Court Opinion

ID: 9468124
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:05:44.853056+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:42.291670
License: Public Domain

MERRILL, Circuit Judge,
concurring and
dissenting:
I agree with the majority that summary judgment was inappropriate and that the case must be remanded for trial on the question of taking — the question whether, as stated in Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104, 124, 98 S.Ct. 2646, 2659, 57 L.Ed.2d 631 (1978), “justice and fairness require that economic injuries caused by public action be compensated by the government.”
As far as the single-parcel/two-parcel question is concerned, it cannot be answered without examining the reason for the inquiry. As I view it, the rule is designed as an aid in determining what, in the particular case, is just and fair to the landowner. Here, if it is just and fair under the circumstances that the Point’s economic values be taken into consideration in examining the economic effect of the zoning on the Spit, then it should follow that the Point and the Spit be treated as a single parcel. On the other hand, if it is just and fair under all of the circumstances to consider the Spit as an independent land area, then the two-parcel treatment should result.
I do not believe that any handy rule of thumb can be devised to determine what is fair and just in a particular case.1 Each case must stand on its facts. Thus, I agree with the majority that the question of single-parcel/two-parcel should not turn on continuity plus common ownership, as the district court held. These considerations are relevant but should not be dispositive. I agree with the majority that all of the *373factors specified in the opinion as ultimately bearing on the merits of the case are relevant. I would add to them the geological history and physical characteristics of the Spit, the effect of any navigational easement that may exist across the land connecting the Spit to the Point, and the prospect of the Spit reverting to or becoming an island. I would also take into consideration the history of the county’s treatment of the Spit,2 the extent and nature of the public benefit which one might expect to result from the classification; the extent to which traditional planning principles support a density limitation such as the one imposed.
My disagreement with the majority is largely in matters of procedure. I think trial on the question of taking should go forward forthwith. I do not think we should impose on appellant the burden of presenting a development plan to the county before being able to prove diminution in value. Agins v. City of Tiburon, 447 U.S. 255, 100 S.Ct. 2138, 65 L.Ed.2d 106 (1980), cited by the majority, does not require this burden. In that case the density limitations of the challenged zoning ordinance were not precisely spelled out: Agins could build anywhere from one to five dwelling units on his parcel, depending upon the city’s assessment of his development plan. The development plan was required only because without one, on the facts of that case, there was no concrete controversy to be adjudicated; until the plan was presented and acted upon the precise density limitations to be imposed upon the property were not known. See Agins, 447 U.S. at 260-261, 100 S.Ct. at 2141.
Here the zoning ordinance on its face is precise. The owner asserts that the prescribed density limitations for the Spit — one multiple residential unit per five acres make economic development infeasible. This case is now ripe for adjudication.3
If the county, in avoidance of appellant’s proof of diminution in value, is prepared to make provision for density transfers or otherwise permit shifting of benefits and burdens between the Point and the Spit, the county should come forward with its proposals. The owner should not be required to prove the negative, by going to the trouble and expense of presenting a development plan which it believes to be economically infeasible.
I would remand for trial forthwith.

. “Fairness requires that individuals be treated not merely as means to social ends but rather as persons who deserve respect as ends in themselves. Although fairness standards are necessarily indeterminate, courts faced with particular challenges to zoning measures must nonetheless ask whether those measures exact such a disproportionate sacrifice from individual property holders relative to their peers and to their expectations that the affected individuals may be seen as having been treated solely as a means in a process of social engineering.”
Developments in the Law — Zoning, 91 Harv.L. Rev. 1429, 1492 (1978). See generally Michel-man, Property, Utility, and Fairness: Comments on the Ethical Foundations of “Just Compensation” Law, 80 Harv.L.Rev. 1165, 1190-92, 1229-34 (1967); Sax, Takings and the Police Power, 74 Yale L.J. 36 (1964).

. In this connection I find myself in disagreement with footnote 6 of the majority opinion. I think there is ample in the facts recited in the text of the opinion to demonstrate an intent to reserve the Spit for public benefit. It would appear that even after the zoning ordinance in question was adopted (May 14, 1974), the county adopted (August, 1974), a plan depicting the Spit on a map as “urban open space.” Since this was consistent with recommendations made from 1968 on (emanating from City-County Planning Council, Strawberry Park and Recreation District, and County Park, Recreation and Open Space Commission), that the county acquire the Spit, it would seem that in zoning the Spit the county still had acquisition in mind. If this zoning is found to be a step toward acquisition, the single-parcel/two-parcel question becomes irrelevant; a taking in either event has occurred.

. The majority implies that Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104, 98 S.Ct. 2646, 57 L.Ed.2d 631 (1978), also lends support for the requirement of a development plan in the case at bar, since two development plans were filed and rejected in Penn Central before the property owners there filed suit. The majority suggests that appellant in the present case should make “such a showing” by first filing a development plan with the county. See majority opinion at 368.-
I must disagree. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Law at issue in Penn Central does not prohibit alteration. Nor does it place specific limitations on permissible alteration. Instead, it requires that once a building has been properly designated a landmark, the owner who wishes to alter the building must submit a plan to the Landmarks Preservation Commission for approval. Only after that body acts to make specific the inchoate restrictions placed on the use of property previously designated a landmark is the constitutional claim ripe.
In the case at bar, however, the zoning ordinance on its face indicates precisely what restrictions are placed on the owner’s use of the property. Thus the history of the Penn Central controversy serves only to emphasize that a development plan is not required in this case.