Opinion ID: 155331
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: State-law vested rights claim

Text: 26 This litigation ensues solely from the fact that DEPOA was not permitted to construct a specific CDH-approved sewage treatment facility that would not have provided sewer service to the entire Subdivision. The vested-rights claim can withstand a motion to dismiss only if the Subdivision landowners could have some vested right to construct this particular improvement. SK Finance can claim no vested right in the process by which it must obtain permission to construct an improvement. See City of Aspen v. Marshall, 912 P.2d 56 (Colo.1996) (incomplete application under old ordinance did not vest any rights); People v. D.K.B., 843 P.2d 1326 (Colo.1993) (substantive statutes, not procedural statutes, may affect vested rights). Any vested right must be a substantive one created by the act of signing the plats. 27 Approval of a plat is a prerequisite to construction of any road, park, or other public way, ground, or space, ... public building or structure, or ... public utility, whether publicly or privately owned. Colo.Rev.Stat. § 30-28-110(1)(a). Nothing in the statute giving LaPlata County the power to approve a plat provides that such approval is sufficient in itself to permit construction of any improvement. The effect of the approval and recording of a plat is to permit the owner of the Subdivision to transfer or sell land by reference to the plat without penalty. Colo.Rev.Stat. § 30-28-110(4). Beyond that, the approval has no specific effect by statute. Cf. Colo.Rev.Stat. § 30-28-110(3)(b) (approval does not create acceptance of proposed dedications to the public). Thus, the statutes under which LaPlata County approved the Subdivision plats, subject to the note, did not provide that approval of the plats carried with it the right to develop in accordance with the plats. In 1987, the legislature enacted the Vested Property Rights Act to provide that, in the future, approval of a subdivision would create a vested property right to undertake and complete the development and use of property under the terms and conditions of the approved plats. Colo.Rev.Stat. § 24-68-102(5). Enactment of the Act was based on a finding that 28 [i]t is necessary and desirable, as a matter of public policy, to provide for the establishment of vested property rights in order to ensure reasonable certainty, stability, and fairness in the land use planning process and in order to stimulate economic growth, secure the reasonable investmentbacked expectations of landowners, and foster cooperation between the public and private sectors in the area of land use planning. 29 Colo.Rev.Stat. § 24-68-101(1)(a). The Act applies only to those subdivision plats approved on or after January 1, 1988, and thus does not create vested rights in this case. Colo.Rev.Stat. § 24-68-106(4). Nevertheless, the legislature recognized a vested property right may arise by common law principles. See Colo.Rev.Stat. § 24-68-106(3) (Act does not preclude judicial determination of vested rights based on common law principles). 30 In Villa at Greeley, Inc. v. Hopper, 917 P.2d 350 (Colo.App.1996), as in this case, the developer had secured approval of a specific site development plan, but had not yet secured building permits. 31 The general rule ... provides that a common law right to develop does not vest until the party has taken substantial steps in reliance on a building permit. 32 Here, the record supports the intervenor's contention that no permits have been issued, and thus, as a matter of law, no common law right to development has vested. 33 Id. 917 P.2d at 356 (internal citations omitted). Under Villa, in the absence of a building permit, SK Finance has no vested common-law development rights as a matter of law. Thus, it is apparent from the face of the complaint that this claim must be dismissed. Until SK Finance has obtained a building permit, a vested rights claim cannot be ripe under Colorado common law. 34 In addition, nothing in the approval of the plat suggests unconditional approval to build any sewer system the CDH might approve. Instead, the plat note merely informs property owners that development of the platted land cannot occur before CDH-approved sewer and water service are obtained. The note does not purport to remove the risk of not obtaining such service from the landowners by waiving any procedural obstacles, but rather makes the risk of not obtaining sewer and water service explicit. Cf. P-W Investments, Inc. v. City of Westminster, 655 P.2d 1365, 1371 (Colo.1982) (tap permits could not reasonably be read as guaranteeing availability of sewer connection rather than simply authorizing installation of tap). 35 Moreover, while developers of the Subdivision may have relied on approval of the plat in a general sense, both in constructing improvements and in selling lots, there is no evidence they took any substantial steps based on any act of LaPlata County ostensibly approving the proposed partial on-site sewer facility. Nothing in the approved plat contemplates construction of the specific improvement that DEPOA sought to construct. Compare Gramiger v. County of Pitkin, 794 P.2d 1045, 1049 (Colo.App.1989) (potential exception to permit requirement for vested rights claim would require approval of the specific improvement by some other authorization). The only reliance alleged by SK Finance was based on the supposed right to acquire some kind of CDH-approved sewer service. As discussed, the record establishes the owners of the Subdivision have not been completely denied that right in any final sense and, thus, the vested right claim, like the constitutional takings claim, is not ripe. 36 Further, the improvements made to the Subdivision were clearly not made in reliance on the availability of a CDH-approved sewer system. At the time the improvements were made, the landowners had no indication that an approved sewer system was even possible. They did not get CDH approval and then rely on the plat note in making improvements. Rather, they incurred costs of improvements to the Subdivision with full knowledge of no approved sewer system and no permit to build a sewer treatment plant. Cf. Jones v. First Virginia Mortgage and Real Estate Inv. Trust, 399 So.2d 1068, 1074 (Fla.App.1981) (mortgage lender dispersing funds before final approval and building permits obtained, despite right to wait, could not assert estoppel). This distinguishes the present case from the otherwise similar case of Eklund v. Clackamas County, 36 Or.App. 73, 583 P.2d 567 (1978), in which a plat was approved subject to the condition that a water system for the entire subdivision be approved by the state health division. In Eklund, unlike here, the health division granted approval and the developer built a complete water system capable of supporting the entire subdivision. The boundary commission subsequently sought to require the developer to obtain its approval to connect to the water system and that approval was denied. In that circumstance, where the developer secured approval before building the approved facility, the developer's reliance was sufficient to create a vested right to complete the project as planned. Similarly, in Florida Companies v. Orange County, 411 So.2d 1008 (Fla.App.1982), equitable estoppel came into play because the sewer treatment facilities were actually built in reliance on preliminary approval of a plat including such facilities. The county was estopped from requiring, after the facilities were seventy percent complete, that septic tanks be used. Neither SK Finance nor its predecessors premised improvements on a sewage treatment system that was approved at the time the improvements were made. Nor did they undertake to construct the system once it was approved by CDH. 37 In sum, SK Finance's vested rights claim is not ripe because it has not yet secured any vested right, and LaPlata County has not yet finally divested even the right that SK Finance claims has vested.