Hollister Park Inv. Co. v. Goleta Cty. Water Dist.

Opinion

THOMPSON, J.

This action reaches us on an appeal from a judgment of dismissal after a demurrer was sustained without leave to amend. It raises a narrow issue of the right of a landowner denied access to the facilities of a water district to recover in inverse condemnation for the diminution in value of his property caused by lack of water. Determining that resolution of the issue is controlled by

Selby Realty Co.

v.

City of San Buenaventura

(1973) 10 Cal.3d 110 [109 Cal.Rptr. 799, 514 P.2d 111] and

Swanson

v.

Marin Mun. Water Dist.

(1976) 56 Cal.App.3d 512 [128 Cal.Rptr. 485], we conclude that the landowner is not entitled to damages in inverse condemnation. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. Because the briefs and documents filed in the trial court indicate that the case at bench is but one of a great number of cases pending in the trial court involving the same issue, we publish our opinion so that it may be cited in the remaining cases. (See rule 977, Cal. Rules of Court.)

We treat as true for the purpose of this appeal all facts, pleaded in appellant landowner’s first amended complaint. We ignore allegations of conclusion of law, and where the allegations in the body of the complaint are contrary to documents incorporated by reference in it, we treat the documents as controlling over their characterization in the pleading.

Landowner owned approximately 25 acres of undeveloped real property within the Goleta County Water District. On December 7, 1972, at a time when the land was not serviced by the district, the Goleta County Water District adopted its Resolution No. 714. The resolution declares that an emergent water shortage of 4,000 acre feet per year has developed in the district and that therefore no new water service connections will be approved pending evaluation and planning for supplemental sources of water. The resolution was followed by Ordinances Nos. 72-1 and 72-2, also enacted in December of 1972. The

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