Palazzolo v. Rhode Island, 533 U.S. 606, 18 (2001)

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Cite as: 533 U. S. 606 (2001)

Opinion of the Court

The State's prior willingness to accept the $200,000 figure, furthermore, is well founded. The only reference to upland property in the trial court's opinion is to a single parcel worth an estimated $200,000. See App. to Pet. for Cert. B-5. There was, it must be acknowledged, testimony at trial suggesting the existence of an additional upland parcel elsewhere on the property. See Tr. 190-191, 199-120 (testimony of Dr. Grover Fugate, Council Executive Director); see also id., at 610 (testimony of Steven Clarke). The testimony indicated, however, that the potential, second upland parcel was on an "island" which required construction of a road across wetlands, id., at 610, 623-624 (testimony of Mr. Clarke)—and, as discussed above, the filling of wetlands for such a purpose would not justify a special exception under Council regulations. See supra, at 619-621; see also Brief for Respondents 10 ("Residential construction is not the basis of such a 'special exception' "). Perhaps for this reason, the State did not maintain in the trial court that additional uplands could have been developed. To the contrary, its post-trial memorandum identified only the single parcel that petitioner concedes retains a development value of $200,000. See State's Post-Trial Memorandum in No. 88-0297 (Super. Ct. R. I.), pp. 25, 81. The trial court accepted the figure. So there is no genuine ambiguity in the record as to the extent of permitted development on petition-er's property, either on the wetlands or the uplands.

Nonetheless, there is some suggestion that the use permitted on the uplands is not known, because the State accepted the $200,000 value for the upland parcel on the premise that only a Lucas claim was raised in the pleadings in the state trial court. See Brief for Respondents 29-30. Since a Penn Central argument was not pressed at trial, it is argued, the State had no reason to assert with vigor that more than a single-family residence might be placed on the uplands. We disagree; the State was aware of the applicability of Penn Central. The issue whether the Council's decisions

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