CITY OF PORT ST. LUCIE, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
ORVILLE PARKS AND LOUISE PARKS, HIS WIFE, APPELLEES

Fla. 4th DCA | 1984-07-11
No. 83-1591
HERSEY and GLICKSTEIN, JJ., concur.
452 So. 2d 1089 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1984) Caution
Cited by 12 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The City of Port St. Lucie appealed a finding of inverse condemnation after realigning roads that terminated the Parks' direct access to Port St. Lucie Boulevard, leaving their property accessible only via a dead-end street. The appellate court reversed, holding that the loss of convenient access constitutes mere inconvenience rather than a compensable taking when alternate access remains available.


Holding

The court held that diminishment in quality of access is compensable only when it results in actual impairment to the property, not mere inconvenience. Loss of the most convenient method of access, when alternate suitable access exists, does not constitute a taking.


Headnotes

[1] Ease and facility of access constitute valuable property rights for which an owner is entitled to be compensated.

[2] A property owner is not entitled to compensation for the loss of the most convenient method of access if suitable access remains available from another street, even if th…

Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“Ease and facility of access constitute valuable property rights for which an owner is entitled to be adequately compensated.”

Establishes the legal principle that access is a compensable property right, acknowledged by both parties.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

In September 1979, the Parks purchased a lot in Port St. Lucie and built a model home with direct access to Port St. Lucie Boulevard via Cane Slough R…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
DELL, Judge.

DELL, Judge.

The City of Port St. Lucie appeals an order finding a taking by inverse condemnation.

In September of 1979, appellees purchased a lot in the City of Port St. Lucie and built a model home. Appellees had direct access to Port St. Lucie Boulevard by traveling over Cane Slough Road. In 1981, appellant realigned the roads and terminated appellees’ access to Port St. Lucie Boulevard from Cane Slough Road. Cane Slough Road became a dead end street with a hammerhead turnaround in front of appellees’ property. Appellees filed suit and alleged that appellant’s actions constituted a taking which entitled them to compensation. The court found that appellant’s actions “resulted in an unreasonable interference with access to the property and did result in a substantial inverse condemnation.”

Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the finding of a taking. Appellant recognizes that “[e]ase and facility of access constitute valuable property rights for which an owner is entitled to be adequately compensated.” State Department of Transportation v. Stubbs, 285 So. 2d 1, 3 (Fla.1973). However, appellant argues that “[t]he fact that a person loses his most convenient method of access is not such damage which is different in kind from damages sustained by the community at large where his property has suitable access from another street even though the alternate route is longer.” Pinellas County v. Austin, 323 So. 2d 6, 8-9 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975). Thus appellant contends the evidence is insufficient to support a finding of a taking because appellees merely lost their most convenient method of access.

Appellees maintain there has been an unreasonable interference with the quality of the access to their property which entitles them to compensation. They rely on Austin for the proposition that they do not have to establish a total deprivation of access, but rather that they only need to show a diminishment in the quality of access.

In Austin, the county vacated a street and affected access to the Austins’ property. The court stated:

[I]t must be conceded that the Austins were not totally deprived of access to their property. Nevertheless, the quality of their access was diminished. The old wooden bridge was not adequate to support heavy vehicular traffic, such as garbage trucks or fire trucks. Regardless of whether the platted street touches the Austin property at the northeast corner, there is no road there, and, even if you could get in, it would then be necessary to cut down trees and drive through some nursery stock in order to have effective access to the bulk of the tract. On balance, we believe the record is sufficient to support the conclusion that the Austins suffered a sufficient impairment of their right of access as to be different in kind from the public at large. The existence of the other possible means of access may reduce the amount of the recovery, but because of the limitations upon the other access, the Austins are entitled to be compensated for the loss suffered by the vacation of the streets in question.

Id. at 9.

Diminishment in the quality of access therefore means an actual impairment which results in some deprivation to the property, but does not include mere inconvenience.

In the case sub judice, appellee Parks testified that the termination of access to and from Port St. Lucie Boulevard causes inconvenience to the truck drivers because it is difficult to turn the larger trucks around on Cane Slough Road. However, he also admitted that the property has not been deprived of any services as a result of the termination. Although appel-lees have lost the most convenient access to the property, mere inconvenience without actual impairment is not compensable. Therefore, we hold that appellee presented insufficient evidence to establish a compensable loss and we reverse the order of the trial court which found that a. taking occurred.

REVERSED.

HERSEY and GLICKSTEIN, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Palm Beach Cnty. v. Tessler, 538 So. 2d 846 (Fla. 1989)
    …access which was to be different in kind from the public at large. The court noted, however, that the existence of the other means of access could have the effect of reducing the amount of the Austins’ recovery. Cf. City of Port St. Lucie v. Parks, 452 So. 2d 1089, 1090-91 (Fla. 4th DCA) (“Diminishment in the quality of access ... means an actual impairment which results in some deprivation to the property, but does not include mere inconvenience.”), review denied, 459 So. 2d 1041 (Fla.1984). Several princip…
  • Division of Administration v. Ness Trailer Park, Inc., 489 So. 2d 1172 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986)
    …should it be found to be adjacent to the property, was totally unimproved, and much work would also have to be done to clear parts of the owners’ property if that street were to be used for effective access. See also City of Port St. Lucie v. Parks, 452 So. 2d 1089 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984) (So long as property owner still had suitable access, albeit by longer route, mere loss of most convenient method of access did not result in compensable damages.) None of the three possible bases for severance damages due to los…
  • Division OF Administration v. Jirik, 471 So. 2d 549 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)
    …street did not totally destroy access since small wooden bridge remained, access sufficiently impaired to permit award of damages; fact that other means of access exist [*552] may reduce the amount of recovery); cf. City of Port St. Lucie v. Parks, 452 So. 2d 1089 (Fla. 4th DCA) (no inverse condemnation resulted where owners merely lost the most convenient access to their property), rev. denied, 459 So. 2d 1041 (Fla. 1984). . Section 73.071(4), Florida Statutes (1983), provides: 73.071 Jury trial; compensat…
    1 / 2

Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw