Star Northwest Inc. v. City of Kenmore

280 F. App'x 654
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMay 28, 2008
DocketNos. 06-35801, 06-36029
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 280 F. App'x 654 (Star Northwest Inc. v. City of Kenmore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Star Northwest Inc. v. City of Kenmore, 280 F. App'x 654 (9th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

Plaintiff-Appellant Star Northwest (“Kenmore Lanes”) operates a bowling alley, restaurant, and card room in Kenmore, King County, Washington. In No. 06-35801, Kenmore Lanes appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Appellees, the City of Kenmore (the “City”) and the Kenmore City Council (the “Council”), in Kenmore Lanes’ civil rights action challenging, on federal and state law grounds, the constitutionality of a City ordinance that banned the operation of card rooms within city limits. In No. 06-36029, [656]*656Kenmore Lanes appeals from the district court’s grant of attorneys’ fees in the amount of $180,552 to the City.

In challenging the district court’s summary judgment ruling,1 Kenmore Lanes argues that: 1) its card room, the 11th Frame, is a nonconforming use entitled to operate indefinitely under Kenmore Municipal Code sections 18.20.1860 and 18.75.080; 2) Kenmore Lanes has a federal constitutional right to an amortization period upon termination of its nonconforming use; 3) Kenmore Ordinance 05-0237 (the “Ordinance”) violates Kenmore Lanes’ substantive due process rights under Washington Constitution, Article I, section 3; and 4) Kenmore Lanes’ federal Fifth Amendment takings claim is ripe for adjudication. Finally, Kenmore Lanes argues that 5) the district court erred in denying its request for discovery regarding the City Council’s decisionmaking process when it enacted the Ordinance.2 We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.

1. For purposes of this discussion, we assume, without deciding, that following adoption of the Ordinance, Kenmore Lanes’ card room qualifies as a nonconforming use within the meaning of Municipal Code section 18.20.1860. The City, however, is not required to allow the card room to operate indefinitely, as Kenmore Lanes asserts. The text of section 18.75.030 is permissive; it states that “[o]nce created pursuant to KMC 18.20.1860, a nonconformance may be continued in a manner consistent with the provisions of this chapter.” KMC § 18.75.030 (emphasis added). It is well established under Washington law that the City may regulate a non-conforming use with “subsequently enacted reasonable police power regulations.” Rhod-A-Zalea & 35th, Inc. v. Snohomish County, 136 Wash.2d 1, 959 P.2d 1024, 1029 (1998). The City is not required to allow a nonconforming use to exist indefinitely because “local governments have the authority to preserve, regulate and even, within constitutional limitations, terminate nonconforming uses.” Id. at 1028. The district court correctly granted summary judgment on this issue.

2. Washington courts have recognized a federal constitutional right, under the Fourteenth Amendment’s substantive due process guarantee, to a reasonable amortization period for nonconforming uses terminated by state or local regulation. See State v. Thomasson, 61 Wash.2d 425, 378 P.2d 441, 443 (1963); Rhod-A-Zalea, 959 P.2d at 1029. Kenmore Lanes argues that it is entitled to such an amortization period for the City’s termination of its card room operations. Those nonconforming uses that are not vested rights under Washington law, however, are not entitled to the benefit of an amortization period. See Rhod-A-Zalea, 959 P.2d at 1029. Under Washington law, a gambling license cannot create a vested right. The Washington Administrative Code provides that “the issuance of any license by the [gambling] commission shall not be construed as granting a vested right in any of the privileges so conferred.” WAC § 230-04-175. We look to state law to “define and determine the range of interests that qualify for protection as property” under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Lucas v. S.C. Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003, 1030, 112 S.Ct. 2886, 120 L.Ed.2d 798 [657]*657(1992). Accordingly, because Kenmore Lanes cannot, under Washington law, have a vested interest in the continued operation of its card room gambling business, it is not constitutionally entitled to an amortization period.

3. Next, Kenmore Lanes argues that the Ordinance violates its substantive due process rights under Article 1, section 3 of the Washington Constitution. We disagree. Washington courts apply a three-pronged test to determine whether an ordinance violates substantive due process. Presbytery of Seattle v. King County, 114 Wash.2d 320, 787 P.2d 907, 912-13 (1990). Under this test, we consider whether the ordinance 1) is aimed at achieving a legitimate public purpose, 2) uses means that are reasonably necessary to achieve that purpose, and 3) is unduly oppressive on the person regulated. Edmonds Shopping Ctr. Assoc. v. City of Edmonds, 117 Wash.App. 344, 71 P.3d 233, 242 (2003). On this record, we agree with the district court that each of these elements weighs against a finding that the Ordinance violates Kenmore Lanes’ substantive due process rights, and we conclude that dismissal of this claim was proper. See id. at 243; Paradise, Inc. v. Pierce County, 124 Wash.App. 759, 102 P.3d 173, 181 (2004).

4. Kenmore Lanes next argues that the district court erred in concluding that its federal Fifth Amendment takings claim was not yet ripe for adjudication. We disagree. A federal takings claim is not ripe until the claimant has sought, and been denied, compensation through state procedures for claims of regulatory takings or inverse condemnation. Williamson Comity Reg’l Planning Comm’n v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172, 194-95,105 S.Ct. 3108, 87 L.Ed.2d 126 (1985). We have previously found Washington’s mechanism for adjudicating claims of regulatory takings to be adequate and a necessary prerequisite to a federal takings claim. Macri v. King County, 126 F.3d 1125, 1129 (9th Cir.1997). Here, it is undisputed that Kenmore Lanes did not take this step prior to filing the instant action in federal court.

Neither of the arguments advanced by Kenmore Lanes persuade us that its takings claim should be exempted from this requirement. "While Washington courts have yet to address the impact of Lingle v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc., 544 U.S. 528, 125 S.Ct. 2074, 161 L.Ed.2d 876 (2005), on federal takings analysis, it would be premature to conclude that the Washington courts will not, if presented with Kenmore Lanes’ takings claim, apply the standard adopted by the Supreme Court in Lingle. Furthermore, the Court has solidly rejected the argument that the ripeness rule is unfair because a claimant might be collaterally estopped from litigating its federal takings claim if it pursues state court remedies, and we are bound to do the same here. San Remo Hotel, L.P. v. City and County of San Francisco,

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Bluebook (online)
280 F. App'x 654, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/star-northwest-inc-v-city-of-kenmore-ca9-2008.