Opinion ID: 748783
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Passenger Vehicle and Pickup Truck Ordinance

Text: 21 Plaintiff argues that the district court erred in ruling that defendant's passenger vehicle and pickup truck ordinance does not violate the Fifth Amendment, but fails to articulate exactly which kind of taking it believes the ordinance causes. Plaintiff did argue to the district court that the ordinance amounts to an invasion and taking of its property because it was required to designate an area on plaintiff's property specifically for receiving waste from passenger cars and pickup trucks. The district court rejected this argument, concluding that plaintiff has not suffered an easement equivalent to permanent physical occupation of the property in part because it is in the business of collecting and disposing of solid waste and, therefore, its physical plants already have the physical modifications required to receive and process such waste. According to the court, the requirements are justifiable intrusions that serve the legitimate state interest of efficient and timely collection and disposal of solid waste. 22 In determining whether the district court erred when it ruled that defendant's ordinance does not cause a physical taking, we must decide whether the character of the governmental action constitutes a permanent physical occupation of plaintiff's property. Loretto, 458 U.S. at 432, 102 S.Ct. at 3174. If so, defendant's action is a taking without regard to other factors that a court might ordinarily examine, id., and without regard to whether the action achieves an important public benefit or has only minimal economic impact on the owner. Id. at 434-35, 102 S.Ct. at 3175. 23 As one measure of the burden placed upon it by the ordinance, plaintiff points to documents in the record indicating that Metro's Bordeaux Landfill received approximately 50,000 tons of waste from passenger vehicles and pickup trucks in 1989 (the landfill was closed in 1994). Should defendant's ordinance be enforced, plaintiff alone will have to be equipped to accept all waste delivered by passenger vehicles and pickup trucks--regardless of how much there is, and regardless of the capacity of its facility--since plaintiff's facility is the only one located within Metro's boundaries that will accept such waste. In addition, the parties stipulated that plaintiff will have to do the following in order to comply fully with defendant's ordinance: (1) allot approximately one-half acre of its nine-acre property to accommodate these services; (2) prepare that designated area with a concrete pad and drains; (3) place containers on that area to receive the waste; (4) physically receive the solid waste; (5) hire personnel and designate equipment to handle such waste; (6) allow access to the property to passenger vehicles and pickup trucks; (7) accept, process, transport and dispose of the waste; and (8) incur the financial costs of accepting, processing, transporting and disposing of the waste at an uncompensated or undercompensated rate. 24 The stipulations appear to recognize that it is not feasible, either from a safety or economic standpoint, to serve both commercial and non-commercial vehicles in the very same area. If what is being required of plaintiff is that it involuntarily set off and improve a portion of its property for the accommodation of passenger cars and pickup trucks to the exclusion of all other uses, then it seems to us that the effect of defendant's conduct in pursuing its interests is tantamount to defendant's physical occupation of plaintiff's property. However, it is not clear to us from the wording of the stipulated facts that this exclusive dedication of a portion of the property is what is actually being required of plaintiff. 25 Should the district court conclude on remand that defendant's ordinance did in fact cause a physical taking of plaintiff's property, then it follows under Loretto that plaintiff would be entitled to relief regardless of the otherwise legitimate state interest advanced by Metro. 458 U.S. at 434-35, 102 S.Ct. at 3175-76.