Opinion ID: 183060
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: State Law Takings Claim

Text: It is well-settled that to establish a regulatory taking for which just compensation is required under the Fifth Amendment and under Wisconsin law, the challenged government action must deprive a landowner of all or substantially all practical uses of the property. Eternalist Foundation, Inc. v. City of Platteville, 225 Wis.2d 759, 773, 593 N.W.2d 84 (1999). [1] All or substantially all sets a high bar for a plaintiff to recover on a takings claim. A regulatory or constructive taking will only be found where a government regulation has rendered the property practically useless for all reasonable purposes. Zealy, 194 Wis.2d at 708, 534 N.W.2d 917. The factors to be considered in determining whether a constructive taking has occurred include: (1) the nature of the government regulatory scheme, (2) the severity of the economic impact on the challenging landowner, and (3) the degree of interference with the landowner's anticipated and distinct investment opportunities. Concrete Pipe and Prods., Inc. v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust, 508 U.S. 602, 644-46, 113 S.Ct. 2264, 124 L.Ed.2d 539 (1993); Zealy, 194 Wis.2d at 710, 534 N.W.2d 917. Bettendorf urges us to reverse the district court because it did not adequately consider the third factor. We believe it did. The Takings Clause presupposes government interference with one's property rights in pursuit of a public purpose. Lingle v. Chevron, 544 U.S. 528, 543, 125 S.Ct. 2074, 161 L.Ed.2d 876 (2005). As Judge Crabb noted in her opinion, Bettendorf freely agreed to the conditional zoning provision. Any improvements Bettendorf made to his property were completed with full knowledge that the commercial designation would ultimately be lost. Bettendorf knew the conditional language of the ordinance restricted his ability to recoup the value of his commercial investments when he was ready to sell and therefore petitioned the County to make the re-zoning permanent. When the County refused, it was Bettendorf who initiated litigation in order for the circuit court to construe the limits of the ordinance. While he hoped the litigation would result in a decision giving him greater freedom than the ordinance afforded him, the result instead limited the freedom he had previously enjoyed. That was a risk he assumed in asking the court to interpret the scope and validity of the ordinance, not a government interference with his investment opportunities. [2] In concluding our discussion of the takings claim, we note that while Bettendorf did suffer as a result of losing the commercial designation to which he had grown accustomed, he retains full use of his property for agricultural and residential purposes. The County's action does not render the property practically useless, as the takings jurisprudence requires. Rather, it restores the land to its intended use at the time Bettendorf acquired it. Finding no government intrusion and no deprivation of all or substantially all practical use of Bettendorf's property, we cannot find a compensable taking.