Rancho La Costa v. County of San Diego

The County of San Diego (County) appeals the judgment awarding Rancho La Costa (R.L.C.) damages for inverse condemnation in allegedly taking land for public park purposes. The trial had been bifurcated and the judge sitting without a jury made a finding the County had taken R.L.C.’s property withqut due process of law under the California and United States Constitutions, and further found the affirmative defenses were without merit. In the second phase of the trial, a jury awarded damages exceeding $6 million.

R.L.C. is a limited partnership owning approximately 1,980 acres. The property subject of this action consists of approximately 440 acres north of La Costa Avenue and west of El Camino Real, described in this action as “parcel A,” 200 acres of which are in and around the Batiquitos Lagoon, and 240 acres of which are situated north of that lagoon.

All of parcel A and most of the rest of the property involved in this action was zoned A-1-8, indicating it is an agricultural zone which allows no more than one dwelling unit for each eight acres.

In 1961, R.L.C. retained the engineers’ firm of Moffatt and Nichol who prepared a feasibility study for the development of…