Moore v. State Road Department

171 So. 2d 25
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 19, 1965
DocketF-388
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 171 So. 2d 25 (Moore v. State Road Department) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moore v. State Road Department, 171 So. 2d 25 (Fla. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

171 So.2d 25 (1965)

C.C. MOORE and wife, Beatrice N. Moore, Appellants,
v.
STATE ROAD DEPARTMENT of the State of Florida, Appellee.

No. F-388.

District Court of Appeal of Florida. First District.

January 19, 1965.

*26 Isler & Welch, Panama City, for appellants.

P.A. Pacyna, Tallahassee, for appellee.

STURGIS, Chief Judge.

Appellants, plaintiffs below, seek reversal of the following final decree entered by the Honorable Hugh M. Taylor, Circuit Judge:

"FINAL DECREE
"This action was instituted by a complaint seeking an injunction restraining the State Road Department from constructing a bridge hereinafter referred to as the new DuPont Bridge on the theory that this bridge would constitute an impairment of the riparian rights of the plaintiffs.
"A temporary injunction was denied, and the Court on October 22, 1963, entered an order holding that if the plaintiffs were entitled to relief the relief to be awarded should be a mandatory injunction requiring the defendant to acquire the needed portion of the plaintiffs' riparian rights by exercise of the power of eminent domain rather than an injunction restraining the construction of a bridge which is a vital part of an essential highway.
"On final hearing the Court has heard the testimony and makes the following findings of fact:
"United States Highway 98 crosses the inland waterway at a point in Bay County a short distance southeasterly of Panama City, and at a point between Panama City and Tyndale Air Force Base. As a part of this highway, there is presently a bridge called the DuPont Bridge crossing the inland waterway at a point near the confluence of the waters of St. Andrews Bay with the waters of East Bay.[1] This bridge runs in a northeasterly direction from a small peninsula on the south side of St. Andrews Bay to a peninsula known as Long Point on the north side of St. Andrews Bay. The proposed new DuPont Bridge runs across the inland waterway from the same point on the south side of St. Andrews Bay to a spot on Long Point several hundred feet west of the northerly end of the old DuPont Bridge. Plaintiffs own a parcel of land on the tip of Long Point lying partly on each side of the abutments of the northerly end of the old bridge and the Highway approaching that bridge from the north. Their lands extend westerly some distance from the old bridge but do not touch the right-of-way of the new bridge or the highway running northerly from the new bridge to the point where traffic will be returned to the old roadbed of highway 98.
"The theory of the plaintiffs' case is that the construction of the new bridge will impair substantially the riparian rights incident to the plaintiffs' ownership of the land lying between the old bridge and the new bridge.
"The old bridge contains a swing section to permit the passage of traffic on the inland waterway. The new bridge will contain no movable span but will have a vertical clearance for all traffic moving along the inland waterway as such but will not permit the passage of deep sea cargo or passenger ships which use St. Andrews Bay in substantial numbers.[2]
*27 "The entrance channel to St. Andrews Bay has a depth of 30 ½ feet. The waters of this bay are for the most part west of both bridges, however, the waters extending east from the location of the bridges have a minimum depth of 32 feet for a distance of more than a mile east of the bridges so that, but for the interference of the bridges, it would be possible for any ship entering St. Andrews Bay to travel along this channel for that distance eastward from either bridge.
"If the demand for dockage was sufficiently great, it would be practical to construct docks capable of berthing deep sea vessels along both the south and the north shores of the inland waterway for some distance easterly from the bridges, but the cost of constructing such docks would be substantially greater than the cost of constructing a dock of this type on the land of the plaintiffs lying between the two bridges. This is due to the fact that the deep waters of the channel extend much closer to the shore line opposite this property of the plaintiffs than at any other point in that vicinity. Lying immediately west of plaintiffs' property and lying on both sides of the northerly approach to the new DuPont Bridge is a tract of land upon which there is now located a dock for the unloading and tanks for the storage of petroleum products. These docks have been used by deep sea vessels. At no time in recent years has a deep sea vessel attempted to pass through the swing span of the old DuPont Bridge. The evidence does not disclose the width of the opening in this bridge.
"The Court finds that the construction of the new bridge will prevent the use of plaintiffs' property as a place for the operation of docks for the berthing or unloading of deep sea ships; that the construction of this bridge will also prevent the operation of docks for the berthing or unloading of deep sea ships for a substantial distance eastward on the north and on the south shores of the bay.
"There is substantial but constradicted evidence that the highest and best use to which plaintiffs' land is adapted is for development as industrial property designed to accommodate ships of a size that could not pass under the new bridge. The Court declined to hear additional witnesses on behalf of the defendant on this point being of the opinion that when it appears that there is substantial, competent evidence tending to show that a public structure is injurious to a citizen the only question which a chancellor may decide is whether or not the erection of such structure constitutes a taking of the property of the citizen. If the chancellor finds that there has been a taking of riparian rights of the plaintiffs, he must leave to a jury the question of the damages, if any, resulting from the taking.
"The plaintiffs' land lies in such relationship to the proposed bridge that the bridge will to a limited degree impair plaintiffs' view of the broad expanse of the Bay. The plaintiffs' land lying west of the old approach to the old DuPont Bridge is roughly triangular in shape with an approximate right angle located on the old highway, one of the other angles being at the waters edge where the right-of-way of the old road enters the Bay. The third corner is approximately 100 feet from the proposed right-of-way (180 feet wide) where the new highway enters the Bay. If a pier should be constructed from this corner of plaintiffs' land parallel to the land line, it would reach the bridge before it would reach the channel, but such construction would be over shallows immediately adjacent to the property of others and would very definitely interfere with the use of the land of others. Any pier *28 constructed from the plaintiffs' land in such manner that it did not run in front of the land of another between the shore line and the channel would reach the channel before it reached the bridge. The plaintiffs are thus not cut off by the bridge from a lawful right of access to the channel of the body of water adjacent to their land whether it be called St. Andrews Bay, East Bay or the inland waterway.
"The construction of the new bridge will not deny plaintiffs access to the channel of deep water immediately in front of their property.

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Bluebook (online)
171 So. 2d 25, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-state-road-department-fladistctapp-1965.