Opinion ID: 1293235
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Does the Enactment of the PUD Ordinance by Dubuque Constitute a Taking of the Landowners' Property Without Just Compensation?

Text: In its petition, the landowners allege, the adoption of the ordinance constitutes an improper condemnation or taking of the [landowners'] property.... In essence, the landowners' claim is for inverse condemnation. An inverse condemnation occurs when a government body takes an owner's property without the institution of formal condemnation proceedings under our statutes. Scott v. City of Sioux City, 432 N.W.2d 144, 145 n. 1 (Iowa 1988). A person may not be deprived of property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation under the Fifth Amendment to the federal Constitution. U.S. Const. amend. V. The Fifth Amendment prohibition of taking private property for public use without just compensation applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Chi., Burlington & Quincy R.R. v. City of Chicago, 166 U.S. 226, 239, 17 S.Ct. 581, 585-86, 41 L.Ed. 979, 985 (1897). The Iowa Constitution has a similar provision providing that [p]rivate property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation first being made.... Iowa Const. art. I, 18. A taking under the federal and Iowa constitutions is not limited to the appropriation of a fee. A taking occurs when there is even a minimal, permanent physical occupation of real property. Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp., 458 U.S. 419, 434-35, 102 S.Ct. 3164, 3175, 73 L.Ed.2d 868, 882 (1982). A government action that does not intrude upon or occupy the property, but affects and limits the use of the property, can also be a taking. Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, 260 U.S. 393, 415, 43 S.Ct. 158, 160, 67 L.Ed. 322, 326 (1922). [W]hile property may be regulated to a certain extent, if regulation goes too far it will be recognized as a taking. Id. Before we can address the landowners' claim of inverse condemnation, we must determine if the matter is ripe for adjudication. Iowa Coal Mining Co. v. Monroe County, 555 N.W.2d 418, 432-34 (Iowa 1996). If the inverse condemnation claim is not ripe for adjudication, the court does not have the authority to hear the case and must dismiss it. [4] Id. at 432. Exhaustion of one's administrative remedies is a condition precedent to ripeness. Id. at 433. As we have previously stated: In a state inverse condemnation proceeding like the present one, it is inaccurate to talk in terms of exhaustion of state remedies because the proceeding itself is a state remedy. Our only concern in such a proceeding is whether there has been finality, the other condition precedent to ripeness. Finality equates to exhaustion of administrative remedies under the challenged regulatory ordinance so that a final, reviewable decision must be made regarding the use of the property. A court can make no determination of the takings claim until the regulatory authority under the ordinance makes that final decision. Id. at 434. With these principles in mind, we must determine if the landowners' inverse condemnation claim is ripe for adjudication by examining whether the landowners exhausted their administrative remedies. The PUD ordinance declared the existing industrial uses in the area south of the Ice Harbor are not compatible with the retail, institutional, and entertainment uses envisioned for the Port of Dubuque. It therefore made all the industrial uses in the area south of the Ice Harbor nonconforming uses. Although the PUD ordinance restricts the expansion of these nonconforming uses, the ordinance allows existing businesses to operate as long as there is no change in use or an expansion of an existing use. The general zoning ordinance of Dubuque contains provisions that may grant the landowners relief from the no-change or expansion provisions of the PUD ordinance. One such provision allows the zoning administrator to interpret the provisions of the PUD ordinance. Dubuque Mun.Code app. § 5-4 (1989). If a business wants to make a change in its operation, it can request an opinion from the zoning administrator as to whether the proposed change would comply with the PUD ordinance. If the business is not satisfied with the zoning administrator's decision, the business owner has a right to appeal the decision to the board of adjustment. Id. § 5-5. If the business does not obtain relief from the board of adjustment, the board's actions are subject to judicial review by filing a petition for certiorari. See Iowa Code § 414.15. Another provision of the general zoning ordinance allows a person to seek a variance to the PUD ordinance from the board of adjustment. See Iowa Code § 414.7; Dubuque Mun.Code app. § 5-2. Again, if the person is not satisfied with the board of adjustment's decision on his or her request for a variance, he or she may seek judicial review of the board's decision by filing a petition for certiorari. See Iowa Code § 414.15. Only after a property owner exhausts his or her appeals would a court be in a position to determine the inverse condemnation claim because at that point the allowable use of the property would be finally determined. In the present case, Dubuque passed the PUD ordinance on April 15, 2002. Instead of seeking relief from the PUD ordinance through the zoning administrator or the board of adjustment, the landowners filed their petition on May 10, 2002. Under these circumstances, the landowners' inverse condemnation claim is not ripe for adjudication, because the city has never had the opportunity to make a final and reviewable decision regarding the uses of the landowners' properties that the city would actually allow with the PUD ordinance in effect. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's determination that the landowners did not exhaust their administrative remedies. For this reason, the landowners' claim of inverse condemnation is not ripe for adjudication, and we must dismiss this claim on the ground the district court did not have authority to hear the case. See Iowa Coal Mining Co., 555 N.W.2d at 436.