Source: https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/473-u-s-172-604994518
Timestamp: 2020-05-25 02:23:05
Document Index: 785414905

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 47', '§ 13']

473 U.S. 172 (1985), 84-4, Williamson County Regional Planning Commission - Federal Cases - Case Law - VLEX 604994518
473 U.S. 172 (1985), 84-4, Williamson County Regional Planning Commission
Docket Nº: No. 84-4
Citation: 473 U.S. 172, 105 S.Ct. 3108, 87 L.Ed.2d 126, 53 U.S.L.W. 4969
Party Name: Williamson County Regional Planning Commission
473 U.S. 172 (1985)
105 S.Ct. 3108, 87 L.Ed.2d 126, 53 U.S.L.W. 4969
No. 84-4
1. Even assuming, arguendo, that government regulation may effect a taking for which the Fifth Amendment requires just compensation,
(a) Although respondent's plan for developing its property was rejected, it did not then seek variances that would have allowed it to develop the property according to its proposed plat. Cf. Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Assn., Inc., 452 U.S. 264. The record does not support respondent's claim that the Commission's denial of approval for respondent's plat was equivalent to a denial of variances. Thus, respondent has not yet obtained a final decision regarding how it will be allowed to develop its property. Respondent's contention that it should not be required to seek variances because its suit is predicated upon 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is without merit. While there is no requirement that a plaintiff exhaust administrative remedies before bringing a § 1983 action, the question whether administrative remedies must be exhausted is conceptually distinct from the question whether an administrative action must be final before it is judicially reviewable. Pp. 186-194.
2. Respondent's claim also is premature if viewed under the theory that government regulation that goes so far that it has the same effect as a physical taking, must be viewed not as a Fifth Amendment "taking," but as an invalid exercise of the police power, violative of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Resolution of the due process question depends, in significant part, upon an analysis of the effect the Commission's application of the ordinance and regulations had on the value of respondent's property and investment-backed profit expectations. That effect cannot be measured until a final decision is made as to how the regulations will be applied to respondent's property. No such decision had been made at the time respondent filed its § 1983 action,
BLACKMUN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and BRENNAN, MARSHALL, REHNQUIST and O'CONNOR, JJ., joined. BRENNAN, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which MARSHALL, J., joined, post, p. 201. STEVENS, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, post, p. 202. WHITE, J., filed a dissenting statement, post, p. 200. POWELL, J., took no part in the decision of the case.
Respondent, the owner of a tract of land it was developing as a residential subdivision, [105 S.Ct. 3111] sued petitioners, the Williamson County (Tennessee) Regional Planning Commission and its members and staff, in United States District Court, alleging that petitioners' application of various zoning laws and regulations to respondent's property amounted to a "taking" of that property. At trial, the jury agreed, and awarded respondent $350,000 as just compensation for the "taking." Although the jury's verdict was rejected by the District Court, which granted a judgment notwithstanding the verdict to petitioners, the verdict was reinstated on appeal. Petitioners and their amici urge this Court to overturn the jury's award on the ground that a temporary regulatory interference with an investor's profit expectation does not constitute a "taking" within the meaning of the Just Compensation Clause of the Fifth Amendment,1 or, alternatively, on the ground that, even if such interference does constitute a taking, the Just Compensation Clause does not require money damages as recompense. Before we reach those contentions,
Under Tennessee law, responsibility for land use planning is divided between the legislative body of each of the State's counties and regional and municipal "planning commissions." The county legislative body is responsible for zoning ordinances to regulate the uses to which particular land and buildings may be put, and to control the density of population and the location and dimensions of buildings. Tenn.Code Ann. § 13-7-101 (1980). The planning commissions are responsible for more specific regulations governing the subdivision of land within their region or municipality for residential development. §§ 13-3-403, 13-4-303. Enforcement of both the zoning ordinances and the subdivision regulations is accomplished in part through a requirement that the planning commission approve the plat of a subdivision before the plat may be recorded. §§ 13-3-402, 13-4-302 (1980 and Supp.1984).
both the size and the width of individual residential lots in . . . [a] development may be reduced, provided . . . that the overall density of the entire tract remains constant -- provided, that is, that an area equivalent to the total of the areas thus "saved" from each individual lot is pooled and retained as common open space.
2 N. Williams, American Land Planning Law § 47.01, pp. 212-213 (1974). Cluster zoning thus allows housing units to be grouped, or "clustered" together, rather than being evenly spaced on uniform lots.
As required by § 13-3-402, respondent's predecessor in interest (developer) in 1973 submitted a preliminary plat for the cluster development of its tract, the Temple Hills Country Club Estates (Temple Hills), to the Williamson County Regional Planning Commission for approval. At that time, the county's zoning ordinance and the Commission's subdivision regulations required developers to seek review and approval of subdivision plats in two steps. The developer first was to submit for approval a preliminary plat, or "initial sketch plan," indicating, among other things, the boundaries and acreage of the site, the number of dwelling units and their basic design, the location of existing and proposed roads, structures, lots, utility layouts, and open space, and the contour of...