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Parker v. Town of Milton12/18/1998
ut how the proposed project will affect those interests, they may not address them to this Court. Any broad, policy-based inquiry into the economic and employment interests affected should be addressed to the Legislature.
The requirement of an actual, particularized injury cannot be suspended in cases where plaintiffs invoke the public trust doctrine.
II. Plaintiffs' Constitutional Claims
We next turn to plaintiffs' claims arising out of the events at the public information meeting. In reviewing dismissal for failure to state a claim, we assume that the facts alleged in the complaint are true and affirm only where "it appears beyond doubt that there exist no circumstances or facts which the plaintiff could prove above the claim made in complaint which would entitle [the plaintiff] to relief." Association of Haystack Property Owners, Inc. v. Sprague, 145 Vt. 443, 446, 494 A.2d 122, 124 (1985) (quoting Levinsky v. Diamond, 140 Vt. 545, 600-01, 442 A.2d 1277, 1280-81 (1982)).
Plaintiffs seek relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that their constitutional rights to due process and equal protection of the laws were violated because (1) they were denied the minimum essentials of procedural due process because they did not have an opportunity to present their interests at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner; (2) they were denied procedural due process because the administrative proceeding was conducted by a biased decisionmaker; and (3) they were denied equal protection under the law because they were treated differently from others similarly situated. Both a due process and an equal protection claim must be predicated on some form of state action. The only state action alleged by plaintiffs was the decision of the presiding DEC officer to rule their representative out of order.
First, the requirements of due process apply only to agency decisions that are adjudicative, not legislative. See In re Appeal of Stratton Corp., 157 Vt. 436, 442, 600 A.2d 297, 300 (1991). The decision whether to grant an encroachment permit does represent an adjudicative function, as plaintiffs claim, but the encroachment permit is not granted or denied at the public information meeting. Rather, the purpose of the meeting is to determine the impact of the encroachment on the public interest. This is a policy determination, involving general facts, and having a prospective application. These are characteristic of the legislative function. See id. at 443, 600 A.2d at 301. The public information hearing is not a determination of particular facts and past events, which are characteristics of an adjudicative proceeding. See id. Therefore, plaintiffs received all the process to which they were entitled: a public information meeting was held in response to their petition and they received notice of the meeting as required by 29 V.S.A. § 405.
Second, due process protects individuals when their life, liberty, or property is at issue in a proceeding. Plaintiffs' due process claim fails because plaintiffs did not have a cognizable property interest at stake in the public information meeting. Individual property rights are not at issue at the public information meeting, rather, the stated purpose of the meeting is to determine whether the encroachment will adversely affect the public good. See 29 V.S.A. § 405(b). Even if the encroachment permit issue were being decided at the public information meeting, plaintiffs are not the applicants for the permit, and thus they do not have a property interest that is affected by the outcome of the agency s decision on the permit.
Finally, an equal protection claim must be premised on some form of discriminatory state a
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