Source: http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/324/1229/577321/
Timestamp: 2013-12-05 13:10:59
Document Index: 277290272

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1', '§ 4321', '§ 706', '§ 701', '§ 704', '§ 1', '§ 410', '§ 1', '§ 129', '§ 706', '§ 701', '§ 701', '§ 701', '§ 701', '§ 701']

324 F.3d 1229: National Parks Conservation Association, Tropical Audubon Society, Plaintiffs-appellants, v. Gail Norton, As Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior, and Fran P. Mainella, As Director of the National Park Service, Defendants-appellees :: US Court of Appeals Cases :: Justia
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324 F.3d 1229: National Parks Conservation Association, Tropical Audubon Society, Plaintiffs-appellants, v. Gail Norton, As Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior, and Fran P. Mainella, As Director of the National Park Service, Defendants-appelleesUnited States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. - 324 F.3d 1229
Sandra S. Glover, David C. Shilton, U.S. Dept. of Justice, App. Section, Environment & Natural Resources Div., Washington, DC, for Defendants-Appellees.
This case centers around the fate of "Stiltsville," a collection of stilted buildings located in Biscayne Bay, off the southern coast of Key Biscayne, Florida. These buildings presently rest within the boundaries of Biscayne National Park, and accordingly the National Park Service ("NPS") is charged with their administration. However, in 1976, prior to the assumption by the NPS of responsibility for their management,1 the structures were leased by the State of Florida to individual occupants for 23 year terms. These leases expressly provided that upon their expiration on July 1, 1999 the Stiltsville structures would be removed. As this deadline approached, however, the lessees of these buildings successfully undertook to extend their exclusive occupancy.
On May 14, 2001, appellants the National Parks Conservation Association ("NPCA") and Tropical Audubon Society ("TAS") responded to the lessees' efforts by filing this action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. They alleged that the NPS's failure to discontinue the exclusive private use of the Stiltsville structures violated the National Park Service Organic Act ("Organic Act"), 16 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., the Biscayne National Park General Management Plan ("General Management Plan"), the National Environmental Protection Act ("NEPA"), 42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq., several of the administrative regulations that attend the Organic Act and the NEPA and the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment. With the exception of the equal protection claim, which they brought under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, NPCA and TAS advanced each of their claims under the Administrative Procedures Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. § 706(1) & 2(A). Appellants sought to compel the NPS2 to either remove the structures or make them accessible to the public.
The district court granted summary judgment to the NPS on all of appellants' claims. It reasoned that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction under the APA because decisions whether and how to comply with the Organic Act, General Management Plan, NEPA and their implementing regulations are vested entirely within the NPS's discretion. Accordingly, the court applied the APA's "committed to agency discretion" exception to the rule providing for judicial review of administrative action. See 5 U.S.C. § 701(a)(2); Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821, 828-35, 105 S.Ct. 1649, 1654-58, 84 L.Ed.2d 714 (1985). The district court also held that appellants lacked standing to advance their Fifth Amendment equal protection claim. NPCA and TAS appeal both of these holdings.
After thorough review, we find that the district court's conclusion that appellants' APA claims were non-justiciable was correct, as was the entry of final summary judgment for appellee on appellants' equal protection claim. However, we base both of these results on different grounds than were relied on by the district court. See Lucas v. W.W. Grainger, Inc., 257 F.3d 1249, 1256 (11th Cir.2001) (noting that "we may affirm [the district court's] judgment `on any ground that finds support in the record'" (quoting Jaffke v. Dunham, 352 U.S. 280, 281, 77 S.Ct. 307, 308, 1 L.Ed.2d 314 (1957))). In particular, we conclude that we lack subject matter jurisdiction over appellants' APA claims because the NPS has not taken any action vis-a-vis the future management of Stiltsville that can be considered "final" within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. § 704. Furthermore, although NPCA and TAS enjoy standing to pursue their equal protection claim, that claim is unavailing on its merits.
"Stiltsville" is a collection of structures constructed on stilts in the shallow waters of Biscayne Bay south of Key Biscayne, Florida. The buildings are largely weekend homes, restaurants and nightclubs that were built by wealthy individuals beginning in the 1930s. By 1945 there were 14 stilted structures in the bay, and by the 1960s there were 27 such structures in relatively close proximity to each other, and this collection of buildings became known as "Stiltsville." Over the years, the majority of these structures have been destroyed by hurricanes, and today only 7 remain in existence.
During the mid-1960s, the Florida Department of Natural Resources asserted its jurisdiction over the state-owned submerged lands on which Stiltsville rests, and issued to private individuals renewable year-to-year leases for the structures at nominal rent. Subsequently, in 1968 Congress established Biscayne National Monument, the northern boundary of which was approximately five miles south of the Stiltsville structures. Congress created the Monument "to preserve and protect for the education, inspiration, recreation, and enjoyment of present and future generations a rare combination of terrestrial, marine, and amphibious life in a tropical setting of great natural beauty." Pub.L. No. 90-606, § 1, 82 Stat. 1188 (1968). In 1976, the State of Florida replaced the year-to-year leases with exclusive "Campsite leases" that expired on July 1, 1999 and set the rent at $700 per year. These agreements expressly provided that the lessees forfeited all rights to the buildings other than those provided for in the leases, and that the structures were to be removed by the lessor upon the leases' expiration.
In 1980, Congress passed the Biscayne National Park Enabling Act ("Enabling Act"), 16 U.S.C. §§ 410gg et seq., which converted Biscayne National Monument into Biscayne National Park. The Park encompasses 71,000 acres that the Monument did not, including the area in which Stiltsville is located. The Enabling Act directed the Park Service to "preserve and administer the park in accordance with the provisions" of the Organic Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1, and to develop a revised management plan for the new park. Accordingly, in 1983 the NPS issued "[t]he General Management Plan, Development Concept Plan, Wilderness Study and Environmental Assessment" for Biscayne National Park. This Plan was prepared with public notice and comment after the completion of environmental review as required by the NEPA, and it remains in effect. The Plan states that the Stiltsville buildings and surrounding area will be managed as a natural area for the protection of the natural resources within the Park, that the leases pertaining to the structures will expire on July 1, 1999 and cannot be renewed, and that the buildings are to be removed upon the expiration of the leases. However, the Plan does not specify the method or exact timing of the removal. In 1985, Florida deeded to the federal government the submerged lands on which Stiltsville sits, an action that resulted in the NPS becoming landlord for the leaseholders.3
From the execution of the "campsite leases" in 1976 until near the end of the 23 year lease term, the structures were occupied without incident. However, as the July 1, 1999 expiration date approached, the leaseholders undertook a series of actions aimed at preserving their exclusive use of the buildings. They twice filed with the Keeper of the National Register applications to have the buildings listed in the National Register of Historic Places. These applications were opposed by the NPS and both ultimately were denied. Then, on June 29, 1999, with the threat of a lawsuit looming, appellee and the leaseholders entered into a "Standstill Agreement" which provided for the continued private occupancy of the buildings until December 1, 1999. On November 22, 1999, this agreement was extended through November 29, 2000. Subsequently, bills were introduced in both the 106th and 107th Congresses to modify the borders of Biscayne National Park to exclude Stiltsville, see H.R. 1002, 107th Cong. (1st Sess.2001); H.R. 3033, 106th Cong. (2d Sess.2000), but neither of these measures passed.
As the November 29, 2000 extended deadline neared, the Stiltsville occupants filed two separate actions in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in an effort to forestall the termination of their leases. These were captioned Bay Chateau, Inc. v. United States, No. 00-4529 (S.D.Fla.2000) and Miami Springs Power Boat Club v. United States, No. 00-4518 (S.D.Fla.2000), and in each the plaintiff leaseholders claimed that the NPS lacked authority under the 1976 leases to evict them. On November 29, 2000 the district court entered a temporary restraining order preventing the NPS from moving to evict the Stiltsville residents, and then on December 18, 2000 the court converted the TRO into a preliminary injunction that remained in place until April 1, 2001. That same month, while these suits were pending, Congress passed an appropriations rider extending the second Standstill Agreement until March 31, 2001. See Pub.L. No. 106-554, § 129, 114 Stat. 2763, 2763A-230 (2000).
On March 31, 2001, the parties settled the Miami Springs Power Boat Club and Bay Chateau cases. The settlement agreement required the NPS to forebear from evicting the leaseholders until April 1, 2002. In addition, the agreement expressly provided that it "does not constitute a transfer or conveyance by the United States of any right, title, or interest to the Stiltsville Occupants." Against this background, on May 14, 2001 the National Parks Conservation Association and the Tropical Audubon Society filed this suit under the APA, 5 U.S.C. § 706(1) & (2)(A), and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. They alleged that the NPS's repeated acquiescence in the Standstill Agreements and other failures to evict the Stiltsville leaseholders upon the expiration of the campsite leases were tantamount to the grant of an exclusive lease to the buildings' occupants. Appellants claimed that this inaction by the NPS violated the Organic Act, the General Management Plan, the NEPA, several administrative regulations that attend these provisions and the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause. The parties filed cross motions for summary judgment, and although the district court denied appellants' motion it granted summary judgment in favor of the NPS. The court reasoned that although the APA provides for judicial review of agency action that is final or that is specifically made reviewable by statute, there are two notable statutory exceptions to this general proposition. Under 5 U.S.C. § 701(a), judicial review is unavailable where "(1) statutes preclude judicial review; or (2) agency action is committed to agency discretion by law." The district court quickly concluded that judicial review was not prohibited under any of the substantive statutes that plaintiffs alleged the NPS to have violated, which left as potentially applicable only the exception codified at § 701(a)(2).
In Heckler, the Supreme Court held that judicial "review is not to be had [under § 701(a)(2)] if the statute [in question] is drawn so that a court would have no meaningful standard against which to judge the agency's exercise of discretion." 470 U.S. at 830, 105 S.Ct. at 1655. Relying on Heckler's exposition of the "committed to agency discretion" exception, the district court in this case determined that none of the statutory provisions that allegedly had been violated by the NPS contained a standard that was sufficiently definite to permit meaningful judicial review. In fact, the district court held that "`Congress delegated the entire area of parks management to the' Secretary of the Interior." District Court's opinion at 11 (quoting Maloney v. Sheehan, 453 F.Supp. 1131, 1140 (D.Conn.1978)). Although the court "acknowledge[d]" appellants' contention that the Organic Act supplies a meaningful standard for judicial review, it held that this Act "merely establishes a series of general directives to" promote and regulate the National Parks. The Organic Act, the court continued, is silent as to the means by which this promotion and regulation are to be realized. The district court also noted that the only discernible congressional policy regarding the Stiltsville leases is consistent with the NPS's inaction, as evidenced by Congress's direction to extend the Standstill Agreement until March 21, 2001. Based on this analysis, the court concluded that neither the Organic Act, the General Management Plan nor the NEPA supplies a meaningful standard against which to review appellees' failure to evict the Stiltsville occupants. As such, it held that appellants' claims sounding in the violation of these statutes were unreviewable by a court. As for their equal protection claim, the district court held that NPCA and TAS lacked standing to vindicate the interest of all members of the public in fully enjoying Biscayne National Park. Accordingly, it determined that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over this claim.
Based on the foregoing analysis, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the NPS, and it is from this order that NPCA and TAS presently appeal. On appeal, NPCA and TAS argue that this case is readily distinguishable from Heckler, where the FDA was held to have absolute discretion whether to undertake enforcement activities, as the NPS is not afforded discretion under the Organic Act, General Management Plan or NEPA. As a corollary of this argument, appellants note that the exception codified at 5 U.S.C. § 701(a)(2) is narrow in scope, and contend that these enactments do provide a meaningful and altogether sufficient standard against which to review appellees' inaction. They also assert that the district court erred by holding that they lack standing to advance their Fifth Amendment equal protection claim, as they seek not to vindicate the rights of the public at large, but rather of their membership specifically.
In response, appellees advance three primary arguments. First, seeking to analogize their inaction to the inaction of the FDA that was at issue in Heckler, they characterize their failure to terminate the Stiltsville leases as a wholly discretionary decision not to exert their enforcement power. As such, they say, this decision is entirely unreviewable by a court under § 701(a)(2). Second, appellees assert that judicial review may be had only of final agency actions, and that their decision not to evict the Stiltsville leaseholders is non-final. Finally, they contend that appellants' claims are not ripe. Although the NPS does not defend the district court's determination that appellants lack standing to advance their Fifth Amendment equal protection claim, it argues that this claim is unavailing on its merits.
Before evaluating the central issues in this lawsuit, we observe t