Town of North Bonneville v. United States

5 Cl. Ct. 312, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1415
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedMay 11, 1984
DocketNo. 564-80C
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 5 Cl. Ct. 312 (Town of North Bonneville v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Town of North Bonneville v. United States, 5 Cl. Ct. 312, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1415 (cc 1984).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

HARKINS, Judge.

Plaintiff, Town of North Bonneville, (Town) filed its petition in the United States Court of Claims on October 20,1980, to obtain a judgment of $14,500,000 for breach of two agreements in a series of instruments that were concerned with relocation of the Town as part of the project to construct a second powerhouse at Bonneville Dam. On November 19, 1982, defendant filed a counterclaim for $13,400,000. The counterclaim included compensation for expenses incurred in the construction of additional municipal facilities, costs incurred to operate and maintain city and municipal facilities from 1978 to 1982, and damages that resulted from unlawful delays allegedly caused by the Town.

The case was transferred to the United States Claims Court pursuant to section 403(d) of the Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982. 28 U.S.C.A. § 171, note (1983). The case is before the court on plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment, filed April 29, 1983, and defendant’s cross-motion for summary judgment, filed May 2, 1983. Oral argument was heard on October 27, 1983. Pretrial preparation of matters relative to disposition of defendant’s counterclaim have been suspended pending disposition of defendant’s cross-motion for summary judgment.

The essential facts relative to liability issues are not in dispute and those issues may be decided through summary judgment procedures. This case involves a course of dealings between a municipal body and the Federal government over a protracted period that is embodied in a series of documentary exhibits. Plaintiff’s motion is supported by two exhibits and an affidavit, each with multiple attachments, and plaintiff’s response to defendant’s cross-motion is supported by an additional 61 exhibits. Defendant’s cross-motion is supported by seven exhibits.

The issues that now must be determined are (1) the construction of the terms of certain instruments, and (2) whether those instruments are contracts within the scope of the jurisdiction conferred on this court by 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(1) (1982). An examination of the factual background in considerable detail is required to resolve contract construction issues. For the reasons that follow, plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment is allowed.

The Town of North Bonneville was a boom town that originated with the Bonneville Dam project; it reached a peak population of 643 in 1940, during the dam’s construction period. Bonneville Dam, on the Columbia River, was authorized in 1935 [314]*314and completed in 1943. It was constructed and is operated and maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The northern half of the spillway of the dam is in the State of Washington; the southern half of the spillway, and the first powerhouse, navigation lock and other facilities are on the Oregon side of the river.

In 1965, the Bonneville Power Administration, which markets power generated by the dam, requested construction of a second powerhouse. The site ultimately selected included approximately 95% of the then existing Town of North Bonneville, and in August 1971, the Town was notified that the United States intended to acquire that area.

The Town’s population in 1971, including areas outside the corporate limits, was estimated at 650 persons. In 1972, revenues from general property taxes amounted to $5,997; municipal receipts from all sources amounted to $51,250. Without the prospect of a second powerhouse at the Bonneville Dam and possible town relocation, it is probable that the Town within the original corporate limits would have experienced a stable population of from 550 to 650, and that the entire community area would have a population of from 750 to 850. The total holding capacity of the existing town, without the second powerhouse or relocation, assuming ultimate possible development, was projected, as of June 1975, at 554 lots and a total of 1,528 people.

Completion of the second powerhouse project necessitated the removal of substantially all of the residences, businesses, municipal utilities and facilities of the Town. The Town’s officials and citizens indicated a desire to be relocated as a community, rather than for the residents to be relocated individually under the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 (Policies Act). Pub.L. No. 91-646, 84 Stat. 1894 (codified at 42 U.S.C. §§ 4601 et seq. (1976 & Supp. Y 1981)). On September 20, 1971, the Town hired a planning consultant to prepare a preliminary engineering report on existing municipal facilities and relocation items. The consultant’s November 22, 1971, report estimated that a relocated town would have a total population of from 700 to 750 people by 1981, and that the approximate total cost for the construction of ■ new municipal facilities would be $5,600,000. The site recommended by the planning consultant was substantially the same as the site ultimately chosen.

The Town lacked financial capability to continue its planning effort, and in order to clarify the authority of the Corps to participate in planning for relocation of the Town and for construction of municipal facilities in the relocated town, the Town sought additional legislative relief. In testimony before the Subcommittee on Water Resources, of the House Public Works Committee, in 1973, on H.R. 8756, a bill to provide assistance to the Town of North Bonneville, Washington, in planning a new town and for other purposes, the Town manager requested an allocation of resources to facilitate comprehensive planning for relocation before actual building of the second powerhouse. He estimated that the planning, acquisition and move of the Town would be in “the neighborhood of $1.5 million.” Hearings, p. 1225.

Pub.L. No. 93-251, Section 83 (88 Stat. 35) was enacted on March 7, 1974 (hereinafter Section 83). It modified the Bonneville Project Act (Aug. 30, 1936, 49 Stat. 1028 and Aug. 20, 1937, 50 Stat. 731) so as to authorize the Corps to relocate the Town to a new townsite.

After Section 83 was enacted, representatives of the Corps and of the Town undertook extensive planning and relocation activities, which included negotiations and the sequential execution of a series of written instruments. These included:

1. A cost reimbursable planning agreement, labeled Contract for Services (DACW57-75-C-0032), dated July 26, 1974, in which the Corps initially allocated $341,529 for the Town to employ the services of a planning consultant, subject to approval of the Corps’ contracting officer, to proceed with studies, investiga[315]*315tions, environmental reports, development of site plans, estimates of costs, and all other items necessary for planning for relocation. This contract was amended by a supplemental agreement on October 14, 1974, to provide that the Draft Feature Design Memorandum (DFDM) to be prepared by the planning consultant would include as a basic element that replacements for municipally owned facilities and utilities would have the same capacity and be able to serve the same number of users as those in the existing town.
2. A Contract for Professional Services, dated November 19, 1974, between the Town and the firm of Royston, Hanamoto, Beck & Abey (RHBA).

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Bluebook (online)
5 Cl. Ct. 312, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1415, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/town-of-north-bonneville-v-united-states-cc-1984.