Stone v. City of Prescott

Plaintiffs claim that the City of Prescott and its elected officials violated their civil rights by depriving them of the opportunity to petition for a city-wide referendum challenging certain real property transfers. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the City. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I

In October 1995, the city council of Prescott, Arizona (“City”) passed Ordinance # 3423 which provided for the sale of City-owned Hassayampa Lake to Hassayampa Lake Holdings, L.L.C. The ordinance included a declaration of emergency stating that:

In December 1995, the City passed Ordinance # 3460, which included a similar declaration of emergency, authorizing the acceptance of a grant of mining rights from individuals with potential claims on title to the Hassayampa Lake property. The plaintiffs opposed the land transactions and sought to undo the work of the city council by organizing a referendum of voters to rescind the transactions.

Under the Arizona Constitution the people reserved the power of the referendum. See Ariz. Const, art. TV, Part 1, § 1. The Arizona Constitution provides an exception to the referendum power for “laws…