Beverly Bank v. Illinois Department of Transportation

579 N.E.2d 815, 144 Ill. 2d 210, 162 Ill. Dec. 1, 1991 Ill. LEXIS 74
Illinois Supreme Court·Decided September 19, 1991·No. 70105·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE CUNNINGHAM

delivered the opinion of the court:

The Illinois Department of Transportation, defendant, denied an extension of a construction permit to the plaintiff, Beverly Bank, based solely on recently enacted flood control legislation. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 19, par. 65g.) Plaintiff is trustee of a land trust held for the benefit of Michael J. O’Malley. Section 18g, effective November 18, 1987 (Pub. Act 85 — 905), prohibits all new residential construction in the 100-year floodway in the area served by the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission.

The circuit court of Cook County held section 18g unconstitutional as applied to plaintiff’s properties, reversed the decision of defendant to deny the permit extension and ordered defendant to grant the permit extension. Defendant brings a direct appeal to this court. (134 Ill. 2d R. 302(a).) The issue is whether the circuit court erred in holding section 18g unconstitutional as applied to plaintiff’s properties.

Plaintiff owns two lots in the Village of Flossmoor. Both lots are located in the Butterfield Creek floodway and are part of the 100-year floodway. The 100-year floodway is a model based on a statistical projection of the flooding which would result from the worst storm likely to occur in 100 years. The entire area which would be at or under the water level in such a flood is included in the 100-year floodway.

The two parcels of land owned by plaintiff are adjacent to each other and are zoned exclusively for single-family use. Plaintiff sought in 1979 to improve the lots by building two single-family dwellings, one on each lot. Because all or a substantial portion of each lot is situated in a designated flood plain, plaintiff was required by the law in effect at that time to secure a permit from defendant before beginning construction. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 19, par. 65f.

In September 1979, plaintiff applied to defendant for a permit to fill in the flood fringe area to enable two homes to be built above the 100-year flood level. In support of the application for the permit, plaintiff supplied surveys and engineering data representing that plaintiff’s grading, use of compensatory fill, and method of construction would not raise or increase the breadth of the flood plain or otherwise have a detrimental effect on the adjoining area.

The Village of Flossmoor, by way of letter dated October 29, 1979, expressed great concern to defendant about the location of the two proposed homes in the floodway. Flossmoor noted that a wastewater lift station and a water treatment plant were located across the road from the proposed dwelling sites. Flossmoor cautioned that very serious consideration must be given to the effect any aggravation of existing floodway conditions would impose on these public facilities. Flossmoor stated that the two properties in question had been inundated with flood water in the past, and that an adjacent property, which was built above the flood of record, had been completely surrounded by flood waters during peak storm conditions.

Defendant performed its own test to determine the validity of the proposed construction. At that time, there was in force a requirement that any new construction in the floodway must not increase the flood level. (111. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 19, par. 65f.) In March 1980, an engineer from the chief flood plain management division of defendant, David R. Boyer, concluded that “the proposed construction *** will actually decrease the flood profile (From 652.8 to 652.7) and will also decrease the flood velocities (From 2.42 ft./sec. to 2.04 ft./sec.). This would indicate that there will be no increase in the flood damage potential of the adjacent flood plain properties.”

According to plaintiff, the application process lingered until the fall of 1984, at which time plaintiff reapplied for the permit. Plaintiff relied on the previously submitted engineering studies and reports and newly revised engineering studies and reports. At this time, Flossmoor did not object to the issuance of the permit. Defendant issued the permit on September 17, 1985. The permit specified that “[i]f the work permitted is not completed on or before Dec. 31, 1988 this permit shall be void.”

Plaintiff unsuccessfully sought the requisite building permits from Flossmoor. Flossmoor denied the permits because of the existence of plaintiff’s property in a flood plain. Plaintiff states it brought suit against Flossmoor in the circuit court of Cook County to compel issuance of the building permits. It appears from the record that this suit, which is separate from the instant litigation, is pending.

Plaintiff requested from defendant an extension of the construction permit on December 14, 1988. Plaintiff stated in its request that it was unable to begin construction due to the unlawful actions of Flossmoor in refusing to issue a building permit. Defendant refused plaintiff’s request in January 1989 based solely on section 18g. Defendant did not respond to plaintiff’s subsequent request for reconsideration of the denial. At this point, plaintiff began the instant litigation. Plaintiff brought suit in the circuit court for administrative review of defendant’s denial of the extension of the permit pursuant to the Administrative Review Law (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 110, par. 3 — 101 et seq.).

The circuit court stated that the government may prohibit construction on plaintiff’s lots only as an exercise of the police power, and “there must be a correlation between the prohibition on building at this location and some concomitant benefit to public welfare achieved by that prohibition.” As noted by the circuit court, plaintiff had relied on the original issuance of the permit and had incurred expenses both in the securing of the permit and in filing suit against Flossmoor. The circuit court concluded that, on the record before it, there was no correlation between the detriment to the plaintiff resulting from the prohibition on building the two houses on the flood plain and a benefit to the public welfare. The circuit court held: “Because [section 18g] protects no public interest when it causes a rejection of the plaintiff’s development plan, it is invalid as applies to this permit extension.” Although the circuit court held section 18g unconstitutional as it applied to plaintiff’s properties, the circuit court did not hold section 18g to be facially unconstitutional. The circuit court reversed the denial of the permit extension and ordered defendant to grant the permit extension.

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Beverly Bank v. Illinois Department of Transportation, 579 N.E.2d 815, 144 Ill. 2d 210, 162 Ill. Dec. 1, 1991 Ill. LEXIS 74 (Ill. 1991).

579 N.E.2d 815 (Beverly Bank v. Illinois Department of Transportation) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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