need for the public use while the latter involves the regulation of such property to prevent its use thereof in a manner that is detrimental to the public interest.

J. Sackman, Nichols' The Law of Eminent Domain § 1.42, at 1-133 to 1-134 (rev. 3rd ed. 1988) (footnotes omitted, emphasis in original).

Although regulation under the police power will always interfere to some degree with property use, compensation must be paid only when that interference deprives the owner of substantial economic use of his or her property. In effect, this deprivation has been deemed a "taking." Agins v. City of Tiburon, 447 U.S. 255, 260, 100 S.Ct. 2138, 2141, 65 L.Ed.2d 106 (1980); Penn Cent. Transp. Co. v. City of New York, 438 U.S. 104, 138 n. 36, 98 S.Ct. 2646, 2666 n. 36, 57 L.Ed.2d 631 (1978). Thus, when compensation is claimed due to governmental regulation of property, the appropriate inquiry is directed to the extent of the interference or deprivation of economic use.

Here, however, we do not deal with a claim for compensation, but with a constitutional challenge to the statutory mechanism. Our inquiry requires that we determine whether the statute is an appropriate regulation under the police power, as DOT asserts, or whether the statute is merely an attempt to circumvent the constitutional and statutory protections afforded private property ownership under the principles of eminent domain.

Under its police power, the state is deemed to enact laws for the protection of the general welfare, that is, the public safety, health, morals, comfort, and general well being. Hav-A-Tampa Cigar Co. v. Johnson, 149 Fla. 148, 159, 5 So.2d 433, 437 (1941).[9] In the broad sense, when the state "takes" property, whether through its police power or power of eminent domain, it does so to promote the general welfare. Analytically, the two have been discussed in different terms. Regulation is analyzed in terms of the exercise of police power, whereas acquisition is analyzed in terms of the state's power of eminent domain.[10]First English Evangelical Lutheran Church v. County of Los Angeles, 482 U.S. 304, 107 S.Ct. 2378, 2389, 96 L.Ed.2d 250 (1987); Agins, 447 U.S. at 260, 100 S.Ct. at 2141; Penn Cent.

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Bluebook (online)
563 So. 2d 622, 15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 246, 1990 Fla. LEXIS 588, 1990 WL 55937, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joint-ventures-inc-v-dept-of-transp-fla-1990.