634 N.E.2d 685 | Ohio Ct. App. | 1993
This cause comes before the court upon the appeal of the Avon Lake Board of Zoning Appeals from the judgment of the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas reversing its order denying a variance to the appellee, Trademark Homes ("Trademark"). We reverse.
The lot that is the subject matter of this controversy is designated Lorain County Permanent Parcel No. 04-00-019-0109-048 and is located on the north side of Electric Boulevard, in Avon Lake. Measuring forty feet wide by one hundred fifty feet deep, it is the west portion of the original sublot 21. The east portion, measuring fifty feet wide, was joined to a neighboring property by a previous owner.
The lot is located in an area of Avon Lake zoned as an R-1 Residence District. In that zone, a single-family dwelling may not be built on a lot that has less than fifteen thousand square feet, or a frontage of less than one hundred feet. Before sublot 21 was split, it conformed to the zoning regulations; after the split, the remaining forty-foot lot did not.
Trademark admits that it knew of the zoning restriction when it purchased its interest in the property. Accordingly, it requested a variance to allow it to build a single-family dwelling on the lot. After the building inspector denied its request, Trademark appealed to the board.
At a regular board meeting, Trademark presented its request and the board also received other comments. The board then found that Trademark had failed to establish that the application of the zoning regulation to the lot would be unreasonable. Consequently, it ordered that the variance be denied.
Trademark appealed the administrative order to the court of common pleas, pursuant to R.C.
The board argues that Trademark's appeal to the court of common pleas was never perfected because it failed to file an appeal bond as required by R.C.
The board's failure to object to Trademark's standing during the administrative adjudication operates as a waiver. InStores Realty Co. v. Cleveland (1975),
The court of common pleas reversed the board's order because it found the zoning ordinance to be a constructive taking of private property, in violation of the
The trial court's finding is incorrect as a matter of law for three reasons. It represents a misunderstanding of what constitutes an unlawful taking, prevents the enforcement of a city ordinance without overcoming the presumption of validity, and frustrates the legitimate exercise of the city's police power.
"[C]itizens acquire a `bundle of rights' when they take title to property. In accordance with the Takings Clause, the `bundle' cannot be held subject to the state's subsequent decision to eliminate all economically beneficial uses and a regulation having such effect cannot be enacted or sustained without compensation being paid to the owner. * * * Lucas v. SouthCarolina Coastal Council (1992), 505 U.S. ___, ___,
In that case, enforcement of a zoning regulation was held not to be a taking because the property owner bought the property knowing of the restriction and had not lost "all economically beneficial uses." Id. at 458,
The government impermissibly confiscates private property only where its actions for public benefit leave the owner with virtually no sticks left in his bundle of ownership rights and then fails to compensate him for that loss. Zoning ordinances can result in constructive taking under these circumstances. Zoning restrictions which attempt to totally restrict the owners in the use of their property, absent compliance with the zoning restrictions, and which render the property as it is presently situated effectively valueless without any corresponding public benefits constitute unconstitutional takings. Schreiner v.Russell Twp. Bd. of Trustees (1990),
This court considered whether land with some remaining value had been unlawfully taken in Beck v. Springfield Twp. Bd. ofZoning Appeals (1993),
"By its nature, zoning `interferes' significantly with owners' uses of property. It is hornbook law that `[m]ere diminution of market value or interference with *219
the property owner's personal plans and desires relative to his property is insufficient to invalidate a zoning ordinance or to entitle him to a variance or rezoning. [Citation omitted.]"Eastlake v. Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (1976),
Conversely, "[e]vidence that the granting of an application for a zoning variance would result in increasing the value of the affected property * * * does not in itself render the denial of the application for a variance unconstitutional." C. MillerChevrolet v. Willoughby Hills (1974),
In Negin, the owners were able to rebut the presumption of constitutionality because the only other uses to which the land could be put were found to be illusory. Two factors distinguish that case from the case before this court. First, in Negin the proposed buyer was a hypothetical homeowner's association which did not exist. Second, the owners' land was nonconforming prior to zoning. In Trademark's case, there is evidence that the neighbors have expressed interest in buying the lot and, more importantly, the owner acquired its interest knowing that it would require a variance in order to build.
Zoning ordinances with a rational relationship to "the health, safety, morals or general welfare of a community are constitutionally within the police power of a municipal government." Pepper Pike,
Avon Lake's minimum lot size and frontage within the R-1 Residence District is at least rationally related to the community's welfare. There was ample evidence given at the board's meeting and submitted to the court of common pleas tending to prove the city's interest in maintaining these standards. Since the trial court did not evaluate the quality of the evidence upon which the board based its order, this court must assume that the trial court found no defect.
The minimum lot size under the zoning ordinance is two hundred fifty percent larger than the lot for which Trademark demands a variance. Trademark has given this court no legal authority for such a large exception. A board of zoning appeals is not authorized to rezone an area of the city. Under R.C.
The trial court was incorrect when it found Avon Lake's zoning ordinance a violation of due process. Municipalities may regulate land use and lot size so long as the regulation bears a rational relationship to community health, safety, or welfare. The Ohio Supreme Court addressed the limitations on a trial court's authority to find a zoning ordinance unconstitutional inColumbia Oldsmobile, Inc. v. Montgomery (1990),
"This case presents the question of whether a trial court must uphold a municipal zoning ordinance when there is competent, credible evidence that the ordinance allows the landowners to retain an economically viable use of their land and that the ordinance substantially advances a legitimate governmental interest in the health, safety or welfare of the community. We answer this question in the affirmative." Id. at 62,
The record shows that the board considered the effect on the community and on the owner when it decided to deny Trademark a variance and that competent, credible evidence meeting this test was before the trial court. Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is reversed and the board's order affirmed.
Judgment reversed.
QUILLIN, P.J., and DICKINSON, J., concur. *221