1996

Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac R.R. Co. v. Metro. Wash. Airports Auth.

Supreme Court of Virginia

251 Va. 201, 468 S.E.2d 90

The Airports Authority was created in 1985 to operate Washington National and Dulles International Airports. The Authority had the power of eminent domain. RF&P owned 41 acres in Arlington County. A 17-acre portion of that land was in a clear zone at the end of a runway. Also known as a runway protection zone, it is an area that the FAA prohibits any development that attracts a congregation of people. In a protracted and factually complex series of negotiations over five years, RF&P attempted to get approval to develop office buildings in the clear zone, but was ultimately unable to develop the property. It sued the Authority for inverse condemnation for taking private property for public use without just compensation in violation of Article 1, § 11 of the Constitution of Virginia. Trial court, after lengthy bench trial, held that the Authority had done nothing to take or damage RF&P’s property, and additionally, RF&P’s claims were time-barred by the three-year limitations period of inverse condemnation. Supreme Court affirmed. Record fully supported trial court’s findings that the Authority took no action to prevent development, nor did it threaten RF&P with condemnation.

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