Gallup Westside Development, LLC v. City of Gallup
Court of Appeals of New Mexico
84 P.3d 78 (2003)
The City of Gallup (defendant) signed a 1975 assessment procedure agreement (APA) with subdivision developers, including Gallup Westside Development's (plaintiff) predecessor, conditioning an approved development plan on the developers' continued compliance with the APA's terms. After the APA expired in 1995, the city offered an amended, updated extension that Westside refused to sign, and when Westside instead proposed its own extension, the city's Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council both denied it; the district court reversed the city's denial and ordered compliance with the original APA via writ of mandamus, finding Westside had acquired vested development rights, and the city appealed.
Whether a developer acquires vested rights in a development plan when the regulatory approval underlying the plan was conditional and revocable, and the developer's only change in position was purchasing the property.