Home/Supreme Court of Virginia/Azalea Corp. v. City of Richmond

Azalea Corp. v. City of Richmond

112 S.E.2d 862, 201 Va. 636, 1960 Va. LEXIS 139
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedMarch 7, 1960
DocketRecord 5041
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 112 S.E.2d 862 (Azalea Corp. v. City of Richmond) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Azalea Corp. v. City of Richmond, 112 S.E.2d 862, 201 Va. 636, 1960 Va. LEXIS 139 (Va. 1960).

Opinion

I'Anson, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

On April 23, 1958, Azalea Corporation, hereinafter referred to as Azalea,” owner of a tract of land containing approximately 40 acres, of which 8.2 acres lie in the city of Richmond and the remainder in Henrico county, applied to the commissioner of buildings of the city of Richmond for a permit to construct three private driveways, each 35 feet wide, across its strips of land in the city in order to provide access to its adjacent land in the county, on which it proposes to erect a regional shopping center and parking area in connection therewith. Two of the driveways are to connect with West-brook avenue and one with Brook road.

The permit was denied by the commissioner of buildings on the ground that the property was zoned for residential purposes, and the building of access driveways across Azalea’s land in the city would violate the city’s zoning ordinance.

While Azalea took the position that the zoning ordinance of the city was not applicable, it nevertheless appealed to the board of zoning appeals, pursuant to § 17.19 of the charter of the city of Richmond, 1 requesting the granting of a variance in the regulations of the zoning ordinance, in accordance with § 17.20(a) and (b) *638 of the charter. After a hearing the board affirmed the action of the commissioner of buildings, stating its reasons as follows:

“Whereas, the applicant failed to establish any hardship approaching confiscation with regard to the parcels of real estate within the city limits or any unusual condition whereby the zoning ordinance unreasonably restricts the use of the said parcels and the Commissioner of Buildings was right in denying the certificate of occupancy;
“NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the board hereby affirms the decision of the Commissioner of Buildings denying the certificate of occupancy and also denying the application for a variance.”

From this action of the board of zoning appeals, Azalea appealed to the Law and Equity Court of the City of Richmond, as provided by § 17.22 of the charter and § 15-825, Code of 1950, 1956 Replacement Volume. After a de novo hearing on an agreed statement of facts and evidence heard ore tenus, the court affirmed the action of the board and'we granted this appeal.

Azalea contends that the lower court erred: (1) In refusing to admit in evidence certain testimony and exhibits relating to property values and the effect of granting or denying the certificate of occupancy sought; and (2) In affirming the decision of the board of zoning appeals, because the refusal to grant a variance in the zoning regulations was arbitrary and unreasonable and constituted an abuse of discretion.

The attached diagram will show the tract of land involved and illustrate some of the pertinent factors hereinafter discussed.

All the land in question, except the Virginia Electric & Power Company right of way and that land lying northeasterly thereof, was acquired by Azalea from Westbrook Sanatorium, Inc. The VEPCO right of way was acquired by Azalea while this proceeding was pending in the court below. The land lying northeast of the right of way was acquired at some prior time.

That portion of the 40-acre tract lying within the corporate limits of the city of Richmond consists of a strip of land 210 feet deep fronting approximately 926 feet on the north side of Westbrook avenue, and a strip 200 feet deep fronting approximately 1270 feet on the west side of Brook road.

All of Azalea’s land lying in the county of Henrico, consisting of approximately 31.8 acres, was zoned in 1957 for commercial use.

*639

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Bluebook (online)
112 S.E.2d 862, 201 Va. 636, 1960 Va. LEXIS 139, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/azalea-corp-v-city-of-richmond-va-1960.