Opinion ID: 1482203
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mendon's Actions

Text: As noted previously, Killington acquired the Parker's Gore East land in 1982. Shortly thereafter, Killington sought the Mendon Planning Commission's approval to construct alpine ski runs and lifts on that property. In April 1983, the Planning Commission approved such a proposal. Later that year, however, the Mendon Zoning Board of Adjustment denied Killington's application for the necessary permits to construct a two-triple-chairlift system and snowmaking facilities, reasoning that the proposed project would be incompatible with the existing residential and agricultural uses designated by the then-current zoning ordinance. Killington withdrew its appeal of that decision, and the project was never started. In June 1990, Mendon adopted a new zoning ordinance that limited all activity in Parker's Gore East over 2500 feet to forestry and noncommercial recreational uses. Town of Mendon Zoning Ordinance § 529 (1990). Killington never applied for a zoning permit to build the ski area under the new ordinance, nor did it seek a variance authorized under § 350 of the zoning ordinance and 24 V.S.A. §§ 4464, 4468. In April 1994, after Killington filed this action, Mendon amended its zoning ordinance to permit commercial skiing in part of Parker's Gore East. [4]
Killington challenges Mendon's zoning regulations. Zoning regulations may be challenged as a taking either on their face or as applied to an owner's property. See Keystone Bituminous Coal Ass'n v. DeBenedictis, 480 U.S. 470, 494-95, 107 S.Ct. 1232, 1246-47, 94 L.Ed.2d 472 (1987); Southern Pacific, 922 F.2d at 502-03. A facial taking means that the mere adoption of land use regulations constitutes a taking of the property. J. Shonkwiler and T. Morgan, Land Use Litigation § 3.01 (1986). A facial challenge is ripe for judicial review upon the adoption of the regulation. Id. When the regulation is challenged as applied to the property, the focus of the claim is on how the administration of the regulation impacts the property. Id. An as-applied challenge is not ripe for review until the property owner has sought administrative relief through government procedures. Id. Killington argues that because it is making a facial challenge to Mendon's zoning regulations, the ripeness issue is moot. See Southern Pacific, 922 F.2d at 507 (ripeness doctrine applicable to as-applied challenges). Had Killington sought merely to invalidate the regulation, we might agree. Killington's request for monetary relief, however, is inconsistent with a facial challenge to the ordinance. See Weissman v. Fruchtman, 700 F.Supp. 746, 753 (S.D.N.Y.1988) (facial challenges are primarily for benefit of society and normally result in injunctive or declaratory relief). Because Killington seeks monetary damages from an application of the zoning ordinance to its property in Parker's Gore East, we agree with Mendon that Killington is challenging the 1990 regulations as applied. Killington contends that a facial attack is merely one made by a plaintiff who claims that there is no way the legislation can be applied to him that passes constitutional muster. Even assuming we accepted this definition, Killington cannot claim that Mendon's 1990 zoning ordinance could never be applied to Killington in a manner that would permit productive use of its property. The ordinance contains a variance procedure that could have permitted development of the land, but Killington never availed itself of that procedure. By the same token, Killington cannot claim that Act 250's criterion 10, which requires that permit applications be in compliance with local zoning ordinances, precluded any possibility of it obtaining an Act 250 permit for development of its Parker's Gore East property that was above 2500 feet. Having concluded that Killington is challenging Mendon's zoning ordinance as applied, we consider the ripeness of that claim. Killington claims that Mendon's 1990 zoning ordinance deprived it of all practical use of the Parker's Gore East land. Since 1983, however, Killington has not sought permits from Mendon for any use of the land. Killington's only actions have involved its Act 250 applications, in which the Commission and Board specifically found Killington's proposed projects to be in compliance with local zoning ordinances. To have a ripe takings claim against Mendon, Killington must first exhaust all of its administrative remedies, including variance procedures. Williamson, 473 U.S. at 187-88, 105 S.Ct. at 3116-17; accord Houston v. Town of Waitsfield, 162 Vt. ___, ___, 648 A.2d 864, 867 (1994) (takings argument not ripe where plaintiff failed to seek variance). Since 1983, Killington has not pursued any administrative remedies with Mendon. Consequently, Killington's taking claim against Mendon is not ripe. Killington contends, however, that Mendon's 1983 denial of its application to build a ski area in 1983 amounts to a taking of its property. We reject Killington's attempt to bootstrap a ten-year-old unappealed decision into its argument that Menden's 1990 zoning ordinance and the State's Act 250 decisions have effectively taken its property. Killington's belated use of the 1983 decision in its takings claim carries little weight. First, Killington failed to appeal that decision. Cf. Hinsdale v. Village of Essex Junction, 153 Vt. 618, 627, 572 A.2d 925, 930 (1990) (24 V.S.A. § 4472(b) allows plaintiff to attack constitutionality of zoning ordinance without appealing zoning board's decision to superior court, but this exception does not authorize collateral constitutional attack on application of ordinance to particular facts). Second, Killington failed to seek a variance under the 1990 zoning ordinance or, for that matter, to file any permit application with the Town in the ten years between the decision and its takings suit. The project-specific 1983 decision, which was made under a substantively different ordinance, has little, if any, relevance to Killington's takings suit. The decision did not preclude Killington from seeking a variance later based on its response to resource management concerns in Mendon's 1990 ordinance. See In re Carrier, 155 Vt. 152, 158, 582 A.2d 110, 113 (1990).