Laughter v. BOARD OF COUNTY COM'RS

110 P.3d 875

2005 WY 54

Laurence and Judi LAUGHTER; Lane and Laura Fillingim; and O.D. and Rosanne Owens, Appellants (Plaintiffs), v. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS FOR SWEETWATER COUNTY, Wyoming, a political subdivision of the State of Wyoming, Appellee (Defendant).

No. 04-113.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

April 28, 2005.

Representing Appellants: Richard W. Walden of Budd-Falen Law Offices, LLC, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee: Harriet M. Hageman and Kara Brighton of Hageman & Brighton, P.C., Cheyenne, Wyoming; and Jason Petri, Deputy Sweetwater County and Prosecuting Attorney, Green River, Wyoming.

Before HILL, C.J., and GOLDEN and VOIGT, JJ., and KALOKATHIS and DONNELL, D.JJ.

VOIGT, Justice.

[¶ 1] This is an appeal from an order denying summary judgment to the appellant landowners and granting summary judgment to the appellee county. The landowners sought declaratory judgment and other relief in regard to the adoption and implementation of the county's growth management plan. We dismiss the appeal as to the monetary claims and affirm the declaratory judgment.

ISSUES

[¶ 2] The landowners present the following issues:

1. Whether the Sweetwater County Growth Area Management Plan and Agreement (the Plan) was properly adopted?

2. Whether the Plan is a joint land use plan subject to the provisions of the Wyoming Joint Powers Act, Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 16-1-102 through 16-1-109 (Lexis 1999) and, if so, whether it was adopted in compliance with said provisions?

3. Whether the Plan was properly incorporated into the Sweetwater County Zoning Resolution?

4. Whether the study areas set forth in the Plan were extended in compliance with applicable Wyoming statutes?

5. Whether the Plan and the conditional use permit standards set forth therein are unconstitutionally vague?

6. Whether the conditional use permit process in the Plan constitutes an illegal restraint on the use of land?

7. Whether the application of the Plan to the landowners violated the landowners' substantive due process rights?

8. Whether application of the Plan to the landowners temporarily took the landowners' property in violation of the Wyoming and United States Constitutions?

[¶ 3] The appellee county presents the following issues:

1. Does the landowners' failure to designate an adequate record warrant dismissal of their appeal and the entry of sanctions, including payment of the county's attorney's fees and costs?

2. Did the landowners' claim for compensation fail to meet the requirements of Wyo. Const. art. 16, § 7, thereby constituting an invalid governmental claim?

3. Does an invalid governmental claim deprive the court of subject matter jurisdiction?

4. Did the district court properly grant the county's motion for summary judgment?

FACTS

[¶ 4] The parties do not challenge the undisputed material facts set forth in the district court's decision letter. The following summary of relevant facts is taken from that decision letter.

[¶ 5] In 1993, the county appointed a task force to revise its existing land use plan. The task force's product, identified herein as "the Plan," was styled as an agreement and required adoption not just by the appellee, but also by Rock Springs or Green River, or both cities. After a public hearing in 1996, the Plan was adopted by the county, but by neither city. The county then amended the Plan to delete the requirement that it be adopted by the cities and, after another public hearing, adopted the Plan as amended.

[¶ 6] The amendments to the Plan also incorporated it into the county's zoning regulations by stating: "The Growth Management Plan and Agreement shall be considered an integral part of the Sweetwater County Zoning and Subdivision Regulations." This incorporation was confirmed in 1997 by adoption of a resolution whose stated purpose was to ensure that the Plan was "properly enforced through the Zoning Resolution."

[¶ 7] One of the primary purposes of the Plan was to manage growth within the county, especially in the "urbanizing" areas surrounding Rock Springs and Green River. To that end, the Plan contained the following provisions:

Hillside Protection Study Period — The purpose of this three-year study period is to allow time for Sweetwater County and an appointed ad hoc committee to research and make recommendations on development criteria for lands with slopes of 10% or greater within the urbanizing area.

Urban Reserve Study Area — The urban reserve study area is an area which will allow established agriculture, grazing, livestock trailing and animal migration uses to continue in the area that has long-term potential for urban growth. This area includes agriculturally designated lands shown on Exhibit "B". During a three-year study period beginning with the date of the adoption of this agreement, Sweetwater County will appoint an ad hoc committee to examine and make recommendations on the future use, acquisition and regulation of these lands.

5.9.5 Administration of Urban Reserve Study Area

The purpose of the urban reserve study area is to allow established commercial agriculture, grazing, livestock trailing and animal migration uses to continue on agriculturally-zoned areas within the urbanizing area that have long-term potential for urban growth, while Sweetwater County studies the most appropriate zoning and regulations for the area. These Urban Reserve Areas are zoned agriculture on Exhibit "B". This area shall be under study for a three-year period of time with the option to extend the length of the study period if it becomes necessary. The study period will begin upon the adoption of the agreement.

During this time frame existing commercial[,] agriculture, grazing, livestock trailing, animal migration and oil/gas/mineral extraction are all considered permitted uses within this area. All other proposed uses, including residential accessory use, will require a Conditional Use Permit or a zone change depending on the nature of the application. Each application will be review[ed] on a case-by-case basis. The availability of public water will be a consideration/condition [for] each Conditional Use Permit and/or zone change.

* * *

Concurrent with the adoption of this agreement, Sweetwater County by separate resolution shall amend the Sweetwater County Zoning Resolution to accommodate the Urban Reserve Study Area.

5.9.7 Administration of Hillside Protection Study Period

The purpose of this study period is to allow time for Sweetwater County to research and make recommendation on planning strategies which encourage environmentally sound development on hillsides with slopes of 10% or greater located within the urbanizing areas.

* * *

In the Urbanizing Area during the study period, all establishment of uses, construction, development, grading and earthwork on lands with hillsides of 10% or greater will require a Conditional Use Permit and be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

If more study is needed, this agreement allows Sweetwater County the option to extend the time frame.

Concurrent with the adoption of this agreement, Sweetwater County by separate resolution shall amend the Sweetwater County Zoning Resolution to accommodate the Hillside Study Period.

[¶ 8] In 1998, the appellant landowners purchased lands within the Urban Reserve Study Area, part of which lands also were within the Hillside Protection Study Area. Consequently, conditional use permits were required for the landowners' proposed new use, described as "hobby ranching." In addition, the county notified the landowners that their lands lay within an existing subdivision and that they would need to obtain a conditional use permit to establish a different use of the property. What followed was a protracted administrative struggle between the parties over the conditional use permit application process. Eventually, after a contested case hearing before an independent hearing examiner, the county issued conditional use permits to the landowners. Over a year later, the landowners presented to the county a claim under the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act (WGCA), Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 1-39-101, et seq. (LexisNexis 2003), and subsequently filed this litigation. The district court entered summary judgment in favor of the county on April 14, 2004.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¶ 9] We see no need once again to reiterate our well-known standard for the review of summary judgments. See Ahrenholtz v. Laramie Economic Development Corp., 2003 WY 149, ¶ 16, 79 P.3d 511, 515, amended on reh'g, 2003 WY 149A, 82 P.3d 714 (Wyo.2003) and McLean v. Hyland Enterprises, Inc., 2001 WY 111, ¶ 14, 34 P.3d 1262, 1266-67 (Wyo.2001). That same standard applies in declaratory judgment actions. Pullar v. Huelle, 2003 WY 90, ¶ 6, 73 P.3d 1038, 1039-40 (Wyo.2003); Goglio v. Star Valley Ranch Ass'n, 2002 WY 94, ¶ 12, 48 P.3d 1072, 1076 (Wyo.2002).

DISCUSSION

Motion to Dismiss

[¶ 10] The county filed a motion to dismiss this appeal because the landowners did not, contemporaneously with the filing of their appellate brief, serve and file a designation of the record, as is required by W.R.A.P. 3.05(b). In response to the motion to dismiss, the landowners immediately filed their designation of the record. In an exercise of our discretion under W.R.A.P. 1.03, we denied the motion to dismiss, but we sanctioned the landowners' attorney for the late filing. We decline now to revisit that decision.

Governmental Claim

[¶ 11] The claim presented by the landowners to the county sought compensation for loss of use of the property, devaluation of the property as a result of restrictions placed upon its use, and damages incurred in obtaining allegedly unnecessary and illegal permits. These allegations were characterized in the claim as resulting in inverse condemnation, an unconstitutional taking, and deprivation of due process of law. In the prayer for relief in their complaint, the landowners sought compensation for these three causes of action, and for "arbitrary and...