Village of Maineville v. Hamilton Township

902 F. Supp. 2d 1072, 2012 WL 4811124, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146005
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedOctober 10, 2012
DocketCase No. 1:10-cv-690
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 902 F. Supp. 2d 1072 (Village of Maineville v. Hamilton Township) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Village of Maineville v. Hamilton Township, 902 F. Supp. 2d 1072, 2012 WL 4811124, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146005 (S.D. Ohio 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

SANDRA S. BECKWITH, Senior District'Judge.

Before the Court are cross-motions for summary judgment. Plaintiffs, the Village of Maineville and Salt Run, LLC, seek partial summary judgment on Counts 1 through 3 of their complaint. (Doc. 30) Defendant, the Hamilton Township Board of Trustees (hereinafter the “Township”) moves for entry of judgment on all six of Plaintiffs’ pending claims. (Doc. 25)

After the motions were briefed, Salt Run, LLC was granted leave to file an amended complaint to add additional plaintiffs. These additional plaintiffs are three entities that have membership interests in Salt Run, LLC, and three individuals who are officers and owners of those member entities. (See Doc. 40, Amended Complaint) The amended complaint and the addition of these plaintiffs did not add new claims for relief, and their presence does not require different analyses of the claims they allege. Therefore, for ease of reference, the Court refers to all of the Salt Run-related plaintiffs collectively as “Salt Run.”

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Salt Run owns property located in Hamilton Township, Ohio, and began to develop the property for eventual homebuilding. In May 2007, the Township Trustees enacted Resolution No. 2007-0418, entitled “Amended Resolution Implementing Im[1074]*1074pact Fees Within Unincorporated Areas of Hamilton Township, Ohio for Roads, Fire and Police, and Parks.” The impact fees were assessed based on the intended use of the land (e.g., single-family dwelling, hotel, commercial, etc.). According to the ordinance, the fees were intended to offset the Township’s costs to provide increased services and improvements in the four categories that were identified in the title of the resolution. The Township intended to collect the fee whenever a property owner applied for a zoning certifícate for new construction or redevelopment.

After the Township passed the resolution, Salt Run sought annexation of its land into the adjoining Village of Maine-ville under annexation procedures set forth in Ohio Rev.Code 709.023. After the Warren County Commissioners approved the annexation in January 2009, the Township filed a mandamus action in state court challenging that decision. The trial court dismissed the suit and the court of appeals affirmed, finding that the Township lacked standing to challenge the county commissioners’ decision. See State of Ohio ex rel. Hamilton Township Board of Trustees v. Warren County Board of Comm’rs, Case No. CA2009-07-100, 2010 WL 705079 (12th Dist.Ct.App., March 1, 2010). After the annexation, Salt Run’s property fell within the incorporated area of the Township, and was subject to the Village of Maineville’s zoning requirements and permit authority. Maineville granted Salt Run’s application to rezone its property for R3 residential use in February 2010.

After the trial court had dismissed the Township’s mandamus action challenging the annexation, the Township’s Community Development Director, Gary Boeres, executed an “affidavit of facts relating to title” under Ohio Rev.Code 5301.252. That affidavit described the Township’s adoption of the impact fee resolution, which provided that the impact fees would run with the land. Boeres stated that the Maineville annexation occurred after the Township’s ordinance was adopted. The affidavit asserted the Township’s claim to a “continuing and subsisting lien on the property ... for the payment and collection of the impact fees at the time that any impact-generating development of the described real property” should occur. The final paragraph provided contact information for anyone who acquired an interest in the property to obtain subordination of the lien, if the acquisition of the property was not an impact fee generating event. (See Doc. 25, Exhibit B) On October 30, 2009, the Township recorded the affidavit in the county land records with respect to Salt Run’s property.

Sometime prior to the recording of this affidavit, Salt Run had entered into an agreement with a home builder (M7I Homes) to develop lots on its property. M/I’s title search revealed Boeres’ affidavit, and in order to satisfy M7I’s concern about a potential cloud on the title, Salt Run was required to escrow funds to cover any liability for the impact fees that might be assessed on the developed lots. Salt Run demanded that the Township withdraw the affidavit, but that demand was rejected.

Salt Run, joined by the Village of Maine-ville, then filed a complaint in the state common pleas court alleging six claims against the Township: Salt Run’s slander of title (Count One); two counts for declaratory relief filed by all plaintiffs generally challenging the impact fees and the Boeres affidavit with respect to Salt Run’s property (Counts Two and Three); a Section 1983 claim by Salt Run alleging an unconstitutional taking of its property (Count Four); Salt Run’s claim for “falsification” (Count Five); and Salt Run’s claim of selective enforcement (Count Six). The Township removed the case to this Court [1075]*1075on the basis of federal question jurisdiction arising from Count Four. After discovery, the parties filed the pending cross-motions for summary judgment.

While these events regarding Salt Run’s property were unfolding, a coalition of home builders and developers challenged the Township’s impact fee ordinance in a lawsuit brought in the Warren County, Ohio common pleas court. (Those builders had paid the fees under protest when applying for Township zoning certificates. Salt Run was not involved in that litigation.) The state trial court granted the Township summary judgment, rejecting the builders’ claims that the Township acted unlawfully in imposing the fees. The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed. See Drees Company v. Hamilton Township, Ohio, 2010-Ohio-3473, 2010 WL 2891746, 2010 Ohio App. LEXIS 2939 (12th Dist. App., July 26, 2010).

However, the Ohio Supreme Court granted the plaintiffs’ petition for discretionary review on December 15, 2010. See Drees Company v. Hamilton Township, 127 Ohio St.3d 1460, 938 N.E.2d 362 (2010). This Court stayed this matter and its consideration of the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment pending the Supreme Court’s decision. In May 2012, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s judgment in favor of the Township. It found that the Township, an Ohio limited home rule township, was prohibited from imposing development “impact fees” because in reality, the fees were a tax, and the Township lacked taxing authority under Ohio statutes. See Drees Company v. Hamilton Township, 132 Ohio St.3d 186, 970 N.E.2d 916, 2012 Ohio 2370 (2012).

After that decision was announced, the Court held a status conference with the parties on July 3, to discuss whether the decision resolved the pending motions. The parties generally agreed that the decision resolves the motions with respect to Counts Two and Three, the claims for declaratory relief aimed at the impact fee resolution. As the Township’s fee resolution is now invalid, the Township informed the Court that it would be withdrawing the Boeres affidavit. The Court therefore grants Plaintiffs’ motion on Counts Two and Three insofar as those claims sought a declaratory judgment that the Township cannot collect impact fees on Salt Run’s property; that impact fees cannot constitute a lien upon any real estate annexed into the Village of Maineville; and that the Boeres affidavit is void ab initio.

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902 F. Supp. 2d 1072, 2012 WL 4811124, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146005, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/village-of-maineville-v-hamilton-township-ohsd-2012.