Opinion ID: 2575731
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Is the Takings Claim Ripe for Review?

Text: 1. A regulatory takings claim is not ripe for review if the property owner has not utilized available procedures to obtain a variance from the regulations. The Shoreline Regulations adopted by Ordinance No. 1722 are currently codified as Sections 17.08.200 through 17.08.255 of the Coeur d'Alene Municipal Code. [1] Section 17.08.245 provides, Construction within forty feet (40') of the shoreline shall be prohibited. [2] It is undisputed that portions of the two fences constructed on the property now owned by the Beach Brothers, Inc., (Beach Brothers) are within that forty-foot area. Under the Shoreline Regulations, the fences could be permitted to remain within forty feet of the shoreline only if a variance were granted. Section 17.08.255 provides, A variance may be granted from any provision of the shoreline regulations, pursuant to Article VI of Chapter 17.09, and provided that the variance conforms to the stated purpose of the shoreline regulations. The United States Supreme Court has held a claim that government regulations have effected a taking of a property interest is not ripe if the property owner failed to utilize available procedures to obtain a variance from the regulations. Williamson Planning Comm'n v. Hamilton Bank, 473 U.S. 172, 105 S.Ct. 3108, 87 L.Ed.2d 126 (1985). It is undisputed that no variance was sought in this case to permit construction of the fences at issue. The landowner need not seek a variance, however, if the governmental agency would not have any discretion to grant it. Suitum v. Tahoe Reg'l Planning Agency, 520 U.S. 725, 117 S.Ct. 1659, 137 L.Ed.2d 980 (1997). In this case, the application for a variance would be made to the planning commission, which could grant the variance as long as it conforms to the stated purpose of the shoreline regulations. Coeur d'Alene Mun.Code §§ 17.08.255 & 17.09.600 et seq. 2. In order to reach the result that no variance could be granted, the majority holds that two ordinances are, simultaneously, in conflict with each other and not in conflict with each other. In 1928, the City adopted Ordinance No. 676, which banned all buildings or structures located east of 11th Street and south of Lakeshore Drive. The waterfront parcel owned by Beach Brothers is within that area, but the parcel owned by the Simpsons is not. [3] In 1982 the City adopted Ordinance No. 1722, which imposed Shoreline Regulations over an area that included, but was larger than, the area covered by Ordinance No. 676, as amended. Ordinance No. 1722 also provided, All ordinances and parts of ordinances in conflict with this ordinance are hereby repealed. The majority states, The plain language of those ordinances grants no discretionary authority to City officials to allow a fence on Sanders Beach, particularly within 40 feet of the shoreline. The variance provision in the Shoreline Regulations of Ordinance No. 1722 does not limit the area in which a variance can be granted. It states, A variance may be granted from any provision of the Shoreline Regulations, pursuant to Section 17.09.600, and provided that the variance conforms to the stated purpose of the Shoreline Regulations. (Emphasis added.) The word any means any. The majority holds that the variance provision in Ordinance No. 1722 does not apply because it is in conflict with Ordinance No. 676, which did not include any provision for a variance. The majority also holds, however, that Ordinance No. 676 was not repealed by the adoption of Ordinance No. 1722 because there is no conflict between the two Ordinances. How the two Ordinances can be in conflict with each other and not in conflict with each other at the same time escapes me. There are other conflicts between the two Ordinances in addition to the conflicting provisions regarding the availability of a variance. First, Ordinance No. 676 prohibits the erection of all structures south of Lakeshore Drive within the covered area. Ordinance No. 1722 does not prohibit the erection of all structures south of Lakeshore Drive. It only prohibits construction within forty feet of the shoreline. The district court found that a portion of the Beach Brothers's property is located south of Lakeshore Drive but outside the 40 foot setback. Second, Ordinance No. 676 does not provide any exception for replacing or maintaining public facilities or structures. Ordinance No. 1722 does provide an exception for replacing or maintaining essential public services (such as streets, sidewalks, parking lots, street lights, fire hydrants and underground facilities). Third, Ordinance No. 676 prohibits maintenance of any structure south of Lakeshore Drive within the covered area. Ordinance No. 1722 does not prohibit replacement or maintenance of certain existing private structures (shoreline protective structures, fences, hedges and walls in their present location). Fourth, Ordinance No. 676 does not provide for any exceptions to its prohibitions. Ordinance No. 1722 provides that, in addition to the above exceptions, the prohibition on construction within forty feet of the shoreline does not apply in a C-34 Zoning District. Additionally, in 1993 the City codified its ordinances in the Coeur d'Alene Municipal Code. That Municipal Code includes all regulatory and penal ordinances. Section 1.01.030 provides, This Code consists of all the regulatory and penal ordinances and certain of the administrative ordinances of the City of Coeur d'Alene, codified pursuant to the provisions of Sections 50-903 through 50-906 of the Idaho Code Annotated. Ordinance No. 676 was a regulatory ordinance. It regulated the erection and maintenance of any structures within the area designated in the Ordinance. Ordinance No. 676 is a penal ordinance. It provided a fine of up to $100 upon any conviction for violating the Ordinance. Ordinance No. 676 was not included in the codification. 3. The majority usurps the authority of the City to determine what variances are permitted. Finally, the majority holds that the erection of any fences to protect private property from trespassers would, as a matter of law, not conform to the stated purpose of the Shoreline Regulations. It states, [I]t appears to be fairly obvious that the fence is violative of both the purpose of, and prohibitions contained in, the Shoreline Regulations. The issue is not whether the erection of these particular chain link fences would fail to conform to the stated purpose of the regulations. If it granted a variance, the planning commission could include reasonable conditions regarding the type of fencing permitted. Rather, the holding would have to be that no structure designed to keep out trespassers would conform to that purpose. The stated purpose of the regulations is to protect, preserve and enhance visual resources and public access of the Coeur d'Alene shoreline. Coeur d'Alene Mun.Code §§ 17.08.255. The fences at issue were erected to keep people from trespassing on private property. To hold that fencing erected for that purpose cannot, under any circumstances, conform to the purpose of the Shoreline Regulations, the purpose of those Regulations would have to be to require landowners to submit to the physical occupation of their land. Although that may have been an unstated purpose for enacting the Shoreline Regulations, it is not their stated purpose. Any such purpose would invite close scrutiny under the Takings Clause. As the United States Supreme Court stated in Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003, 1019 n. 8, 112 S.Ct. 2886, 2895, 120 L.Ed.2d 798, 815 (1992), Though our prior takings cases evince an abiding concern for the productive use of, and economic investment in, land, there are plainly a number of noneconomic interests in land whose impairment will invite exceedingly close scrutiny under the Takings Clause. See, e.g., Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp., 458 U.S. 419, 436, [102 S.Ct. 3164, 3176-77, 73 L.Ed.2d 868, 882-83] (1982) (interest in excluding strangers from one's land). In my opinion, since a variance procedure exists, Beach Brothers should be required to request a variance and the City should be given an opportunity to consider the request and possibly avoid the need for this litigation. The fact that the City has brought this lawsuit does not mean that the planning commission would not grant any variance, or that the city council would overturn any variance granted. The City has the right to require compliance with the procedures set forth in the Shoreline Regulations, including the requirement that a landowner desiring to erect structures in violation of the Regulations must first seek a variance. The City may also have erroneously assumed, as it argued, that any takings claim arose in 1928 when it adopted Ordinance No. 676 and that any takings claim was therefore barred by the statute of limitations.