1426 Woodward Avenue Corp. v. Wolff

20 N.W.2d 217, 312 Mich. 352, 1945 Mich. LEXIS 336
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 8, 1945
DocketDocket No. 19, Calendar No. 42,973.
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 20 N.W.2d 217 (1426 Woodward Avenue Corp. v. Wolff) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
1426 Woodward Avenue Corp. v. Wolff, 20 N.W.2d 217, 312 Mich. 352, 1945 Mich. LEXIS 336 (Mich. 1945).

Opinion

Boyles, J.

In this case the appellants challenge the validity of an ordinance of the city of Detroit prohibiting the maintenance of existing projecting sidewalk signs and regulating the size of marquees over sidewalks on Woodward avenue between Grand boulevard and the Detroit river. The several plaintiffs filed separate bills of complaint in the Wayne county circuit court for a declaration of their respective rights to maintain existing marquees and signs, asked that the ordinance in question be declared unconstitutional and that the city authorities be permanently enjoined from enforcing the same.

The circuit judge after hearing testimony and arguments held that the ordinance in question, effective October 23, 1941, was valid and entered decree accordingly. The court also decreed that the ordinance previous to October 23, 1941, was invalid and enjoined the city from further prosecution of any proceedings thereon begun prior to that date. The city does not cross-appeal and therefore accepts that provision in the decree. All plaintiffs appeal.

A proper understanding of the situation as it applies to each of the plaintiffs requires a detailed *358 statement of facts as applied to each of them, and of the ordinances on which they largely base their respective claims. Counsel in their’ respective briefs agree on the essential facts.

Appellants 1426 Woodward Avenue Corporation and Graystone Ballroom, Inc., are the owners of marquees located in front of their buildings at 1426 Woodward avenue and 4237 Woodward avenue, respectively. Appellants James Vernor Company, R. H. Fyfe & Company and Grinnell Brothers are the owners of projecting signs located in front of their buildings at 239, 2001 and 1515 Woodward avenue, respectively. All of the aforesaid marquees and signs were installed under special permits granted by the common council, which permits were expressly made revocable and, as we shall see, were revoked by action of the common council, and by ordinances No. 298-C, as amended, No. 4-D and No. 62-D of said city. Ordinance No. 4-D amended section 5 of ordinance No. 298-C, and ordinance No. 62-D amended sections 1, 2 and 5 of ordinance No. 298-C.

Ordinance' No. 298-C relates to projecting signs and marquees in that section of Woodward avenue between Adams avenue and Grand boulevard, and ordinance No. 62-D relates to that section of Woodward avenue between Adams avenue and the Detroit river. These ordinances prohibit all projecting signs and all marquees projecting more than one-half the width of the sidewalk, or more than 10 feet. In 1941 this width was amended to read “more than 10 feet, 6 inches.”

However, as to marquees, section 4 of ordinance No. 298-C (which section was unamended by ordinance No. 4-D and No. 62-D) provided that “marquises larger than permitted herein shall not be constructed without special permission from the *359 common council.” Acting under this proviso, the common council proceeded to grant special permits to several owners of marquees on Woodward avenue to maintain the same even though they exceeded the width prescribed by the ordinance. These special permits were all granted subsequent to January 11, 1935, which was the effective date of ordinance No. 298-C.

The following marquee owners received such special permits, pursuant to section 4 of ordinance No. 298-C:

1— Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward avenue

2— Detroiter Hotel, 2560 Woodward avenue

3— Colonial Theatre, 2611 Woodward avenue

4— Fine Arts Theatre, 2454 Woodward avenue

5— Mayfair Theatre, 3450 Woodward avenue

6— Arcadia Ballroom, 3527 Woodward avenue

7— Garden Theatre, 3927 Woodward avenue

8— Forest Theatre, 4635 Woodward avenue

9— Hotel Roberts, 5725 Woodward avenue

10 — Center Theatre, 6540 Woodward avenue

In all these cases, special permission was granted by the common council subsequent to January 11, 1935, being the effective date of ordinance No. 298-C, to maintain marquees wider than the ordinance prescribed, covering that part of Woodward avenue from Grand boulevard to the Detroit river.

That part of the ordinances referring to the section between Adams avenue and the Detroit river (ordinance No. 62-D) became effective June 1, 1938, and provided that no projecting sign or marquee should be maintained in contravention therewith after June 1, 1941.

' On February 17,1941, the directors of 1426 Woodward Avenue Corporation, one of the appellants herein, filed a petition with the city clerk for a special permit to continue to maintain its marquee at *360 1426 Woodward avenue. This petition was referred to the commissioner of the department of buildings and safety engineering and to the fire marshal for recommendation. The commissioner of the department of buildings and safety engineering, on May 6, 1941, addressed a communication to the city clerk stating that:

“Petitioner is acting in accordance with the provisions of the ordinance by requesting special permission from your honorable body to have the marquise remain in its present form and size. Since this matter involves a question of policy which was intended to be under the control of the common council and has virtually no connection with safety, this department offers no objection to the petitioner’s request.”

The acting fire marshal, however, recommended that the petition of 1426 Woodward Avenue Corporation be denied, on the ground that the marquee, constructed in 1910 (31 years previously) constituted a fire hazard.

The common council, by a vote of 5 to 1, granted the petition of said 1426 Woodward Avenue Corporation to maintain its' marquee as presently existing. All of the acting members of the common council voted on the petition. Three councilmen, to wit, Dingeman, Ewald and Hamilton, had been removed from office, and their successors had not been elected, so that the common council, ordinarily consisting of nine members, had only six members at the time the vote was had on the petition in question. Said action granting the petition to continue to maintain this marquee was vetoed by the mayor on May 27, 1941. The common council thereupon considered a resolution to override the veto, five members of the common council voted to override it and one to sustain it, but the mayor’s veto was held *361 to be sustained. Appellant 1426 Woodward Avenue Corporation claims tbis veto was beyond tbe powers of tbe mayor and void — that tbe council action stands.

On June 23, 1941, tbis plaintiff 1426 Woodward Avenue Corporation filed tbis suit and secured a temporary restraining order enjoining tbe enforcement of tbe ordinances in question. On July 14, 1941, Hon. Harry B. Keidan, circuit judge, issued an order granting* a temporary injunction against the enforcement of said ordinances.

Thereafter, on July 28, 1941, tbe corporation counsel addressed a communication to tbe common council, stating that:

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Bluebook (online)
20 N.W.2d 217, 312 Mich. 352, 1945 Mich. LEXIS 336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/1426-woodward-avenue-corp-v-wolff-mich-1945.