Camboni's, Inc. v. County of Du Page

187 N.E.2d 212, 26 Ill. 2d 427, 1962 Ill. LEXIS 416
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 30, 1962
Docket36903
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 187 N.E.2d 212 (Camboni's, Inc. v. County of Du Page) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Camboni's, Inc. v. County of Du Page, 187 N.E.2d 212, 26 Ill. 2d 427, 1962 Ill. LEXIS 416 (Ill. 1962).

Opinions

Mr. Justice Schaefer

delivered the opinion of the , court:

In this case we are called upon to determine the validity of the zoning ordinance of Du Page County as applied to the property of the plaintiff, Camboni’s, Inc., a corporation. The circuit court of Du Page County sustained the ordinance and certified that the public interest required a direct ■ appeal to this court. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1961, chap, no, par. 75(1) (c).) The plaintiff has appealed.

The property in question is a tract of 66 acres located on the north side of U.S. Highway 34 in Naperville township, about ir/2 miles southwest of the city of Naperville and about 4 miles east of the city of Aurora. Like the surrounding land, it is presently being used for agricultural purposes, but it is zoned “M-2”, a heavy industrial use classification. The plaintiff’s position is that the zoning ordinance is invalid insofar as it prevents its use for a “trailer park.” Under the ordinance a trailer park is designated as a special use, which may be permitted only in areas classified for “B-4” uses, a commercial classification apparently designed to accommodate what are described as “highway oriented” uses. The plaintiff’s application for a rezoning of the property to “B-4” use, and for a special use permit under the new classification, was denied.

A north-south track of the Elgin, Joliet, and Eastern Railroad, a belt-line serving industry in the Chicago area, is located about 1000 feet west of the plaintiff’s property. About a mile to the north is the main east-west line of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. Another mile to the north are the east-west Tollway and the right of way of the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railroad. Two strips of land in the township are classified M-2. They are located on each side of the rights of way of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroads. These two industrial strips intersect about a mile north of the plaintiff’s property; which is located at the eastern edge of the strip that extends along the east side of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern right of way.

The county zoning ordinance under attack was enacted in 1957. The plaintiff bought its land on July 30, i960, for $1250 per acre, with the intention of applying for rezoning to- allow its use as a trailer park. All of the witnesses were in substantial agreement that in May of 1961, when the case was tried, that land was worth $2500 per acre for M-2 industrial uses. One witness for the plaintiff, however, testified that it was worth $10,000 per acre if it could be used for a trailer park. This witness had never bought or sold land for trailer-park purposes, and he apparently based his valuation upon what he had heard about the sale of an unidentified and undescribed tract of land in Cook County for use as a trailer park. He also testified that the presence of a trailer park on the property in question would increase the value of the land within a radius of ^ a mile. On behalf of the defendant and intervening property owners there was testimony that a trailer park on the plaintiff’s property would depreciate by 30 per cent the value of the adjacent property to the east, which is zoned for R-3 residence uses.

The plaintiff contends that the practical effect of the zoning ordinance is to exclude trailer parks from- Du Page County, and that the ordinance is therefore invalid because it prohibits a legitimate business. This contention is based upon the provision of the ordinance which permits trailer parks only as special uses in the B-4 commercial area, and upon the factual assumption that there is insufficient land in the B-4 classification which could be used for trailer parks. The record shows that there are six existing trailer camps in the unincorporated portion of the county, three of which are nonconforming uses. It does not show how many trailer camps are located in the incorporated municipalities in the county, nor does it show that there is a shortage of vacant land which is zoned for B-4 use. Because the factual assumption upon which the plaintiff rests its contention has not been established, it is not necessary to consider what the legal consequences might be if no additional land was available for use as a trailer park.

' Similarly, the plaintiff’s suggestion that a trailer park cannot be classified as a special use because it is not incompatible with other residential uses is without support in the record. Although the plaintiff introduced the testimony of a planning and zoning expert, it made no effort to establish, by his testimony or otherwise, the proposition now asserted in this court. Nowhere in his testimony did the plaintiff’s expert discuss the characteristics of a trailer park. Indeed, throughout his testimony he refrained from expressing any opinion as to the desirability, from a zoning or a planning point of view, of permitting a trailer park upon the plaintiff’s property.

The same observation is applicable to the contention that the entire M-2 industrial classification of the ordinance is arbitrary because it permits, in addition to'customary industrial uses, airports and sewage treatment plants, as well as junk yards “provided they are contained within completely enclosed buildings or screened by a solid wall of uniformly painted fence at least 12 feet high.” Here, too, there is nothing in the record which would suggest that there is impropriety in permitting these uses in a manufacturing area.

The significant contention that the plaintiff raises is that while a comprehensive plan could appropriately designate its land for industrial use, the restrictions of a zoning ordinance cannot validly be applied to that land under the conditions shown in this record. The plaintiff’s zoning expert took this position. He pointed out that of approximately six square miles zoned for manufacturing uses in the township, only yí a square mile, is presently so used. While he conceded that the land in question had characteristics suitable for industrial use by reason of its proximity to the highway and to the freight lines of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railroad, he was of the' opinion that only the area lying to the north of the plaintiff’s property, closer to the intersection of the two railroad lines, should presently be zoned for manufacturing uses. “The remainder of the area,” he said, “should be in a residential classification as a holding area to see whether the people in that area would want to develop it in residential' or some more restrictive classification.”

His concept of premature zoning was expressed in these terms: “When I say- premature, we should not zone it manufacturing in advance of the development of sewers, the power facilities, truck terminals, and all of the facilities that go with a manufacturing development.” As to the plaintiff’s property he felt that “when other industry comes in and all of the utilities and facilities that go with an industrial area, that then if the zoning is M-2, you would be able to consider it suitable” for indústrial uses.

This court has not adopted that position. • On the contrary, like most other courts, it has recognized the propriety of zoning with a view to orderly future development. ( See, e.g., Mercer Lumber Cos. v. Village of Glencoe, 390 Ill. 138, 145; County of Du Page v. Henderson, 402 Ill. 179.) Nevertheless, the problems that arise in connection with the zoning of areas as yét undeveloped are troublesome, and they have proved to be troublesome wherever they have arisen.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Smith v. County Board
408 N.E.2d 452 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1980)
Geneva Residential Ass'n v. City of Geneva
397 N.E.2d 849 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1979)
Anderson v. City of Geneva
328 N.E.2d 668 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1975)
Duggan v. County of Cook
324 N.E.2d 406 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1975)
Littlestone Co. v. County of Cook
311 N.E.2d 268 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1974)
Kraegel v. Village of Wood Dale
294 N.E.2d 64 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1973)
Schultz v. Village of Lisle
273 N.E.2d 89 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1971)
Elmhurst-Chicago Stone Co. v. County of Kane
262 N.E.2d 612 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1970)
High Meadows Park, Inc. v. City of Aurora
250 N.E.2d 517 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1969)
LaSalle National Bank v. Village of Skokie
246 N.E.2d 105 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1969)
Guaranty Bank & Trust Co. v. Village of Lombard
236 N.E.2d 339 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1968)
Klein v. Village of La Grange
236 N.E.2d 351 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1968)
Padgett v. City of Oakbrook Terrace
231 N.E.2d 466 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1967)
Pioneer Trust & Savings Bank v. County of McHenry
232 N.E.2d 816 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1967)
Mutz v. Village of Villa Park
226 N.E.2d 644 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1967)
Fiore v. City of Highland Park
221 N.E.2d 323 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1966)
La Salle National Bank v. County of Cook
208 N.E.2d 430 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1965)
Padover v. Township of Farmington
132 N.W.2d 687 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1965)
Lazarus v. Village of Northbrook
199 N.E.2d 797 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1964)
Rezler v. Village of Riverside
190 N.E.2d 706 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1963)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
187 N.E.2d 212, 26 Ill. 2d 427, 1962 Ill. LEXIS 416, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cambonis-inc-v-county-of-du-page-ill-1962.