Sanfilippo

MEMORANDUM OPINION DENYING MOTION TO DISMISS

This is an action for inverse, condemnation. Plaintiffs are owners of 206 acres of unimproved mountain land in Santa Cruz County., . They allege that the County’s General Plan and zoning scheme, as applied to their land, deprive them of their property without just compensation in violation of the 5th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution. The case, is presently before the Court on defendants’ motion to dismiss. For the reasons given below, the Court denies this motion.

The parties are in agreement as to the history of plaintiffs’ efforts to secure County approval of their development applications. In 1972 the zoning on the land in dispute was changed' from a residential classification which permitted one residence per 2.5 acres, to UBS-100, which permitted one residence per 100 acres and a number of other uses by special permit. Some time after the UBS-100 designation, plaintiffs applied for rezoning, approval of a plan to divide their land into smaller parcels, and for “conceptual approval” of a planned unit development (PUD) project.

On July 3, 1974 all three requests by the plaintiffs were denied by the County…