612 N.E.2d 477 | Ohio Ct. App. | 1992
[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *379 This is an appeal by the Trustees of Paulding Township from a decision of the Common Pleas Court of Paulding County reversing a decision of the Paulding County Board of Commissioners and granting the annexation of certain lands to the village of Paulding.
On November 19, 1990, a petition for the annexation of certain property located in Paulding Township and adjacent to the village of Paulding was filed pursuant to R.C.
The commissioners held a public hearing on the annexation, which the Paulding Township Trustees attended. Testimony for and against the annexation was presented. By resolution dated March 18, 1991, the commissioners denied the annexation request.
Upon denial of the petition, the landowners ("petitioners") appealed to the court of common pleas pursuant to R.C. Chapter 2506. The court conducted a hearing on the annexation on August 19, 1991. Finding the commissioners' decision to be unsupported by a preponderance of substantial, reliable, or probative evidence, the common pleas court reversed the decision and granted the annexation request.
From this reversal granting annexation, the Paulding Township Trustees ("trustees") appeal, asserting three assignments of error.
R.C. Chapter 2506 authorizes the common pleas court to hear appeals from decisions of administrative officers, agencies, commissions, bureaus, boards, etc. R.C.
"* * * the court shall hear the appeal upon the transcript and such additional evidence as may be introduced by any party. At the hearing, any party may call, as if on cross-examination, any witness who previously gave testimony in opposition to such party."
The trustees, as appellants herein, assert that the common pleas court abused its discretion in hearing additional evidence which was repetitive to the testimony presented to the commissioners. The trustees also complain that the court should not have allowed the petitioners to call and examine witnesses at the court hearing which the petitioners chose not to call or examine at the hearing before the commissioners.
R.C.
In the present case, because the commissioners failed to file conclusions of fact supporting their resolution denying the annexation, the common pleas court was permitted to hear and consider evidence in addition to the transcript of the hearing before the commissioners. R.C.
R.C.
Nor do we agree with the trustees' contention that R.C.
The common pleas court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the presentation of petitioners' evidence at the court hearing. The court's allowing additional evidence does not indicate that the court's attitude was unreasonable, arbitrary or unconscionable. Blakemore v. Blakemore (1983),
Appellants' first assignment of error is overruled.
In this assignment of error, the trustees contend the common pleas court, by characterizing the hearing it conducted as "denovo," improperly substituted its judgment for that of the commissioners' rather than acting as a reviewing court.
Although the court characterized the proceeding as a "denovo" hearing, such designation does not indicate that the court failed to follow the statutory procedures in reviewing the commissioners' denial of the annexation. The Supreme Court of Ohio has indicated that although a hearing before the court of common pleas pursuant to R.C.
We do not find the court's characterization of the hearing as "de novo" to be prejudicial error. The record on appeal indicates the court considered the evidence adduced at both the hearing before the commissioners and the court hearing. This is demonstrated by the court's findings of fact which make reference to matters not discussed at the court hearing. For example, the court relied on the testimony of the Paulding County Auditor given at the hearing before the commissioners to make the factual finding that the tax rate for the area to be annexed would increase if the area were annexed into the village of Paulding.
We find no merit in appellants' assertions that the court of common pleas was not acting as a court of review. Accordingly, this assignment of error is overruled.
The trustees complain the common pleas court's reversal of the commissioners' decision denying the annexation request was contrary to law because the general good of the land to be annexed will not be served by the annexation of the land into the village of Paulding.
In determining whether to grant a petition for annexation, the county commissioners must consider the factors identified in R.C.
The standard to be employed by a court of common pleas in reviewing a board of county commissioners' decision whether to grant an annexation petition is established in R.C.
"The court may find that the order, adjudication, or decision is unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, or unsupported by the preponderance of substantial, reliable, and probative evidence on the whole record. Consistent with its findings, the court may affirm, reverse, vacate, or modify the order, adjudication, or decision, or remand the cause * * *."
Although the determination of whether the annexation would serve the general good of the territory is a factual finding to be made by the county commissioners, this determination can be overturned by the court of common pleas upon a finding that the commissioners' decision is "* * * unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, or unsupported by the preponderance of substantial, reliable, and probative evidence on the whole record." R.C.
An appellate court has a limited function in determining whether a common pleas court correctly applied the standard of review. Id. R.C.
We do not find the common pleas court's determination that the general good of the territory to be annexed would be better served by annexation to be unsupported by the facts. There was sufficient evidence to support the court's findings. Although the services received by the territory to be annexed are not currently deficient, the annexation would serve the general good of the territory sought to be annexed. This is exemplified in the testimony that the area would receive enhanced police protection, the benefits *385 of immediate zoning and additionally reduced speed limits, as well as additional street lighting.
Appellants' third assignment of error is overruled.
Having found no error prejudicial to the appellants herein, in any of the particulars assigned and argued, the judgment of the court of common pleas is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
SHAW and THOMAS F. BRYANT, JJ., concur.