## Facts

- The City of Virginia Beach planned a beach-nourishment project along Cape Henry Beach with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- To support the project, the City sought perpetual public easements for beach and recreation across certain privately owned beachfront parcels, including property owned by Lynnhaven Dunes Condominium Association.
- In February 2009, the City adopted an ordinance authorizing acquisition of the needed easements by purchase or condemnation.
- The City filed a circuit-court petition seeking (1) condemnation of easements and (2) confirmation of claimed preexisting public easements by implied dedication (quiet title).
- Lynnhaven denied any implied dedication, asserting public use had been permissive and revocable.
- The nourishment project would place dredged sand to widen the beach and create a strip of sand between Lynnhaven’s property and the waterline, allegedly impairing or eliminating Lynnhaven’s riparian rights, including direct access to the Chesapeake Bay.
- The circuit court confirmed public easements by implied dedication over much of the disputed area, held the ordinance authorized the combined condemnation/quiet-title proceeding, and ruled the riparian-rights impairment was not compensable.

## Issues

1. Whether an ordinance authorizing acquisition of easements by condemnation also authorized a condemnation proceeding that included a quiet-title claim to confirm alleged preexisting easements.
2. Whether the evidence supported finding public beach easements by implied dedication over the disputed area.
3. Whether government action that widens a beach and substantially impairs or destroys a riparian owner’s access to water constitutes a compensable taking requiring just compensation.

## Decision

- Affirmed the ruling that the ordinance authorized the City to pursue condemnation while also quieting title to the same easements within the same proceeding.
- Affirmed the finding that the City proved certain public beach easements by implied dedication.
- Reversed the ruling that impairment or loss of Lynnhaven’s riparian rights was non-compensable.
- Remanded for further proceedings to determine and award just compensation for the taking of riparian rights.

## Legal Principles

- A municipal authorization to acquire property interests by condemnation permits structuring the condemnation action to resolve related title questions concerning the same interest and public purpose, including confirmation of existing easements.
- Implied dedication of an easement requires (1) owner intent to dedicate, which may be inferred from conduct, and (2) public acceptance, often shown through long, continuous public use and governmental acts consistent with public rights.
- Riparian rights appurtenant to upland property are protected property rights; government may not substantially impair or destroy access to navigable waters without paying just compensation under the Virginia Constitution’s just-compensation clause.
- A public shoreline-protection or beach-nourishment project can effect a taking when physical changes to the shoreline interpose land or otherwise cut off or materially diminish the practical enjoyment of riparian access.

## Conclusion

The court upheld the City’s authority to combine condemnation with a quiet-title request and upheld the finding of impliedly dedicated public beach easements, but held that beach nourishment that substantially impairs a condominium association’s riparian access constitutes a compensable taking requiring valuation and compensation on remand.


Lynnhaven Dunes Condo. Ass’n v. City of Va. Beach, 284 Va. 661 (2012)