Dunn

The owner of a six-acre parcel in Summerland filed an application to subdivide that property, which is zoned for a single-family residence, into two 3-acre parcels. As presently configured, two residences could conceivably be developed on the parcel. The County of Santa Barbara (County) determined, however, that the property was subject to development restrictions pursuant to state laws and local regulations enacted for the protection of wetlands and environmentally sensitive habitat areas. After identifying two artificially created wetlands totaling approximately one-fifth of an acre, the County concluded that only one residence could be built on the property, and accordingly denied the subdivision application. Appellant David J. Dunn, as trustee of a family tmst that owns the subject property, thereafter filed a petition for a writ of administrative mandate (Code Civ. Proc., § 1094.5), combined with a complaint alleging, among other things, that the County’s regulations had taken his property without compensation in violation of the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Dunn subsequently moved for summary adjudication of his writ…