Parker v. City of Albany

246 P.3d 16, 239 Or. App. 317
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 8, 2010
Docket0710289 A138751
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 246 P.3d 16 (Parker v. City of Albany) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Parker v. City of Albany, 246 P.3d 16, 239 Or. App. 317 (Or. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

246 P.3d 16 (2010)
239 Or. App. 317

Patricia A. PARKER and Timothy Finch Ousley, Petitioners-Appellants,
v.
CITY OF ALBANY, Respondent-Respondent.

0710289; A138751.

Court of Appeals of Oregon.

Argued and Submitted November 24, 2009.
Decided December 8, 2010.

David Hunnicutt, Tigard, argued the cause for appellants. With him on the briefs were *17 Ross Day and Oregonians in Action Legal Center.

James Delapoer, Albany, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief was Long, Delapoer, Healy, McCann & Noonan, P.C.

Before HASELTON, Presiding Judge, and ARMSTRONG, Judge, and ROSENBLUM, Judge.

ARMSTRONG, J.

Petitioners appeal a judgment that upheld a City of Albany decision that petitioners had challenged by writ of review.[1] The challenged decision determined that petitioners' real property had been specially benefited by the city's construction of public improvements adjoining petitioners' property and imposed an assessment for petitioners' share of the cost of the improvements. On appeal, petitioners' only contention is that the court erred in upholding the city's decision because, in petitioners' view, requiring them to pay the portion of the city's assessment that represents their share of the city's cost to acquire a portion of their property for the public improvement violates the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. We disagree with petitioners and, accordingly, affirm.

The facts are undisputed. The city began forming a local improvement district (LID) in 2003 to provide financing for a public project to extend North Albany Road and to make related water, sewer, and intersection improvements. To extend the street, the city needed to acquire the real property over which the street would run, including a portion of petitioners' property. The city determined that petitioners' property that adjoined the proposed extension of North Albany Road should be included within the LID because their property would receive a special benefit from the construction of the improvements, thereby making it appropriate for them to pay a share of the city's cost to construct the improvements.[2] In August 2006, the city brought a condemnation action against petitioners to acquire the portion of petitioners' land that was necessary for the project. That action was resolved through a stipulated general judgment, and petitioners were paid an agreed-upon amount of $22,500 as compensation for the acquisition of their land. In March 2007, the city established the assessments for the property in the LID at $2,335.92 per lot, which included the city's cost to acquire the land used to accomplish the project. Petitioners' property was determined to be two lots; therefore, their assessment was $4,671.84. Of that assessment, $196.18 represents the amount that petitioners calculate they were required to pay for their share of the city's cost of acquiring their land for the project.

Petitioners filed a petition for writ of review, arguing, most importantly for this appeal, that the city could not lawfully assess them for their portion of the cost that the city had incurred to acquire land for the *18 project from them. The trial court disagreed with petitioners and, consequently, upheld the city's decision.

On appeal, petitioners contend that the trial court erred in upholding the city's LID assessment decision. Petitioners argue that, to the extent that the city's assessment requires them to pay the city for their share of the cost of acquiring their property for the project, the assessment violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, because petitioners will effectively be required to pay some of the cost of the taking of their own property, which, according to petitioners, means that they will not have received just compensation for their land, rendering the assessment unconstitutional. In response, the city contends that petitioners' settlement of the condemnation proceeding and acceptance of the stipulated compensation satisfied the Fifth Amendment's just compensation requirement for the city's acquisition of petitioners' land and that the Fifth Amendment does not exempt petitioners from paying their full share of the LID assessment. For the reasons below, we agree with the city.

We review a writ of review decision for legal error. Johnson v. Civil Service Board, 161 Or.App. 489, 498, 985 P.2d 854, modified on recons., 162 Or.App. 527, 986 P.2d 666 (1999). Pursuant to the applicable writ of review statutes, ORS 34.030 and ORS 34.040(1), a trial court reviews a decision of a lower tribunal to determine if the tribunal committed any of five enumerated types of error. Those types of error include "[r]ender[ing] a decision that is unconstitutional." ORS 34.040(1)(e). Here, the trial court concluded that, contrary to petitioners' contention, the city's LID assessment decision did not violate the Fifth Amendment. Petitioners argue on appeal that the court erred in reaching that conclusion. Accordingly, our review is limited to whether the trial court correctly determined that the city had not violated the Fifth Amendment in the manner claimed by petitioners.

Under the Fifth Amendment, private property may not be taken for public use without just compensation. E.g., Boise Cascade Corp. v. Board of Forestry, 216 Or. App. 338, 344, 174 P.3d 587 (2007), rev. den., 344 Or. 390, 181 P.3d 769, cert. den., ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 346, 172 L.Ed.2d 46 (2008).[3] Just compensation is normally measured by the market value of the property on the date of the taking. E.g., United States v. 50 Acres of Land, 469 U.S. 24, 25-26, 105 S.Ct. 451, 83 L.Ed.2d 376 (1984). The power of eminent domain, that is, the power to acquire property for public use through condemnation proceedings, is distinct from the power of a government to tax or to otherwise raise revenue for its operations. See, e.g., Norwood v. Baker, 172 U.S. 269, 277, 19 S.Ct. 187, 43 L.Ed. 443 (1898) (observing that "[t]he taking of the plaintiff's land for the street [improvement] was under the power of eminent domain[,] * * * a power which this court has said was the offspring of political necessity, * * * [b]ut the assessment of the abutting property for the cost and expense incurred by the Village [to accomplish the improvement] was an exercise of the power of taxation"). Because of that distinction, we analyze the city's appropriation of petitioners' property and its imposition of the assessment in turn.

Here, the city properly exercised its eminent domain power by instituting a condemnation action against petitioners, which was settled by the parties.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
246 P.3d 16, 239 Or. App. 317, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parker-v-city-of-albany-orctapp-2010.