Opinion ID: 2631823
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Character of the MOA's action

Text: Concerning the character-of-governmental-action factor, the trial court concluded that the MOA's decisions affected the subdivision both indirectly and directly. By designating Blueberry Lake a preservation wetland and leaving it to the Corps to determine whether a § 404 permit was appropriate, the MOA's decisions had an indirect impact. By imposing a sixty-five-foot setback, the MOA directly affected the land. The trial court also reasoned that the Corps, by denying the 1985 § 404 permit application to drain and fill the lake, affected both Tract B and the four lots: [i]f the Corps had granted [the] § 404 application, there would be no lake and no setback requirements. It further found that there was federal intervention, leading to the federal consent decree and the eighty-foot setback. It concluded that the MOA's conduct regarding the land was mostly indirect. The trial court did not separately consider the character of the MOA's imposition of the additional twenty-foot-wide setback band.