Opinion ID: 1709572
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Highway Placement and Iowa Code Section 306.9.

Text: A. Highway placement. Generally speaking, the decision where to locate a highway rests solely within the discretion of the legislative body, or its delegated administrative agency. 39 Am.Jur.2d Highways, Streets, and Bridges § 49, at 438 (1968). Thus, the power to determine the location of a highway is a legislative, and not a judicial, function. Id. In the absence of fraud, corruption, oppression, or gross injustice, courts are not to interfere with that function. Id. All of this is true in Iowa. See Harvey v. Iowa State Highway Comm'n, 256 Iowa 1229, 1231, 130 N.W.2d 725, 727 (1964). The legislature has empowered the Highway Division of IDOT to make initial recommendations regarding location of highways and has empowered the commission to make decisions regarding which of the alternatives proposed should be adopted. Iowa Code §§ 307.10, 307A.2(12); Pundt Agric. Inc. v. Iowa Dep't of Transp., 291 N.W.2d 340, 345 (Iowa 1980). B. Iowa Code section 306.9. The legislature, however, has circumscribed the commission's discretion with respect to road relocation by passing Iowa Code section 306.9. Section 306.9 provides in relevant part: It is the policy of the state of Iowa that relocation of primary highways through cultivated land shall be avoided to the maximum extent possible. When the volume of traffic for which the road is designed or other conditions, including designation as part of the network of commercial and industrial highways, require relocation, diagonal routes shall be avoided if feasible and prudent alternatives consistent with efficient movement of traffic exist. The improvement of two-lane roads shall utilize the existing right-of-way unless alignment or other conditions, including designation as part of the network of commercial and industrial highways, make changes imperative, and when a two-lane road is expanded to a four-lane road, the normal procedure shall be that the additional right-of-way be contiguous to the existing right-of-way unless relocated for compelling reasons, including the need to provide efficient movement of traffic on the network of commercial and industrial highways. C. The appellants' contentions. The appellants contend the south tie-in of the Charles City bypass, commonly referred to as Alternate C, violated this provision in several respects. In support of their contention, the appellants argue that Alternate C involves greater diagonal severance of farmland than the other two alternatives. In addition, they argue that Alternatives A and B are feasible and prudent, are consistent with the efficient movement of traffic, and utilize existing U.S. Highway 218. The appellants' main complaint, however, is that in choosing Alternate C rather than either Alternates A or B, the commission violated the clear mandate of section 306.9 because the commission considered the protection of farmland as just one of a number of factors rather than the primary factor. In short, the appellants insist that section 306.9 elevates the farm over all other community and policy interests, individually or collectively. D. Statutory interpretation and standard of review. Whether the commission violated section 306.9 turns on our interpretation of this statute and our standard of review. In interpreting statutes, our goal is to discover the true intention of the legislature, considering the clearly stated objects and purposes involved. Matter of Girdler, 357 N.W.2d 595, 597 (Iowa 1984). We begin by looking to the statute's language. Collins v. King, 545 N.W.2d 310, 312 (Iowa 1996). Where the legislature has not defined words of the statute, we may refer to prior decisions of this court and others, similar statutes, dictionary definitions, and common usage. State v. Kellogg, 542 N.W.2d 514, 516 (Iowa 1996). As we alluded, section 306.9 imposes substantive requirements upon the discretion of the commission in the relocation of highwaysas well it should. See In re D.C.V., 569 N.W.2d 489, 497 (Iowa 1997) (holding legislative delegations of power require clear delineation of legislative policy and substantive standards to guide the agency in its implementation of that policy). We agree with the district court that the first sentence of the statute manifests a legislative policy to protect farmlands. As the district court noted, by declaring that relocation of primary highways through cultivated land shall be avoided to the maximum extent possible, the legislature wants to minimize the extent to which highway projects convert farmland to non-agricultural uses. Later, in the first paragraph, section 306.9 makes a command, by using the word shall. Iowa Code § 4.1(30)(a) (shall imposes a duty). The commission shall avoid a diagonal road through cultivated lands  if feasible and prudent alternatives consistent with efficient movement of traffic exist. Id. § 306.9 (emphasis added). The second paragraph of section 306.9 imposes two additional duties upon the commission. First, when improving two-lane roads, the commission shall utilize the existing right-of-way unless alignment or other conditions, including designation as part of the network of commercial and industrial highways, makes changes imperative. Id. This duty is not, however, without qualification. Thus, the present alignment itself as well as other conditions can dictate not using the existing right-of-way. Additionally, the very fact that the improvement is a designated part of the network of commercial and industrial highways can likewise dictate not using the existing right-of-way. Second, when a two-lane road is expanded to a four-lane road, the normal procedure shall be that the additional right-of-way be contiguous to the existing right-of-way unless relocated for compelling reasons, including the need to provide efficient movement of traffic on the network of commercial and industrial highways. Id. Again, the duty is not absolute: Compelling reasons can dictate not using the existing right-of-way. Compelling reasons can include efficient movement of traffic on the network of commercial and industrial highways. 1. Analogous federal legislation. Like the district court, we look to an analogous federal statute to aid us in our analysis both from the standpoint of statutory interpretation and scope of review. We refer to § 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act, enacted at 49 U.S.C. § 303(c). Section 4(f) allows use of federal funds for highways constructed on parklands or historic sites only if there is no prudent and feasible alternative to using that land; and the program or project includes all possible planning to minimize harm to the protected area. Thus, like section 306.9, § 4(f) seeks to protect a valued resource and imposes a prudent and feasible standard. Cases interpreting § 4(f) are therefore persuasive. Foremost among these cases is Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 91 S.Ct. 814, 28 L.Ed.2d 136 (1971), overruled on other grounds by Califano v. Sanders, 430 U.S. 99, 105, 97 S.Ct. 980, 984, 51 L.Ed.2d 192, 202 (1977). In Citizens, an organization, individuals, and a conservation group sued to enjoin the Secretary of Transportation from releasing federal funds to a state highway department for the construction of an expressway segment through a city park. The Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling sustaining the Secretary's summary judgment motion, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari. Citizens dealt primarily with the question of an agency's responsibility to generate a record and the appropriate standard of judicial review. Citizens, 401 U.S. at 409-10, 91 S.Ct. at 820, 28 L.Ed.2d at 149-50. The Court held that litigation affidavits containing post hoc rationalizations were not an adequate basis for review of the Secretary's action in authorizing expenditure of federal funds for the construction of the expressway segment through the city park. Id. at 419-20, 91 S.Ct. at 825, 28 L.Ed.2d at 155. The Court remanded the case to the district court for plenary review based on the full administrative record before the Secretary at the time he made his decision. Id. The decision also noted the Act provided clear and specific directives and was a plain and explicit bar to the use of federal funds for construction of highways through parksonly the most unusual situations are exempted. Id. at 411, 91 S.Ct. at 821, 28 L.Ed.2d at 150. In Citizens, the Court more specifically defined feasible to mean in this context an agency must find that as a matter of sound engineering it would not be feasible to build the highway along any other route. Id., 91 S.Ct. at 821, 28 L.Ed.2d at 150. As to the prudence requirement, the Court held that prudence in the context of § 4(f) does not require a wide-ranging balancing of interests such as costs and safety it will always be less costly and safer to build straight through a park. Id. at 411-12, 91 S.Ct. at 821, 28 L.Ed.2d at 150. The Court went on to note that while costs and disruption of the community were not to be ignored, [i]f the statutes are to have any meaning, the Secretary cannot approve the destruction of parkland unless he finds that alternative routes present unique problems. Id. at 413, 91 S.Ct. at 822, 28 L.Ed.2d at 151. In Eagle Foundation, Inc. v. Dole, 813 F.2d 798 (7th Cir.1987), the Seventh Circuit seems to have retreated from the absolute language of Citizens; however, we view Eagle as simply giving common-sense meaning to Citizens. In Eagle, the court considered its standard of review to be very narrow, asking only whether the agency took a close look at the things that matter and made the hard decisions. Eagle, 813 F.2d at 803. The standard of review is necessarily narrow because the Secretary must decide what is prudent and such an inquiry calls for judgment, for balancing, for the practical settlement of disputes on which reasonable people will disagree. The statutory standard makes deferential review inevitable. Id. at 804. Such a standard ensures that the court will not substitute its judgment for that of the agency. Id. at 803. More specifically, the court's role is to find out whether the Secretary considered what she had to consider, put out of mind what she was forbidden to consider, and dealt rationally with the competing relevant issues. Id. The Secretary must decide whether there is powerful reason to build through the § 4(f) property; the court on the other hand must determine whether the Secretary made a reasoned judgment after a hard look at the facts. Id. In the end, the court could set aside the Secretary's decision only if it was arbitrary or capricious. Id. at 804 (citing Citizens, 401 U.S. at 414-16, 91 S.Ct. at 822-24, 28 L.Ed.2d at 151-53). This standard, the court said, is one of the most deferential standards of administrative law. Id. The court in Eagle did not overlook the Supreme Court's use of the word unique in Citizens and refused to believe the Supreme Court meant what it said: Unique is a word without degrees; a situation is unique (nonpareil, one of a kind) or it is not. There is nothing unique about the reasons given for believing that [the protected parkland] is the best location for the [limited access highway]. The other routes are longer, and more expensive, will take more time to complete, disrupt farm lands, produce erosion and ugly concrete canyons, kill the local wildlife, and may contain steep grades and sharp bends that endanger travelers (especially in icy conditions). None of these is unique. America's highways present examples of delay, cost overruns, disfigured landscape, deceased wildlife, severed farms, and dangerous grades in abundance. Yet we cannot believe that the Supreme Court meant that if a risk or cost has been accepted, or an obstacle overcome, for any highway in the United States, then it always must be accepted or overcome in preference to the use of any § 4(f) lands, however trifling the effects of using the § 4(f) lands. Id. (emphasis added). Explaining that the Supreme Court used the word unique for emphasis rather than as a substitute for the statutory term prudent, the court in Eagle went on to say: [Citizens] was being emphatic, not substituting unique for prudent in the context of § 4(f). The Court made it pellucid that the reasons for using the protected lands have to be good ones, pressing ones, well thought out; the Secretary must start with a strong presumption against turning chlorophyll cloverleafs in the parks into concrete ones; but even after starting from this presumption it may be prudent to use the § 4(f) land. If the Secretary makes that hard decision, it must be respected. Id. at 804-05. According to Eagle, a prudent judgment by an agency is one that takes into account everything important that matters. A cumulation of small problems may add up to a sufficient reason to use § 4(f) lands. Id. at 805. Even though all of the factors cited in support of the Secretary's decision were not unusual for a construction project, the cumulative effect satisfied the prudence standard. Id. Following this rationale, the Fourth Circuit has held that a cumulation of problems provides compelling reasons for an agency to use protected lands for a road. Hickory Neighborhood Defense League v. Skinner, 910 F.2d 159, 163 (4th Cir.1990). Such problems in Hickory included access, disruption of housing, traffic operational difficulties, safety, and failure to meet the objectives of the project. Id. at 163-64. 2. Analogous Iowa legislation and cases. We have employed similar analyses under Iowa Code section 478.18 governing placement of power lines. See Anstey v. Iowa State Commerce Comm'n, 292 N.W.2d 380, 387 (Iowa 1980); see also Gorsche Family Partnership v. Midwest Power, 529 N.W.2d 291, 293 (Iowa 1995). Section 478.18 allows construction of power lines away from division lines wherever ... practicable and reasonable. The practicable and reasonable requirement implicates engineering considerations, and courts are not permitted to examine each one for its correctness. Anstey, 292 N.W.2d at 387-88. We did mention that the selected route was cheaper, safer, and disrupted less land. Id. at 388. We noted that cost alone was an improper basis for choosing between a conforming and a nonconforming alternative; cost, however, could be used to discriminate between two conforming alternatives. Id. In Gorsche, we noted that the proper method of analysis was to determine if the otherwise conforming power line placement was not feasible or practicable. Gorsche, 529 N.W.2d at 293. In that determination, we allowed consideration of land usage, environmental impact, and economics. Id. E. The proper standard of review under Iowa Code section 306.9. Iowa Code chapter 17A governs our review, which is at law. Mortimer v. Fruehauf Corp., 502 N.W.2d 12, 14 (Iowa 1993). Under Iowa Code section 17A.19(8), we can affirm, reverse, or modify the agency action or grant other appropriate relief when the agency's decision is (a) in violation of constitutional or statutory provisions; (b) in excess of the statutory authority of the agency; (c) in violation of an agency rule; (d) made upon unlawful procedure; (e) affected by other error of law; (f) in a contested case proceeding, unsupported by substantial evidence in the record made before the agency when the record is viewed as a whole; or (g) unreasonable, arbitrary or capricious or characterized by an abuse of discretion or a clearly unwarranted exercise of discretion. There was no contested case hearing in this case. Later, we explain why a contested case hearing was not appropriate in this case. Our standard of review therefore does not involve the substantial evidence standard. Taking our cue from Citizens and Eagle, we think the proper standard of review in this case is whether the commission's decision was arbitrary or capricious. Thus, we will not reverse the commission's decision unless the appellants have established that the commission's decision was arbitrary or capricious. When applied to test the propriety of agency action, arbitrary or capricious means the action complained of was without regard to the law or facts. Arora v. Iowa Bd. of Med. Exam'rs, 564 N.W.2d 4, 7 (Iowa 1997). In our review, we apply the arbitrary or capricious standard to the agency's actions to determine whether our legal conclusions are the same as those the district court reached. Mortimer, 502 N.W.2d at 14. If our conclusions are the same, we affirm; if they are not, we reverse. Id. F. The merits. It is true the commission chose Alternate C despite the clear contrary statutory preference for protection of farmland. The plain language of section 306.9, however, requires no blind preference for farmlandindeed the statute's plain language allows a diagonal road if no other feasible and prudent alternatives consistent with efficient movement of traffic exist. As the district court noted, any of the alternatives before the commission would have led to a diagonal highway, and existing U.S. Highway 218 is itself diagonal. As the appellees point out, the qualifying language in section 306.9 is necessary to give the commission discretion to determine the location of the highway. Our task is to determine whether the facts and the law support the commission's exercise of that discretion. The record shows that Alternates A and B would have lesser impact on farmland than Alternate C. On the other hand, an engineering consulting report recommended Alternate C because of its feasibility and constructibility. In support of that recommendation, the report noted that Alternate C (1) eliminated the need for dual bridges over present U.S. Highway 218 and the need for crossing existing 218 near Underwood Avenue; (2) avoided high fields and deep cuts, saving approximately 800,000 cubic yards of earth work; (3) eliminated the need to acquire several residences; (4) eliminated encroachment on an historic farm and on a nearby quarry; (5) had no effect on the T-64 interchange other than to reduce the tangent distance between the end of the north curve and the ramp tapers; (6) simplified construction staging, thereby improving constructibility; (7) improved creek crossings; and (8) would likely save construction costs in excess of $2 million. Apparently relying on this report, the commission gave the following reasons in February 1993 for selecting Alternate C: The two alternatives located east of present U.S. 218 (Alternates A and B) have lesser farmland impacts, but also require displacement of four homes, encroach onto the former Cook family farm, and are more expensive to construct. The alternative located west of present U.S. 218 (Alternate C) has the greater farmland impacts, but also avoids the need for displacing homes, simplifies construction staging, and is less expensive to build. Comments received at and following the meeting were mixed, with those impacted by a particular alignment, in particular, Alternate C, voicing support for one that would avoid disrupting their home and/or farming operation. The Floyd County Board of Supervisors have taken a position in opposition to Alternate C, citing prime farmland and diagonal severance impacts, safety concerns in regard to access, and increased transfer of jurisdiction mileage. Thus, the commission considered the diagonal nature of Alternate C but concluded this disadvantage was outweighed by the advantages of Alternate C. The commission properly considered the costs of the alternatives because all three alternatives are nonconforming, diagonal routes. The cost, combined with the other disadvantages of Alternates A and B, overshadows the policy of farmland integrity preservationcomparable to the facts in Eagle. In Eagle, nearly identical construction, economic, and condemnation problems surfaced. There, the court considered the intrusion a justified act of discretion. We think the commission used sound engineering principles to reach a practical decision, thus satisfying the feasible requirement. We also think the commission acted in a manner consistent with that of a reasonable, well-informed officer, taking into account everything important that matters. Eagle, 813 F.2d at 805. The commission engaged in a lengthy public debate over the alternatives. Its decision emerged after nearly four years of study, public hearings, and unknown hours of staff labor. In short, the commission satisfied the prudence requirement. Finally, in reaching its decision that it should not overturn the commission's decision, the district court concluded: The commission was not required to give plenary consideration to every conceivable alternative before concluding that there are no feasible and prudent alternatives to the diagonal use of farmland. However, the [commission] should be able to demonstrate a reasoned methodology for narrowing the range of alternatives. This record demonstrates that [the commission's] choice was made in a methodical, reasoned way, consistent with the purposes of the project and the general policy and specific limitations of section 306.9. In addition, whether the project is viewed as an improvement of a two-lane road or as an expansion to a four-lane road, the Court concludes [the commission] did not violate section 306.9. Highway 218 was being improved or expanded to connect to a highway network. The alternative chosen furthers the objective of providing efficient movement of traffic. Again, given the problems inherent in the other alternatives, and the purposes of the project, it was imperative or compelling not to use the present right-of-way of Highway 218. ... The present record provides a sufficient basis for the [commission] to have concluded that no feasible and prudent alternatives consistent with the efficient movement of traffic existed so as to allow for avoidance of the diagonal route. We agree with the district court. We would add that we are satisfied the commission took a close look at the things that mattered and made the hard decision. We conclude the commission properly considered the facts and the law in reaching its decision. Its decision was therefore not arbitrary and capricious and ought to stand.