Frisco Land & Mining Co. v. State of California

Plaintiff the owner of a 650-acre subdivision, substantially all of which was embraced within the permit area of the coastal zone created by the California Coastal Zone Conservation Act of 1972 (Pub. Resources Code, §§ 27000-27650, particularly §§ 27100 and 27104), has appealed from an order granting the defendant State of California’s motion for summary judgment and the judgment entered thereon. The plaintiff sought damages in inverse condemnation claiming that its land was taken by the state through the acts and omissions of the North Central Coast Regional Commission, a regulatory body created by the provisions of the coastal act.

The thrust of the subdivider’s argument below and on appeal is that the state, through the passage of the coastal act and the subsequent acts and omissions of the regional commission, deprived it of the only use it had for its lands, that is, the sale of lots for the building of single family homes, and thereby took its property without the payment of just compensation. The trial court concluded on the record before it that the passage of the coastal act, although it affected the marketability of all projects within the permit area, did not…