Opinion · Ohlaw Ohio

AKRON v. CHAPMAN, 160 Ohio St. 382 (1953)

CITY OF AKRON, APPELLEE v. CHAPMAN, APPELLANT., 116 N.E.2d 697 (Ohio 1953)

Type: Opinion
Court: Ohlaw Ohio
Jurisdiction: Ohlaw
Date: 1953-12-23
Topic: general

AKRON v. CHAPMAN, 160 Ohio St. 382 (1953) 116 N.E.2d 697 THE CITY OF AKRON, APPELLEE v. CHAPMAN, APPELLANT. No. 33534Supreme Court of Ohio. Decided December 23, 1953.

Citator

UpLaw has not yet analyzed AKRON v. CHAPMAN, 160 Ohio St. 382 (1953). The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.

AKRON v. CHAPMAN,160 Ohio St. 382(1953)

116 N.E.2d 697

THE CITY OF AKRON, APPELLEE v. CHAPMAN, APPELLANT.

No. 33534

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Decided December 23, 1953.

Municipal corporations — Zoning ordinance — Valid exercise ofpolice power, when — Limiting future expansion of existingbusiness — An unconstitutional taking of property, when —Authorizing council to discontinue nonconforming use existingwhen ordinance passed — Right to use and to continue to useproperty — Section 1, ArticleXIV, Amendments,U.S. Constitution — Section16, ArticleI, Ohio Constitution.

1. A comprehensive zoning ordinance is a valid exercise of the police power, where such ordinance limits the future expansion of a lawful business conducted on property in a zoned area and which was in existance at the time of the passage of such zoning ordinance, or which ordinance limits the future addition, extension or substitution of buildings in which such business was being conducted at the time of the passage of such ordinance, and which ordinance has a substantial relationship to the public health, safety, morals or general welfare.

2. The right to continue to use one's property in a lawful business and in a manner which does not constitute a nuisance and which was lawful at the time such business was established is within the protection of Section 1, ArticleXIV, Amendments, United States Constitution, and Section16, ArticleIof the Ohio Constitution, providing that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty orpropertywithout due process of law.

3. The provision of a comprehensive zoning ordinance is unconstitutional as taking property without due process of law and as being an unreasonable exercise of the police power, where it grants to the city council discretion to discontinue and remove a lawful nonconforming use of property in a zoned area, which use existed at the time of the passage of the zoning ordinance and continued thereafter without interruption and without material change, when in the council's opinionsuch nonconforming use has been permittedto continue for a reasonable time.

APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Summit county.

On August 15, 1922, council of the city of Akron, the plaintiff and appellee herein, enacted a comprehensivePage 383zoning ordinance. Certain property of the defendant, appellant herein, was included in a residential district under said ordinance. The defendant or his father, his predecessor in title, has operated a junk yard business on said property since 1916.

The zoning ordinance provides that a nonconforming use shall be discontinued when, in the opinion of the city council, such use has been permitted to exist or continue for a reasonable time.

In January 1950, the council passed another ordinance which describes the defendant's property by metes and bounds and names him as the owner thereof. In its provisions the council determined that as of January 1, 1951, the nonconforming use of said property would have existed for a reasonable period of time, and that it should then conform to the classification provided for in the zoning ordinance.

The defendant continued to use said property for the conduct of his junk yard business after January 1, 1951.

Thereafter the city of Akron instituted an action in the Common Pleas Court of Summit County, under the provision of Section 4366-12a, General Code, which grants municipalities the power to enforce zoning ordinances by injunction.

The case was submitted to the trial court on the pleadings and statements of counsel. The court denied the requested injunction and dismissed the petition. It found also that the 1950 ordinance is invalid because it shows on its face that it is directed against one individual, that it is not directed against all individuals in like situations, that it lacks the essential elements of equality, impartiality and uniformity, and that it is discriminatory.

An appeal on questions of law was taken by the city to the Court of Appeals which reversed the judgment of the trial court, entered final judgment in favor ofPage 384the city, enjoined the defendant from using the property in the operation of his junk business and ordered him to remove all his materials from the property within 60 days.

The matter is now before this court on appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

Mr. Roy E. Browne, director of law, andMr. Hollis P. Allan, for appellee.Messrs. Bixler VanBerg, for appellant.

LAMNECK, J.

There is no claim of nuisance in this case. The sole issue is whether the city may terminate the lawful nonconforming use, which was in existence at the time of the passage of the zoning ordinance, after the use has been permitted to continue for an extended period.

The zoning ordinance passed in 1922 contains the following provision:

"A building, existing at the time of the passage of this ordinance, which does not conform to the regulations of the use district in which it is located may remain for a reasonable period and the existing use of such building may be continued or extended to any portion of such building which portion was arranged or designed for such use at the time of the passage of this ordinance, but a nonconforming use shall not be otherwise extended.A nonconforming use shall be discontinued and removedwhen, in the opinion of the council, such use has been permittedto exist or continue for a reasonable time." (Emphasis ours.)

The defendant contends:

1. The council of a municipality is prohibited by theFourteenthAmendment to the United States Constitution and by Section 2, Article I of the Constitution of this state, from enacting a zoning ordinance which outlaws an existing lawful business, unless compensation is paid therefor.Page 385

2. If a council has that power, the enactment of the ordinance passed in January 1950, directed to him individually, is discriminatory and in violation of the same constitutional provisions.

Section 1, ArticleXIV, Amendments, United States Constitution, and Section16, ArticleI, Ohio Constitution, both provide that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty orpropertywithout due process of law.

Section2, ArticleIof the Ohio Constitution, provides that government is instituted for the equal protection and benefit of all citizens.

It has been uniformly held that the enactment of a comprehensive zoning ordinance, which has a substantial relationship to the public health, safety, morals and the general welfare and which is not unreasonable or arbitrary, is a proper exercise of the police power. SeePritzv.Messer,112 Ohio St. 628,149 N.E. 30, andState, ex rel. City Ice Fuel Co., v.Stegner, Dir.,120 Ohio St. 418,166 N.E. 226, 64 A.L.R., 916.

Comprehensive zoning ordinances generally contain regulations which are divided into two classes: First, those which regulate the size and type of construction of buildings within specified areas, and, second, those which prescribe the use to which buildings within certain specified districts may be put.

Most comprehensive zoning ordinances apply to prospective use only, and contain no provisions making them retroactive to cover an existing structure or to terminate an existing use.

This court has consistently approved the constitutionality of comprehensive zoning ordinances containing provisions regulating prospective use.

In theStegner case, supra, it was held:

"The provision of a zoning ordinance, limiting the subsequent addition, extension or substitution of business buildings or the use thereof, existing in a residence district at the time of the enactment of such ordinance,Page 386where it does not appear that such restrictions have no real or substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals or general welfare, is a valid exercise of the police power and is not violative of either the state or federal Constitution."

InState, ex rel. Fairmount Center Co., v.Arnold, Dir.,138 Ohio St. 259,34 N.E.2d 777, 136 A.L.R., 840, this court held:

"A municipal council may not, by the enactment of an emergency ordinance, give retroactive effect to a pending zoning ordinance thus depriving a property owner of his right to a building permit in accordance with a zoning ordinance in effect at the time of the application for such permit."

In the instant case, the 1950 ordinance does not order the defendant to raze the buildings now existing on his premises. We know of no zoning ordinance in this state intended to accomplish such a result unless the existing structures are a nuisance affecting the public health, safety, morals or general welfare or unless the city exercises its power of eminent domain. InState,ex rel. Bruestle, City Solr., v.Rich, Mayor,159 Ohio St. 13,110 N.E.2d 778, this court held that property may be taken for "the public welfare" or "for public use" to eliminate slum conditions and other conditions of blight, under the power of eminent domain, but in such cases the owners are entitled to adequate compensation. Zoning ordinances contemplate the gradual elimination of nonconforming uses within a zoned area, and, where an ordinance accomplishes such a result without depriving a property owner of a vestedproperty right, it is generally held to be constitutional.

Thus the denial of the right to resume a nonconforming use after a period of nonuse has been upheld, as well as the denial of the right to extend or enlarge an existing nonconforming use. The denial of the rightPage 387to substitute new buildings for those devoted to an existing nonconforming use and to add or extend such buildings has also been upheld. See 58 American Jurisprudence, 1026 and 1029, Sections 156, 158 and 162, and theStegner case, supra.

But in the instant case no such situation exists. We are asked by the plaintiff herein to uphold the provision of a municipal ordinance, which in effect denies the owner of property the right to continue to conduct a lawful business thereon, which use was in existence at the time of the passage of the ordinance and has continued without expansion or interruption ever since. If we do this on the ground that the provision is a proper exercise of the police power, then the right to continue to conduct other lawful businesses, similarly established and conducted on zoned property, may likewise be denied by legislative fiat under the guise of a proper exercise of the police power.

InTurnpike Co.v.Parks,50 Ohio St. 568,579,35 N.E. 304, 28 L.R.A., 769, it is stated:

"* * * it is very obvious that everything which takes the form of an enactment is not therefore to be deemed the law of the land, or due course or process of law. If this were so, then decrees and forfeitures in all possible forms, and acts confiscating the property of one person or class of persons, or a particular description of property, upon some view of public policy, where it could not be said to be taken for a public use, would be the law of the land."

In the case ofJonesv.City of Los Angeles,211 Cal. 304,295 P. 14, an ordinance which prohibited the continuation of an existing lawful business within a zoned area was declared to be unconstitutional as being the taking of property without due process of law and being an unreasonable exercise of the police power. In that case, the city by ordinance provided that it should be unlawful to continue the operation of institutions inPage 388a certain area for the care and treatment of mentally ill persons. The court, however, upheld the ordinance as to new businesses in the zoned area.

We have examined the cases, cited in the plaintiff's brief, in support of its contention that the exercise of the power to terminate a lawful nonconforming use in existence at the time of the passage of a comprehensive zoning ordinance, where such use has continued for an extended period thereafter, is a proper exercise of the police power. Although some of these citations support the plaintiff's position, we are of the opinion that they are in conflict with the great weight of authority on the subject and not consistent with past pronouncements of this court. See 58 American Jurisprudence, 1021, Section 146et seq.; State, exrel., v.Stegner, supra;andState, ex rel., v.Arnold, supra.

What is property? It has been defined as not merely the ownership and possession of lands or chattels but the unrestricted right of their use, enjoyment and disposal. Anything which destroys any of these elements of property, to that extent destroys the property itself. The substantial value of property lies in its use. If the right of use is denied, the value of the property is annihilated and ownership is rendered a barren right. SeeSpannv.City of Dallas,111 Tex. 350,235 S.W. 513, andO'Connorv.City of Moscow,69 Idaho 37,202 P.2d 401, 9 A.L.R. (2d), 1031.

The right to continue to use one's property in a lawful business and in a manner which does not constitute a nuisance and which was lawful at the time it was acquired is within the protection of Section 1, Article XIV, Amendments, Constitution of the United States, and Section16, ArticleIof the Ohio Constitution, which provide that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty orpropertywithout due process of law.

The effect of the provisions of the 1922 ordinance and the 1950 ordinance, complained of in this case, isPage 389to deprive the defendant of a continued lawful use of his property and is in violation of the due process clauses of the state and federal Constitutions.

The judgment of the Court of Appeals must, therefore, be reversed, and that of the Court of Common Pleas affirmed.Judgment reversed.

WEYGANDT, C.J., MIDDLETON, TAFT, HART, ZIMMERMAN and STEWART, JJ., concur.

WEYGANDT, C.J.

Concurs for the further important reason that, as held by the trial court, the ordinance applies solely to a single individual and the use of his property. The ordinance does not operate uniformly or geographically as to other persons in the same class. It is discriminatory and constitutes an unreasonable exercise of the police power.