Ventures in Property I v. City of Wichita

The opinion of the court was delivered by This is an action brought under K.S.A. 60-1701 for a declaratory judgment against the City of Wichita and the Kansas Department of Transportation (defendants-appellees). Ventures in Property I (plaintiff-appellant) alleges the City of Wichita took its land by inverse condemnation when it declined to approve platting of the property in contemplation of the building of a future highway known as the K-96 Highway Corridor (hereafter Northeast Circumferential). The trial court granted the appellee Secretary of Transportation's motion for summary judgment and held appellant's sole remedy lay under K.S.A. 12-712. The essential facts are not seriously disputed. The appellant acquired approximately 48 acres of real property located immediately outside the city limits of Wichita, Kansas, and within the three-mile plat jurisdiction of the city in August of 1972. At that time the property had an R-1 Sedgwick County zoning classification and was being used for agricultural purposes. The appellant intended to develop the property into a residential subdivision.