North Sacramento Land Co. v. City of Sacramento

[578]

Opinion

PUGLIA, P. J.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of dismissal entered after the trial court sustained defendant’s demurrer to plaintiffs amended complaint without leave to amend. The amended complaint seeks declaratory relief from a city zoning ordinance which eliminates the possibility of most special permit uses for property owned by plaintiff along the American River in Sacramento. Plaintiff alleges the ordinance deprives it of “the entire practical, substantial, viable, beneficial, reasonable, economic, and feasible uses” of the property. The complaint alleges facts which, if proven at trial, entitle plaintiff to relief under

Agins

v.

City of Tiburon

(1979) 24 Cal.3d 266 [157 Cal.Rptr. 372, 598 P.2d 25], affirmed

Agins

v.

Tiburon

(1980) 447 U.S. 255 [65 L.Ed.2d 106, 100 S.Ct. 2138]. Accordingly, we reject the trial court’s conclusion that no relief is appropriate as a matter of law and reverse the judgment.

We consider all well pled allegations in the complaint admitted for purposes of appeal.

(White

v.

Davis

(1975) 13 Cal.3d 757, 765 [120 Cal.Rptr. 94, 533 P.2d 222].) Plaintiff is the owner of approximately 439 acres of unimproved land on the banks of the American River in the City of Sacramento. The land is subject to a considerable number of easements, rights-of-way, licenses for bicycle trails, and other restrictions; it is not, nor has it ever been, reasonably suitable for agriculture.

Before the challenged ordinance was enacted, plaintiffs land was zoned “F” (floodplain). The only use permitted without a special use permit was general agriculture. At the discretion of the planning commission, however, applications could be granted for special uses such as animal hospitals, boat docks, penal institutions, schools, and sand or gravel pits. Plaintiff alleges its property is particularly suitable for the extraction of sand and gravel. It is conceded that no special use application was ever made or granted for such use of plaintiffs land.