37 N.W.2d 370 | Minn. | 1949
The question for decision is whether a zoning ordinance2 which permits in a residential area "Public Schools" and "Churches and Schools accessory thereto" and prohibits therein private schools, is unconstitutional as applied to a private school, owned and conducted by a corporation which has no capital stock and is not operated *364
for profit, the purpose of which is to train young men for competitive examinations for entrance into schools conducted by the armed services of the United States and for appointment to and service in certain of the armed services, as being in violation of the due process and equal protection clauses of U.S. Const. Amend.
The facts have been stipulated. Section 3 of the zoning ordinance in question provides that in such an area there may be erected "Private" and "Two-family" dwellings, "Public Schools," "Churches and Schools accessory thereto," and certain other buildings not here material. The proper construction of the ordinance, as the parties assumed and the trial court held, is that it excludes private schools from such residential areas. Northwestern Preparatory School, Inc., is a nonstock and nonprofit corporation, the purpose of which is "the establishment and maintenance of a school for the thorough training of young men for the competitive and entrance examinations for the United States Military Academy at West Point, the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, the United States Coast Guard Academy and for appointment to and service in the Army, Navy, Air Corps or other services for the United States of America." It owns and operates the Northwestern Preparatory School, which is located in an area zoned as a residential one. Defendant Gerald J. Roddy is president of the corporation and in charge of the school. Admittedly, the school is an institution of learning. It is a preparatory school of a special type. The offense charged is based not upon the type of building in which the school is operated, but solely upon the use of the building as a private school.
Defendants contend that the classification in question permitting in a residential area public schools and parochial schools accessory to churches and excluding therefrom private schools is arbitrary and that, because that is true, it violates the due process and equal protection clauses of U.S. Const. Amend.
It is recognized that zoning ordinances otherwise valid may be unconstitutional as applied to particular cases. Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co.
The
The city's arguments that other businesses which call themselves colleges and schools, but which really are not institutions of learning, also might locate in residential areas under such a rule have been answered in State v. N.W. College of Speech Arts, Inc.
Since we hold that the ordinance as applied to private schools is unconstitutional as violative of the equal protection clause of the
Defendants are entitled as a matter of law to an acquittal.
Reversed with directions to enter judgment acquitting defendants.