Opinion ID: 2265565
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Temporary Moratorium on Development

Text: This court has held that municipalities possess the power to regulate their growth and development by enacting slow growth ordinances, Begin v. Town of Sabattus, 409 A.2d 1269, 1275 (Me.1979), and other jurisdictions have permitted municipalities to establish short-term moratoria on development. See Associated Home Builders v. City of Livermore, 18 Cal.3d 582, 135 Cal.Rptr. 41, 557 P.2d 473 (1976); Golden v. Planning Board of Town of Ramapo, 30 N.Y.2d 359, 334 N.Y.S.2d 138, 285 N.E.2d 291 (1972); see generally 2 R. Anderson, American Law of Zoning 2d § 10.03 (1976 & Supp.1984). We agree that in appropriate circumstances a municipality may use its police powers to withhold for a limited time approval of any new construction projects. We accord any growth-controlling ordinance a presumption of constitutionality and employ a three-step process, first articulated in State v. Rush, 324 A.2d 748 (Me.1974), to determine whether the municipality has exercised its police power within the limits of due process: 1. The object of the exercise must be to provide for the public welfare. 2. The legislative means employed must be appropriate to the achievement of the ends sought. 3. The manner of exercising the power must not be unduly arbitrary or capricious. Id. at 753 (emphasis in original). It is similarly well-established that the party challenging the ordinance must establish the complete absence of any state of facts that would support the need for the enactment. Gabriel v. Town of Old Orchard Beach, 390 A.2d 1065, 1071 (Me.1978); State v. Rush, 324 A.2d at 753. In the case at bar we conclude that a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether Ogunquit was faced with an emergency in the provision of public services of a nature to justify its enactment of a moratorium on development. The ordinances establishing the zoning moratoria were before the court as attachments to the complaints. In those ordinances, statements of purpose and necessity assert that the Town's public services were stretched to their limits. On the other hand, at the hearing of June 6 the three witnesses testified that, although emergency vehicles had difficulty maneuvering through Ogunquit's crowded downtown streets in the summer, in general growth was not threatening to overload the Town's utilities. [3] That testimony directly contradicts circumstances requiring enactment of the moratorium as asserted in the ordinances themselves. With only the ordinances attached to the complaints and the testimony at the hearing before the court, it was impossible to state definitely whether Ogunquit was facing growth that would outdistance its ability to provide public services. [S]ummary judgment is an extreme remedy which should be cautiously invoked. It is specifically reserved for those occasions on which the facts before the court so conclusively preclude a party's recovery that a judgment in favor of the other party is the only possible result. Utica Mutual Insurance Co. v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co., 468 A.2d 315, 317 (Me.1983) (citations omitted). In this case, where there is obviously a genuine issue of material fact present, summary judgment was inappropriate.