DocketNumber: No. 03-6614
Judges: PROCACCINI, J.
Filed Date: 4/13/2004
Status: Non-Precedential
Modified Date: 4/18/2021
In the late 1980s, members of the Town sought to increase the minimum lot requirement in Agricultural A and B zoning districts. After several attempts, in August, 1988, the electors of the Town of Cumberland initiated a voter referendum to amend the Cumberland Zoning Ordinance to require a minimum lot size of two acres or approximately 87,000 square feet for any lot in an Agricultural A or B zoning district. The Referendum was approved by the voters on November 8, 1988 and took effect upon passage.
On February 6, 1992, the 1988 Amendment was struck down by the Rhode Island Supreme Court because it was improperly enacted.L.A. Ray Realty v. Town Council of Cumberland,
Among the 38 applications received was Plaintiffs' application, which is the subject of the present controversy. Plaintiffs' application, filed on March 18, 1992, sought to subdivide land located at Old Wrentham Road within the Town. At the time Plaintiffs filed their application, the property was zoned Residential AA. Under the applicable zoning ordinance in effect at the time of filing, the minimum lot sizes in Residential AA were 80,000 square feet if water and sewer were not available and 25,000 square feet if water and sewer were available. Plaintiffs' application was reviewed by the Cumberland Planning Board and pre-application approval was granted on June 16, 1992.
In 1994, the Town enacted a Comprehensive Zoning Amendment that would comport with the New Zoning Enabling Act. Section 9-13 of the 1994 Zoning Ordinance addresses the vested rights issue for those developers in the process of approval, and sets forth certain required time frames for applications upon approval.
On June 2, 2003, the Plaintiffs sent the Town Planning Department a preapplication plan for a continued application meeting, which was approved by the Planning Board on June 25, 2003. The Plaintiffs submitted their revised plans for Great Woods on October 7, 2003 and on October 28, 2003, the Planning Board accepted the plan submitted by the Plaintiffs. Thereafter, the Town changed its position and notified Plaintiffs that the application was not valid as previously declared.
On December 19, 2003, Plaintiffs filed a verified complaint against the Town of Cumberland seeking Declaratory Relief asserting that Plaintiffs' application remains valid, binding and in full force and effect, and that pursuit of the subdivision may be done under the zoning regulations at the time of the application filing. The matter is now before this Court on Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment and Declaratory Relief.
During a summary judgment proceeding "the court does not pass upon the weight or credibility of the evidence but must consider the affidavits and other pleadings in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion." Palmisciano, 603 A.2d at 320 (citing Lennon v. MacGregor,
Under the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act, this Court has the power to declare rights, status, and other legal relations whether or not further relief is or could be claimed. G.L. 1956 §
Conversely, Defendant maintains that Plaintiffs' vested rights in their 1992 application were extinguished when Plaintiffs failed to proceed with their application in a reasonable amount of time. Although no time constraint was present in the 1987 regulations addressing the stage between pre-applications and preliminary plat plans, Defendant asserts that § 9-13 of the Town of Cumberland's 1994 Ordinance set forth a time requirement that Plaintiffs were required to follow thereafter. That section provides in pertinent part:
"(b) Any application for development under this ordinance that is substantially complete prior to the enactment or amendment of this ordinance, shall be reviewed according to the regulations applicable in the zoning ordinance in force at the time the application was submitted. If such application is approved, the applicant must begin construction or exercise the right granted in the application if no construction is involved, not more than one year after the date of such approval. All construction must be completed not more than two years after the date of such approval, unless specifically set forth to the contrary in the original approval."
Additionally, Defendant contends that a provision in the 1987 regulations setting a time requirement between the preliminary plat stage and the final application stage substantiates their position that applicants were required to act within a reasonable amount of time in submitting a preliminary plat subsequent to pre-application approval. This Court disagrees.
Several courts have taken the position that a property owner's development rights must be based on the ordinance in effect at the time an application is filed. For example, in Allenbach v.City of Tukwila,
"We see no reason to protect vested rights acquired after a permit is issued, and to deny such protection to similar rights acquired under an ordinance as it existed at the time a proper application for a permit is made. In both instances, the right protected is the same, that is, the good faith reliance by the owner on the right to use his property as permitted under the Zoning Ordinance in force at the time of the application for a permit."
Similarly, in Tantimonaco et ux. v. Zoning Board of Review ofthe Town of Johnston,
In the present case Plaintiffs acquired vested rights in their pre-application when it was approved in June 1992 in accordance with the Town's 1987 Subdivision Regulations. There was no timeframe in the 1987 regulations within which applicants were required to proceed subsequent to approval of their pre-applications. This Court rejects Defendant's position that the Town can now apply the time limits set forth in the 1994 Ordinance even though Plaintiffs' pre-application was submitted in accordance with the 1987 regulations. Moreover, Defendant's assertion that Plaintiffs had an affirmative duty to continue with their application within a reasonable time based on provisions in the 1987 regulations which set time limits for other procedures is unavailing. An affirmative duty to act within a certain amount of time is created when there is a time limitation within the applicable regulations or ordinance under which an application was filed. See 4 Rathkopf, The Law ofZoning and Planning, § 70:15 (2002). Because there was no time limit specified in the 1987 regulations with regard to how long the applicants had to proceed with their pre-application before it expired, Plaintiffs did not forfeit their right to an exemption from the minimum two acre lot requirement.
While Defendant concedes that the other 14 applications were not subjected to the time limitations now being enforced against Plaintiffs' application, Defendant asserts that Plaintiffs do not have a right to benefits to which they are not legally entitled. Defendant maintains that the municipality's failure to enforce the time limits placed in the 1994 ordinance constitutes an ultra vires act and thus cannot be relied upon by Plaintiffs to establish an equal protection violation.
The United State Supreme Court has held that the equal protection clause gives rise to a cause of action "where the plaintiff alleges that she has been intentionally treated differently from others similarly situated and that there is no rational basis for the difference in treatment." Village ofWillowbrook v. Olech,
Applying the above reasoning to the present case, this Court finds that the Board's sudden enforcement of a time limit on Plaintiffs' application is arbitrary and capricious and is an equal protection violation. Upon withdrawing the Plaintiffs' application in 2003, the Planning Board never provided any explanation for the withdrawal of Plaintiffs' application. Moreover, the Defendant has not established any basis for differentiating between the Plaintiffs' application and the previous 14 applications in applying the time limit specified in the 1994 ordinance.
"A basic formulation of estoppel states that a local government exercising its zoning powers will be estopped when a property owner (1) relying in good faith, (2) upon some act or omission of the government, (3) has made such extensive obligations and incurred such extensive expenses that it would be highly inequitable and unjust to destroy the rights which the owner has ostensibly acquired." 4 Rathkopf, supra, § 65:29 (citing Heeter, Zoning Estoppel: Application of the Principles ofEquitable Estoppel Vested Rights to Zoning Disputes, 1971 Urb. L. Ann. 63, 66). Courts are in agreement that the property owner's reliance must be reasonable and justifiable in light of the government's conduct. See, e.g., LeDoux v. Kodiak IslandBorough,
Here, Plaintiffs reasonably relied on the exemption in the Town's 1992 Ordinance and the Board's subsequent approval of their 1992 pre-application in incurring costs on their prospective project. Even if Defendant's contention that Plaintiffs should have acted within a certain timeframe after enactment of the 1994 Ordinance was correct, the Board's subsequent approval of the 14 other applications conveyed a contrary message. It is undisputed that the Board consistently applied the 1987 regulations to applications submitted as of March 18, 1992 without imposing any time limits as to when applicants were required to proceed. "Speaking in general terms, where assurances have been given, representations have been made, or a permit was issued within the general powers conferred upon a municipal officer, the claim of equitable estoppel will be sustained." Rathkopf, supra, § 65:31. Thus, this Court finds that after granting approval of the Plaintiffs' pre-application it would be inequitable for the Board to now be able to disallow Plaintiffs' application due to alleged time limitations when Plaintiffs were led to believe that the only time limitations to which they were subject were those stipulated in the 1987 regulations.
Additionally, this Court rejects Defendant's argument that this is not a detrimental reliance case because Plaintiffs only submitted a pre-application. While Defendant is correct that generally the sketch plan procedure is so informal that legal consequences will not result, where the sketch plan procedure in the relevant ordinance assumes more formal dimensions, approval of the plan can entitle the applicant to certain protections.See 5 Rathkopf, supra, § 91:4; Croft v. Board of Sup'rs ofMiddletown Tp.,
Moreover, Defendant has not demonstrated that the Town has been adversely affected by the Plaintiffs' failure to act on their pre-application prior to 2003. Courts have repeatedly held that "a municipality is estopped from denying the validity of its own acts" Rathkopf, supra, § 65:29 (citing Klotz v. Board ofAdjustment of Borough of Englewood Cliffs,
With respect to the Plaintiffs' Motion for Declaratory Judgment, this equitable remedy permits the Court to declare the rights and status of the parties. While granting Plaintiffs' request as to lot size, this Court recognizes a strong public interest in other related concerns of the Defendant associated with well-conceived, orderly, and environmentally appropriate development of land Accordingly, this Court orders that Plaintiffs' subdivision shall, to the extent practicable, comply with all current subdivision regulations other than lot size.
Ex Parte City of Jacksonville , 693 So. 2d 465 ( 1996 )
City of Sheridan v. Keen , 524 P.2d 1390 ( 1974 )
Miller v. Board of Adjustment of Dewey Beach , 521 A.2d 642 ( 1986 )
Corona Properties of Fla. v. MONROE CTY. , 485 So. 2d 1314 ( 1986 )
American National Bank & Trust Co. v. Village of Arlington ... , 115 Ill. App. 3d 342 ( 1983 )
Hall v. Board of Environmental Protection , 498 A.2d 260 ( 1985 )
RI HOSPITAL TRUST NAT. BANK v. Boiteau , 376 A.2d 323 ( 1977 )
Steinberg v. State , 427 A.2d 338 ( 1981 )
Mill Realty Associates v. Crowe , 841 A.2d 668 ( 2004 )
Lennon v. MacGregor , 423 A.2d 820 ( 1980 )
Capital Properties, Inc. v. State , 749 A.2d 1069 ( 1999 )
Sousa v. Langlois , 97 R.I. 196 ( 1964 )
Tantimonaco v. ZONING BD. OF JOHNSTON , 102 R.I. 594 ( 1967 )
Klotz v. BD. OF ADJUST. OF ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS , 90 N.J. Super. 295 ( 1966 )
L.A. Ray Realty v. Town Council of Cumberland , 603 A.2d 311 ( 1992 )
Palmisciano v. Burrillville Racing Ass'n , 603 A.2d 317 ( 1992 )
Bourg v. Bristol Boat Co. , 705 A.2d 969 ( 1998 )
Ludwig v. Kowal , 419 A.2d 297 ( 1980 )
Great Falls Mfg. Co. v. Attorney General , 8 S. Ct. 631 ( 1888 )
Sioux City Bridge Co. v. Dakota County , 43 S. Ct. 190 ( 1923 )