Archer v. City of Shreveport

85 So. 2d 337, 1956 La. App. LEXIS 579
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 2, 1956
Docket8392
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 85 So. 2d 337 (Archer v. City of Shreveport) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Archer v. City of Shreveport, 85 So. 2d 337, 1956 La. App. LEXIS 579 (La. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

85 So.2d 337 (1956)

O. L. ARCHER et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
CITY OF SHREVEPORT, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 8392.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

February 2, 1956.
Rehearing Denied March 2, 1956.
Writ of Certiorari Denied May 7, 1956.

Jackson, Mayer & Kennedy, Comegys & Harrison, Shreveport, for appellants.

William L. Murdock, Wilkinson, Lewis & Wilkinson, James J. Butler, Shreveport, for appellee.

AYRES, Judge.

Plaintiffs, residents and property owners of the Bellmeade Subdivision to the City of Shreveport, sought by this action to have *338 decreed unconstitutional, null and void Ordinance No. 49 of 1953, which rezoned and reclassified Lots 1 to 10, inclusive, of Block "C" of the aforesaid subdivision located at the southeast intersection of Youree Drive and Southfield Road from a classification of a one-family residential district, designated "A-1", to a neighborhood commercial district, with a designated classification of "D-2". In addition, plaintiffs prayed that the City be enjoined from homologating the Ordinance and from issuing any construction permit thereunder.

Upon the owners of said property instituting a mandamus proceeding against the City to compel the issuance of a building permit for the erection of a neighborhood shopping center upon said lots, plaintiffs amended their petition and prayed for a temporary restraining order and, after due proceedings, for a temporary injunction prohibiting the issuance of the permit. A temporary restraining order was issued and a rule nisi was issued and served upon the City directing it to show cause why such preliminary writ should not issue as prayed for. Chris Demopulos and Alexander Mijalis, owners of the property rezoned and applicants for the permit to erect the shopping center, intervened in this suit and joined the defendant in resisting plaintiffs' demands.

After trial, judgment was rendered upholding the validity of the Ordinance under attack, rejecting plaintiffs' demands and denying plaintiffs' application and recalling the rule for a preliminary injunction.

From the judgment thus rendered and signed, plaintiffs devolutively appealed to the Supreme Court. There appellees filed a motion to dismiss the appeal, alleging that since the judgment appealed from was rendered, a building permit had been obtained by the intervenors from the City and that the intervenors were then engaged in constructing a community shopping center upon said property. Therefore, it was contended that the issues presented had become moot. This motion, however, was overruled. Archer v. City of Shreveport, 226 La. 867, 77 So.2d 517. Subsequently, for lack of jurisdiction in that Court, the appeal was transferred to this court. 228 La. 13, 81 So.2d 428.

In a supplemental brief appellees again urge that the issues presented by this appeal are moot and academic for the reason the building permit has been issued and the shopping district established and the buildings erected pursuant to such permit; that a reversal of the judgment could afford appellants no relief inasmuch as such a judgment would not have the effect of annulling the permit and an injunction does not lie to undo that which has already been done. As stated above, the Supreme Court has already ruled adversely to this contention. In its ruling the Court stated [226 La. 867, 77 So.2d 518]:

"But the motion completely overlooks the fact that the suit is not merely for the purpose of obtaining an injunction, as appellees contend. It also provides a specific attack on the validity of the ordinance under which the permit was issued, the plaintiffs having by appropriate allegations and prayer questioned its legality and constitutionality and having shown an immediate interest for doing so. Incidentally, the question could have been raised by them, and presented for determination, without the aid of injunction proceedings. And substantial results would follow a decree of this court reversing the judgment from which the appeal was taken. In such event, for example, the zoning classification of intervenors' property would return to that which existed prior to the adoption of the 1953 ordinance. As pointed out in City of New Orleans v. Levy, 223 La. 14, 64 So.2d 798, 802, an `* * * unconstitutional amending statute or ordinance is in reality no law, and in legal contemplation is as inoperative as if it had never been passed. * * *'"

Accordingly, the Supreme Court determined that issue and the appellees are precluded by the judgment thus rendered from *339 again presenting the question, which we could not with propriety discuss again.

The property involved here was annexed to the City on two separate occasions. That portion of the subdivision facing Southfield Road to the depth of one lot was annexed in 1947. The remaining, but the greater portion, was annexed in 1950. In 1948 the property at the four corners of the intersection concerned, which was the intersection of Youree Drive and Southfield Road, was zoned for D-2, commercial use, and was so zoned when plaintiffs purchased their property. Intervenors' application contemplated the increasing of the area at the southeast corner of said intersection to develop a community center, to consist of a super market, drug store, laundry pick up station, a barber shop and other businesses usually found at such a community center. An off-street parking area was to be provided for 324 cars. On the northwest corner of the intersection a Pak-A-Sak store was in operation. Adjacent to the property petitioned to be rezoned is a tract upon which the St. Paul's Episcopal Church has erected certain church edifices. Practically all the adjoining property was zoned A-1 for residential use in 1948. South of the subdivision is the municipal boundary, outside of which property was not affected by any zoning regulations.

The objections of the opponents to the zoning ordinance were summarized by the trial judge in his written opinion, wherein he stated:

"The objections of the opponents to this ordinance are that the proposed development would create a nuisance by having traffic congestion, endanger the lives of their children, by having unusual and annoying noises, by having unsightly garbage receptacles and the litter from the operation of such a place, by insect pests such as roaches, mice, rats, etc., and attending unpleasant odors. They all testify that they anticipate their property being depreciated to a value from fifteen hundred to three thousand dollars, and have asked the court for relief to protect their investments."

Opponents apparently had no objection to the commercial zoning classification of the property as it formerly existed but their objection was to the enlargement of that area.

The ordinance under consideration is attacked as unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious and as having no substantial relation to the public welfare. The facts established by the record rebut this contention. Typical of the testimony introduced on this point is that of the then Mayor of the City of Shreveport, Mayor Fant, who had lived within a mile of this area for a number of years and was familiar with this section of the City, its growth and needs. According to his testimony, this locality lies within the direction in which the City was rapidly developing. Complaints had been made by residents of the area to him as mayor concerning the lack of shopping facilities. By consistent study, the mayor had acquired considerable knowledge and information of community development, zoning, and community shopping districts.

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Bluebook (online)
85 So. 2d 337, 1956 La. App. LEXIS 579, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/archer-v-city-of-shreveport-lactapp-1956.