Opinion ID: 1245622
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: affirmative conduct

Text: Byrd has presented evidence of affirmative conduct on the part of the City in ruling on the zoning petitions. But for the City's zoning ordinances, the petitions would have been unnecessary. Regulatory delay is part of the regulatory process, so indeed it is the product of governmental action. Byrd is incorrect, however, in asserting that the City engaged in a single course of conduct  a thirteen-month delay of a decision to rezone his property. Byrd's argument overlooks that there was a three-month gap between the City's granting the petition to rezone the Small Parcel and the filing of the petition to rezone the rest of the City Tract. The City engaged in two separate courses of conduct, one being the eleven-month delay of the decision whether to rezone the Small Parcel; the other being the two-month delay of the decision whether to rezone the remainder of the City Tract. We separately address the takings issue with respect to these two delays.