Agins v. City of Tiburon

In Agins v. City of Tiburon (1979) 24 Cal.3d 266, there was authorization of studies which recommended acquisition of plaintiff's land for open space, and there was an election in which the city passed an open space bond issue, followed by the city's sale of the bonds. In Agins the city also adopted an open space ordinance which downzoned the property on June 28, 1973. On December 4 of that year, the city filed an eminent domain action, and on November 1, 1974, the city abandoned its eminent domain action. The Supreme Court in Agins rejected reliance on Klopping v. City of Whittier (1972) 8 Cal.3d 39, on the grounds that Klopping involved unreasonable delay following an announcement to condemn and other unreasonable conduct prior to condemnation. The Agins court held that there was no similar unreasonable delay or other conduct, pointing out that Tiburon instituted eminent domain proceedings less than six months after the ordinance was adopted, and the land use planning and decision making procedures undertaken by elected officials did not amount to a taking. The Agins court held that including property for public use in a general plan and calling a bond election and urging passage to secure funds for a public purpose does not amount to a taking.