Santa Fe Trail Ranch II, Inc. v. Board of County Commissioners

1998 NMCA 099, 961 P.2d 785, 125 N.M. 360
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 3, 1998
Docket18477
StatusPublished

This text of 1998 NMCA 099 (Santa Fe Trail Ranch II, Inc. v. Board of County Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Santa Fe Trail Ranch II, Inc. v. Board of County Commissioners, 1998 NMCA 099, 961 P.2d 785, 125 N.M. 360 (N.M. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

OPINION

PICKARD, Judge.

{1} In this sequel to Brazos Land, Inc. v. Board, of County Commissioners, 115 N.M. 168, 848 P.2d 1095 (Ct.App.1993), and Mandel v. City of Santa Fe, 119 N.M. 685, 894 P.2d 1041 (Ct.App.1995), we decide whether a subdivision developer may properly invoke article IV, section 34 of the New Mexico Constitution (prohibiting changing the rights or remedies of parties in a pending case) by filing a declaratory judgment action one month after a moratorium on subdivisions is formally proposed, but one-half hour before the county commission votes to approve the moratorium. We hold that Santa Fe Trail Ranch II, Inc. (collectively with Santa Fe Trail Ranch, the Developer), may not achieve pending-ease status in order to avoid the effect of the moratorium in this manner, but must rely instead on a vested-rights analysis. We additionally reject the Developer’s argument that the moratorium was ineffective because the County’s original subdivision ordinance was not filed with the State Records Center until eight years after it was enacted and several weeks after the moratorium ordinance was enacted and its argument that it has been deprived of all beneficial use of its property by the moratorium.

FACTS

{2} The Developer wanted to subdivide its 1,300 acres in San Miguel County into a type-four subdivision of 25 or more parcels of 10 or more acres each. It made application to the County in August 1993. The Developer submitted to the County the various required submittals, and these were reviewed by the appropriate authorities during the fall of 1993. In December of 1993, the County Commissioners, deciding that their current subdivision regulations were ineffective to properly protect the health, safety, and welfare of County residents, enacted an ordinance proposing a one-year moratorium on subdivisions so that new regulations could be enacted. The actual ordinance was to be voted on at the next meeting of the County Commission, which was scheduled on January 25,1994. At 8:30 a.m. on January 25, the Developer filed a complaint for declaratory judgment, seeking a ruling that the moratorium could not apply to the Developer’s proposed subdivision. At 9:00 a.m. that same day, the County Commission voted to enact the moratorium, and it was filed with the County Clerk at 2:40 p.m. and with the State Records Center several days later. Subsequent moratoria were enacted in following years for a total of two and one-half years. Additional facts will be set forth in the discussion of the individual issues.

DISCUSSION

1. Article IV, Section 34

{3} Article IV, section 34 of the New Mexico Constitution prohibits laws from “affecting] the right or remedy of either party, or changing] the rules of evidence or procedure, in any pending case.” The Developer contends that this provision applies in this case because the complaint for declaratory judgment was filed before the moratorium was enacted and effective.

{4} Three recent cases have applied the law governing this issue to specific facts: Brazos Land, Inc. [hereinafter Brazos ]; Mandel; and State ex rel. Edwards v. City of Clovis, 94 N.M. 136, 607 P.2d 1154 (1980) [hereinafter Edwards ]. The Developer relies on Edwards while the County relies on Brazos and Mandel. Examination of the facts and analyses of those cases will demonstrate that this ease, too, is more like Brazos and Mandel, and therefore Edwards is not controlling.

{5} Very briefly, Edwards involved a longstanding ordinance prohibiting the keeping of swine in city limits within 300 feet of residences. Edwards, 94 N.M. at 137, 607 P.2d at 1155. Edwards was a resident, and he sought enforcement of that ordinance because his neighbors were keeping swine in violation of it. Id. When the city refused to enforce the ordinance, he filed his lawsuit seeking mandamus. Id. During the pendency of the lawsuit, the city passed an ordinance removing the 300-foot restriction in certain areas, including Edwards’, thus allowing swine to be kept in his neighborhood. The Supreme Court ruled that article IV, section 34 of the New Mexico Constitution prohibited the application of the new ordinance to Edwards’ case. Id. at 138, 607 P.2d at 1156.

{6} Both Brazos and Mandel involved land-use regulations and landowners seeking to develop their land in particular ways. Brazos involved a subdivider and a moratorium, as in this case. The subdivider in Brazos had made preliminary application to the county for approval of its subdivision when the moratorium was enacted. We applied the moratorium to the subdivider and held that, since no lawsuit had been filed prior to the enactment of the moratorium, article IV, section 34 did not apply. Brazos, 115 N.M. at 170-71, 848 P.2d 1097-98. Mandel involved a builder who wanted to construct a building of a certain height. During his permit-application process, the City enacted regulations that lowered the height of buildings allowed in the area. We held that Brazos, rather than Edwards, controlled. Mandel, 119 N.M. at 687-88, 894 P.2d at 1043-44.

{7} We acknowledge that both Brazos and Mandel were different from this case in that, in those cases, lawsuits were not filed prior to the enactment of the more restrictive land-use regulations. The question we must answer is whether those cases still control under the facts of this case in which a lawsuit was filed. We hold that they do. We base our holding on the purpose article IV, section 34 was designed to serve, as well as our reluctance to allow its manipulation.

{8} We explained the purpose of article IV, section 34 at some length in the Brazos opinion, and we also expressed our preference in that case for deciding questions of application of newly enacted land-use regulations based on a vested-rights analysis. See Brazos, 115 N.M. at 170-71, 848 P.2d at 1097-98. Article IV, section 34 was designed to cure a “ “well-known method ... to win eases in the courts by legislation which changed the rules of evidence and procedure in cases which were then being adjudicated.’” Id. at 171, 848 P.2d at 1098 (quoting Stockard v. Hamilton, 25 N.M. 240, 245, 180 P. 294, 295 (1919)). In contrast, we explained, the vested-rights analysis seemed to strike the proper balance in a more substantive way between the interest of government in regulating land use and the interest of private parties in using their land in a particular way. Brazos, 115 N.M. at 170, 848 P.2d at 1097. For the landowners to prevail, they must show initial approval by the regulatory body, and then they must show that they substantially changed their position in reliance thereon. See id. It is only when mere expectation in regard to private land use matures in this fashion into a vested right that the landowner earns the protection of article IV, section 34 against government affecting such a “right ... in any pending case.” We further commented on the rigidity, and hence apparent technicality, of applying article IV, section 34, based on the timing of the filing of a lawsuit, and we explained that the vested-rights analysis was better reasoned. See id. at 171, 848 P.2d at 1098. We reiterate that position here.

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Related

Mandel v. City of Santa Fe
894 P.2d 1041 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1995)
PDR Development Corp. v. City of Santa Fe
900 P.2d 973 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1995)
Chilili Cooperative Ass'n v. Sundance Mountain Ranches, Inc.
754 P.2d 1211 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1988)
State Ex Rel. Edwards v. City of Clovis
607 P.2d 1154 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1980)
Galvan v. City of Albuquerque
508 P.2d 1339 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1973)
Clayton v. Trotter
796 P.2d 262 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1990)
Brazos Land, Inc. v. Board of County Commissioners
848 P.2d 1095 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1993)
Stockard v. Hamilton
180 P. 294 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1919)

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Bluebook (online)
1998 NMCA 099, 961 P.2d 785, 125 N.M. 360, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/santa-fe-trail-ranch-ii-inc-v-board-of-county-commissioners-nmctapp-1998.