Opinion ID: 1230068
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Restoration Order

Text: Bailey does not challenge the substance of the restoration order and the work required therein. Instead, he argues that the restoration order is arbitrary and capricious because the Corps should have approved his permit application and allowed him to mitigate the damage, rather than denying his permit application and ordering him to restore the site. As indicated earlier, however, Bailey did not appeal from the district court's order affirming the Corps' denial of his 404(b) application. Bailey, 2003 WL 21877903. In his reply brief, Bailey frames this argument as stating a violation of the Constitution's equal protection clause. Bailey argues that because the Corps issued a permit to the County for Sandy Shores Drive, the drive that Bailey's road would have extended, the Corps should have done the same for him. The district court dismissed the argument, holding that Bailey's equal protection claim failed because he did not show that he was similarly situated to the County or that the Corps' disparate treatment of the two lacked a rational basis. Bailey has failed to convince us that the Corps' disparate treatment resulted in a violation of the equal protection clause. See Geach v. Chertoff, 444 F.3d 940, 945 (8th Cir.2006) (equal protection standard under the Fifth Amendment). Bailey and the County are not similarly situated. In 2001, the County applied for an after-the-fact permit for Sandy Shores Drive, which was built partly on wetland. At that time, the road had been in existence for at least a decade [8] and served many long-time residents. Bailey, on the other hand, was notified by the Corps in 1993five years before he began building the road and polluting the wetlandthat a permit was required. Bailey was encouraged to hire a consultant to delineate the property and assist in the permitting process and was notified before, during, and after the road's construction that a permit was required. Given these circumstances, we conclude that the Corps had a rational basis to treat Bailey and the County differently.