Public Access Tours, Inc. v. Public Access Board

22 Mass. L. Rptr. 420
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedFebruary 5, 2007
DocketNo. ESCV2003511
StatusPublished

This text of 22 Mass. L. Rptr. 420 (Public Access Tours, Inc. v. Public Access Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Public Access Tours, Inc. v. Public Access Board, 22 Mass. L. Rptr. 420 (Mass. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

Tuttman, Kathe M., J.

The plaintiff, Public Access Tours, Inc., d/b/a Moby Duck (“Moby Duck”), is the operator of duck boat (amphibious vehicle) tours in Salem and Gloucester, Massachusetts. Moby Duck originally filed this action in 2003 seeking judicial review of a decision by the defendant, Public Access Board (“the Board”), to cease issuing special use permits to commercial duck boat operators for use of boat ramps under the Board’s jurisdiction. The Board is an administrative body within the Department of Fish [421]*421and Game (“the Department”)2 created pursuant to G.L.c. 21, §17A to designate, purchase, develop and administer public areas of access to Commonwealth waters as well as hiking, skiing and snowmobiling trails. The Board has authority to issue commercial use permits for public access facilities and to regulate the number of users of these facilities. This matter came before the Court for hearing on the plaintiffs motion for summaiy judgment and the defendants’ cross motion for summaiy judgment. The parties request declaratory relief.3 Plaintiff seeks (1) a determination that a 2005 regulation prohibiting the operation of amphibious vehicles or duck boats in public access facilities under the management and control of the Board is unlawful and should be struck down and an order vacating the Board’s final decision based on the 2005 regulation; and (2) a permanent injunction preventing the defendants from “unlawfully denying Moby Duck access to Salem Harbor” via its Winter Island boat ramp in Salem. Defendants seek a declaratory judgment that the regulation was lawfully enacted and that it precludes the current and future operation of amphibious vehicles in all public access facilities under the Board’s management and control, including the Winter Island boat ramp. Because I find that the Board followed proper rule-making procedures in formulating its lawful policy of denying special use permits to all commercial amphibious vehicle operators, as more fully discussed below, the plaintiffs motion is DENIED and the defendants’ motion is ALLOWED.

BACKGROUND

In 1997, Moby Duck began conducting amphibious sightseeing tours in and around Salem Harbor. The tours were launched from the public access boat ramp located on Winter Island in Salem. The ramp was constructed pursuant to a permit issued by the United States Army Corps of Engineer (“the Corps”).4 Prior to 2001, the Board approved Moby Duck’s annual applications for a special commercial use permit authorizing it to launch its vehicles from the Winter Island ramp. In 2000, the Board adopted a policy prohibiting the future operation of amphibious vehicles at such facilities, and subsequently denied Moby Duck’s 2001 application for a special use permit. In 2003, the plaintiff filed this action seeking judicial review of the Board’s decision. The parties filed cross motions for summaiy judgment, which were considered by another justice of this Court (Bohn, J.). Judge Bohn found that the Board’s policy constituted administrative rule-making, and that the Board had failed to follow specific rule-making procedures required by G.L.c. 21, §17A, the Board’s enabling legislation,5 and c. 30A, §2 in formulating the policy. Judge Bohn invalidated the Board’s denial of Moby Duck’s permit application, and remanded the matter to the Board for further consideration, with a directive to comply with the procedures defined in G.L.c. 21, §17A and c. 30A, §2. The Board held a series of public hearings and ultimately adopted the challenged regulation, effective August 12, 2005. The regulation states: “It is unlawful to operate any amphibious vehicle, airplane or seaplane in apublic access facility.” 320 C.M.R. §2.02(1).6 The stated purposes for the regulation as noted in the Department’s official filing statement submitted to the Secretary of State were as follows:

(1) To ensure the continued physical integrity of the boat ramps; (2) to prevent the unnecessary closing of boat ramps to repair damage caused by amphibious tour boats to the pre-fabricated ramp sections that lie below mean low water; (3) to protect the public safety at boat ramp parking facilities; (4) to assure that boat ramps are used to launch boats for the purpose of recreational boating and fishing in coastal and inland waters; (5) to prevent the use of boat ramps for purposes of tourism or commerce; (6) to prevent the exposure of the Commonwealth to unnecessary tort liability; and (7) to assure the continued availability of federal funds to maintain and repair boat ramps.7

Prior to the adoption of the new regulation, on March 21, 2005, Moby Duck submitted its 2005 application for a special use permit. On August 29, 2005, relying on the new regulation, the Board denied Moby Duck’s 2005 application. The parties then filed these cross motions for summaiy judgment.8

DISCUSSION

I. Summary Judgment Standard

Summary judgment shall be granted where there are no genuine issues as to any material fact and where the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Mass.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Cassesso v. Commissioner of Correction, 390 Mass. 419, 422 (1983); Community Nat’l Bank v. Dawes, 369 Mass. 550, 553 (1976). The moving party bears the burden of affirmatively demonstrating the absence of a triable issue, and that the summaiy judgment record entitles the moving party to judgment as a matter of law. Pederson v. Time, Inc., 404 Mass. 14, 16-17 (1989). The moving party may satisfy this burden either by submitting affirmative evidence that negates an essential element of the opposing party’s case or by demonstrating that the opposing party has no reasonable expectation of proving an essential element of his case at trial. Flesner v. Technical Communications Corp., 410 Mass. 805, 809 (1991); Kourouvacilis v. General Motors Corp., 410 Mass. 706, 716 (1991).

II. Review of Agency Regulations

Regulations promulgated by a government agency are subject to “[a] highly deferential standard of review.” Massachusetts Fed’n of Teachers v. Board of Educ., 436 Mass. 763, 771 (2002). “Aparty challenging the validity of a regulation must prove ‘that the regulation is illegal, arbitrary or capricious.’ ” Id., quoting Borden, Inc. v. Commissioner of Pub. Health, 388 Mass. [422]*422707, 722 (1983). A court “must apply all rational presumptions in favor of the validity of the administrative action and not declare it void unless its provisions cannot by any reasonable construction be interpreted in harmony with the legislative mandate.” Massachusetts Fed’n of Teachers, 436 Mass. 763, 771 quoting Consolidated Cigar Corp. v. Department of Pub. Health, 372 Mass. 844, 855 (1977). Here, Moby Duck claims that the 2005 regulation is invalid for three reasons: (1) it is contrary to the Department’s enabling legislation; (2) it is contrary to permit conditions imposed by the Corps in connection with its approval of the construction of the Winter Island boat ramp; and (3) it impermissibly burdens interstate commerce by restricting Moby Duck’s access to the “navigable waters” of Salem Harbor.

A.Compliance With the Department’s Enabling Legislation

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
22 Mass. L. Rptr. 420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/public-access-tours-inc-v-public-access-board-masssuperct-2007.