Edwards, J.
Seven miles from the heart of Grand Rapids in Paris township a valuable deposit of gypsum rock has been discovered lying 240 feet below the surface. In its processed form gypsum is widely used for plastering the walls of buildings and the making of plasterboard. Prior to this discovery only 2 commercial deposits of gypsum were known to exist in Michigan, one in southern Iosco county, and the other south of Grand Rapids in Walker township.
[437] A plaster manufacturing concern, the plaintiff here, discovered the deposit by geological exploration and has purchased options on the subsurface mining rights from the feeholders (principally farmers) of the land in 3 contiguous sections of the township. Plaintiff company also has options to purchase the fee to land along the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad adjacent to the 2 deposits where it desires, to build its mine head and processing plant.
Most of Paris township, according to this record, is still essentially a rural township, but in the path of the growth of Grand Rapids suburbia. The west-tern edge of the township bounds a portion of the city of East Grand Rapids; and in the northwestern portion of the township outside of the city limits there is new housing construction of the ranch-type, semirural variety currently greatly in vogue. "While-only a relatively few instances of this type of construction have as yet been built within a half mile of the proposed plant site, testimony of the defendants makes clear their anticipation of this sort of development for the whole township in future years.
Paris township has a township zoning ordinance adopted under the authority of State law, CL 1948' and CLS 1956, § 125.271 et seq. (Stat Ann 1949 Rev and Stat Ann 1955 Cum Supp §5.2963[1] et seq.). Under its terms, all of the property optioned by plaintiff for mining purposes lies in areas zoned for agriculture. The property upon which plaintiff desires to build its plant lies within 1,250 feet of the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad. The zoning ordinance zones all land within 500 feet of the railroad for industrial use and allows an extension of such use by special permission up to an additional 1,000' feet.
Before proceeding to outline the history of this litigation it may be well to quote the applicable-sections of the zoning ordinance upon which this-[438] •dispute turns. “Gr” agricultural zoning district is ■defined as follows:
“In the ‘G-’ agricultural district, no buildings or •parts thereof shall be erected, altered, moved upon any land therein or used, and no land shall be used, in whole or in part, for any purpose other than 1 or more of the following uses:—
“1. All uses permitted in the ‘A’ residence and ‘B’ residence districts.
“2. All accessory buildings and their use when the same are necessary and incidental to the pur•suit of farming and agriculture.
“3. Roadside stands' — - * * *
“4. Farm products, storage building and frozen ■food lockers— * * *
“5. Milk pasteurization plants and poultry hatch•eries— * * *
“6. In this district, no building or land shall hereafter be erected, altered or moved into said district •or used for the purpose of conducting any form of •commercial, business or industrial enterprise what•ever, except as stated in the foregoing provisions •of this chapter.”
The proposed plant site is affected by the following provisions relative to industrial zoning:
“All land lying along and adjacent to any railroad right-of-way to a depth of 500 feet on either side is hereby declared to be ‘F’ industrial district except as shown to be otherwise on the map; and by resolution of the township board, any such land shall become industrial to an additional depth of 1,000 feet, providing that application shall be made therefor in writing to the township board by any interested person, corporation or company desiring to •so use such land or building or buildings thereon, clearly showing that the use to be made of such land •or building, or both, forming such extension conforms with the provisions of this ordinance for such [439] use; and further providing that a public hearing be had.”
Concerning the use of industrial “F” areas, the ordinance also stated:
“No building shall be erected, altered or moved upon any lot or piece or parcel of land in and comprising a part of this district, for any of the following uses, unless and until an application setting out the location and character of such use shall have been submitted to the township board and approved by such board, and provided that before the township board shall have so acted, a public hearing [shall be held]. * * * If on such hearing it shall appear that the proposed user of the proposed location, including both the building or buildings or other structures, and the land upon which they are located would be likely to be dangerous or detrimental to the residents of the contiguous or nearby territory or contrary to public policy, safety, morals or decency, and detrimental to property values, such application shall be denied; such uses being designated as: * * *
“3. Cement, lime, gypsum or plaster of paris manufacture.”
The omitted portions of the quotation immediately above contain 19 other categories of manufacture or commerce which must acquire a township board permit before commencement of operation.
In November, 1954, plaintiff Certain-teed Products Corporation filed applications with the township board for permission to construct a gypsum manufacturing plant on the proposed plant site area, and for an extension of the industrial zone by 750 feet so that it would be 1,250 feet wide. Following a public hearing in December, 1954, the township board denied both applications.
The zoning board of appeals refused to hear the case because of claimed lack of jurisdiction, and [440] plaintiff appealed to the Kent circuit court as permitted by CL 1948, § 125.293 (Stat Ann 1949 Rev § 5.2963 [23]) which is section 23 of the township rural zoning act. Subsequently plaintiff also filed bill of complaint for a declaratory decree under the declaration of rights statute, CL 1948, § 691.501 et seq. (Stat Ann § 27.501 et seq.), to establish its right to erect its plant in the industrial zone and to have said zone extended 750 feet, and to declare that the township has no authority under its zoning ordinance, or otherwise, to prevent or interfere with the mining of gypsum in a reasonable manner. The prayer for relief also sought appropriate injunctive relief against the township. The appeals to the cir■cuit court and the chancery action for a declaratory decree were consolidated for hearing and are also consolidated in these appeals by stipulation.
The circuit judge decided both cases against the plaintiff. He dismissed the appeals from the administrative decisions of the township boards pertaining to the plant site applications.
Concerning the proposed plant erection he held (1) that the zoning ordinance was a constitutional ■delegation of authority by the township legislature •as a reasonable standard is set up therein for the .functioning of the zoning board; (2) that appeal to the circuit court from the board of zoning appeals (according to section 23 of the township rural zoning act) is a hearing by review and not de novo; and (3) that the action of the township board in denying plaintiff’s application to erect was not capricious or arbitrary, and there being “a debatable issue” before it, the court could not interfere.
The circuit judge also dismissed the bill of complaint for a declaratory decree.
Concerning the proposed mining venture he held (1) the township rural zoning act permits the regulation of mining operations, mining being a “use” [441] within section 3 thereof; (2) the Paris zoning ordinance prohibits subsurface mining because, although it doesn’t do so expressly, the chapter dealing with agricultural use of land does not list subsurface mining as a permitted use; and (3) that an ordinance prohibiting subsurface mining altogether is not unconstitutional as violative of due process if it is reasonable and the Paris ordinance is not unreasonable.
Because of the foregoing, the trial court felt it unnecessary to make a determination on the requested 750-foot extension of the industrial zone.
Subsequent to the trial referred to above, Best-wall Gypsum Company purchased Certain-teed Products Corporation and succeeded to its rights in this litigation. For convenience, we refer to the 2 companies as “the plaintiff.”
Some additional miscellaneous facts relied upon by the opposing parties should he recited from this voluminous 919-page record before we seek to identify and decide the basic legal issues which are involved.
Plaintiff points, for example, to the essentially rural character of the 3 sections in which it contemplates operation, and exhibit 5 seems to indicate that only 10 residences are to he found in the 3 sections concerned. Only 2 of these appear to be as close as 1,000 feet to the proposed plant. Plaintiff also calls attention to the existence of a nonconforming use consisting of a slaughterhouse in the southern portion of section 24, perhaps 1,800 feet away from the proposed plant site. It argues that the odor from this slaughterhouse adversely affects the immediate area for residential purposes.
Defendants point to the developing residential area in the northwest section of the township, most of which development is admittedly a mile or more away, and to the existence of the small village of [442] Bast Paris which runs north from the railroad right-of-way immediately across the industrial zone from plaintiff’s proposed plant site. Defendants’ basic objection concerning which most of this record has been written pertains to their claim that gypsum manufacturing produces dust in such quantity as to become a nuisance to residences in the neighborhood and to have a deleterious effect upon the present and future development of the township. They also refer to the possibility of residential damage due to the underground blasting operations of the company in its mining work. They also contend that truck and automobile traffic will be considerably increased, to the detriment of the township. They also contend that surface subsidence due to mining may be anticipated in the future with adverse effects upon the township.
To these arguments plaintiff responded by testimony asserting that it intends to build a thoroughly modern plant with the most efficient electrostatic dust-arrester equipment available. It also' indicated an intention to mine by a millisecond system of blasting whereby smaller charges are set off in very rapid succession to obviate the shock effect of a single larger blast. It further indicated that the plant will provide off-street parking for its employees, and will use ■ only approximately 20 trucks per day in the distribution of its product due to railroad facilities nearby. It argued that modern mining methods and the depth of the contemplated operation will guarantee against surface subsidence.
Plaintiff likewise argued that the plant, if built, will allow employment of 250 new employees, mostly from the Grand Rapids area, with a contemplated payroll of $1,250,000 to $1,750,000 a year, and that, in the event the combined mining and manufacturing scheme proposed cannot be conducted here, the extraction and use of the gypsum rock is made econom[443] ically impossible because of cost factors involved in' transporting it to another manufacturing site.
’While in general what we have said outlines the factual situation confronting this Court and describes the positions of the parties, additional facts may be added in our discussion of some of the legal issues which follows.
Basie to our determination of this cause is the question as to whether or not the township zoning ordinance, applicable portions of which we' have quoted, is unreasonable and unconstitutional as claimed by the appellant. While we will have occasion to pass upon specific provisions of the ordinance in their application to the currently-considered problem, our review of the provisions of the zoning ■ordinance which have been called to our attention indicates that it is in general a customary sort of township zoning plan apparently suitable to the needs of a township largely rural in character but located in the path of an urban development.
The general provisions which restrict most of the undeveloped areas to agricultural or residential uses seem appropriate to the circumstances shown by the testimony and nothing is called to our attention to indicate that less than adequate provision is made for commercial development and industrial development. The zoning of 500 feet on each side of the Chesapeake & Ohio right-of-way as it travels through the township appears logical and should provide for more balanced development of the township in the future. In all of these respects we believe that the township board in adopting this ordinance acted well within its legislative discretion.
A somewhat more difficult question is posed by the specific provisions of the ordinance which require,1 as to certain types of industry, specific approval by the township board prior to the granting of a permit for construction in the industrial zone.
[444] This Court has previously held that such a requirement which places the existence or nonexistence of a particular business or industry wholly at the discretion of the administrative board represents an unreasonable and unconstitutional invasion of property rights in the absence of standards for the exercise of such discretion previously determined by legislative action in the zoning ordinance itself. Osius v. City of St. Clair Shores, 344 Mich 693. See,also, Taylor v. Moore, 303 Pa 469 (154 A 799). Plaintiff and appellant in this case claims that the requirement of the special permit for location of a gypsum plant in the industrial zone is unreasonable and unconstitutional because no such standards are set.
As quoted above, this disputed provision of the zoning ordinance provides, as to 20 categories of manufacturing or commerce, for special application to the township' board and a public hearing. The paragraph further provides:
“If on such hearing it shall appear that the proposed user of the proposed location, including both the building or buildings or other structures, and the land upon which they are located would be likely to be dangerous or detrimental to the residents of the contiguous or nearby territory or contrary to public policy, safety, morals or decency, and detrimental to property values, such application shall be denied.”
We have reviewed the list of 20 uses. As noted by the circuit judge, included in these uses are abattoir or .slaughtering or rendering plants, crematories, distillation of bones, explosives, fertilizer manufacture, gas manufacture, glue manufacture, along with “cement, lime, gypsum or plaster of paris manufacture.” We agree with the circuit judge that where the Paris township zoning ordinance calls for a strip of industrial zoning of 500 feet on each side. [445] of a railroad track through an otherwise largely agricultural or residential area, that the delegation of power in that ordinance to an administrative hoard to make a finding as to whether certain specific industrial uses generally of a variety most likely to be injurious to residential purposes will in the particular instance indeed injure the immediate vicinity, represents a proper delegation of authority for finding of fact. 8 McQuillin, Municipal Corporations (3d ed rev), §§25.150, 25.177; City of Detroit v. S. Loewenstein & Son, 330 Mich 359; In re Brewster Street Housing Site, 291 Mich 313.
See, also, Baura v. Thomasma, 321 Mich 139.
Upon even stronger grounds, we believe that the provision of the zoning ordinance which will allow for the extension of the industrial use for an additional depth of 1,000 feet into otherwise argiculturally or residentially restricted area only upon special application and finding that such extension would not injuriously affect the neighborhood contiguous thereto represents a provision warranted by the particular circumstances and is neither unreasonable nor unconstitutional in its general form.
Thus we agree with the circuit judge that the currently-considered zoning ordinance in all of these general provisions appears to he a reasonable and proper exercise of legislative authority in the formulation of a plan for growth and development of the township concerned.
This, however, by no means disposes of these appeals. For appellant preserves for our review its contentions advanced in the circuit court below: (1) that the action of the township board and the township zoning board of appeals in refusing its application for construction of a gypsum manufacturing-plant was against the preponderance of the evidence, and was arbitrary and capricious; and (2) that the zoning ordinance did not, and could not, constitu[446] tionally restrain its subsurface mining operation in the agriculturally-zoned sections.
The first of these questions requires us to review the proceedings by which the township board refused plaintiff’s application for the construction of a gypsum manufacturing plant, to be located partially in the industrially-zoned area, and likewise refused a requested 750-foot extension of that industrially-zoned area for the same purpose. It appears that such township fact finding as was done on this important topic was done by 5 members of the township board during a brief recess of a public hearing attended by many of the residents of Paris township.
We have reviewed some 60 pages of transcript of this hearing. It appears that it was called after applications had been filed by plaintiff and after some 600 objectors had signed a petition to the township board objecting to the applications. Of the names on the petition, it was stated at the public hearing (apparently without dispute) that only 81 lived within 1 mile of the proposed plant, that 151 lived between 1 mile and 2 miles of the proposed plant, that 160 lived between 2 miles and 3 miles, and that 269 lived between 3 and 5 miles from the proposed plant. It appears to this Court to be a fair deduction from a review of this public hearing that the audience came thoroughly committed to blocking the construction of this plant, and that the crucial decision by which the circuit judge felt himself bound on the fact problems involved in this case was made by 5 members of the township board under the immediate impact of their constituents. Perhaps the nature of this decision may be revealed most specifically by the closing page-and-a-half of exhibit 23, the transcript of the proceedings of the township meeting:
[447] “Mr. Heaney: Does that mean regardless of the truth of the allegations and statements made by the petitioner that the objectors have the same objections?
“Audience: We don’t want it. We want our zoning laws upheld.
“Supervisor Oosterhouse: The hearing is closed and the board is going to take a recess for one-half hour.
“Audience: We don’t want another Sheppard trial.
“Audience: Mr. Chairman. Before you adjourn, there are quite a few people in this township that are not familiar with our board members. I wonder if they would stand up and identify themselves.
“Board Member: Joseph Bravata, trustee.
“Lady: How many years have you been on the board?
“Mr. Bravata: A year and 8 months.
“Board Member: William Potter.
“Lady: How long have you been on the board?
“Mr. Potter: 7 years.
“Board Member: Cy Fisher. Took over the treasurer’s job the 1st of November. Mr. Auble resigned.
“Board Member: Fred Darling. Tonight is my first night.
“Audience: Where are the other 2 and why aren’t they there? Who are the other 2?
“Supervisor Oosterhouse: Mr. Friend and Mr. Kloosterman. We asked them not to stay because they have no right to vote on this issue.
“Audience: Why?
“Supervisor Oosterhouse: The board passed a resolution. You may not vote — nor to discuss- — it because they have property.
“Board Trustee: It was moved by Joe Bravata and seconded by Cy Fisher resolved to deny the petition of Certain-teed Products Company for the extension of the industrial zone along the C&O an addition of 750 feet between M-37 and East Paris. It was carried unanimously. (Applause.) It was [448] moved by William Potter, seconded by Joe Bravata resolved that the petition by the Certain-teed Products Company to manufacture gypsum under an area 1,200' in width south of the C&O between M-37 and East Paris be denied. That was also carried unanimously. (Applause.) ”
Subsequent to the denial of these applications by the township board, plaintiff sought an appeal from the decision of the township board to the zoning board of appeals under the authority of the township rural zoning act. CL 1948, § 125.290 (Stat Ann 1949 Rev § 5.2963 [20]). The township zoning board of appeals refused to entertain the appeal on grounds of lack of jurisdiction.
It is apparent to us from this record that plaintiff-appellant never had other than a cursory' (even though formally courteous) hearing before the township board. It appears to us that the fact issues were largely determined by the board under the impact of a completely-committed audience reaction, and that plaintiff was denied its right under the zoning ordinance for a review of this decision by the zoning board of appeals.
We cannot approve of disposing of an issue of such magnitude in such fashion. While the local township board and zoning board of appeals had every reason to ke&p the interests of their homeowners distinctly in mind, they certainty likewise had the duty to give proper consideration to a petition for the building of an important industry in an area zoned for industry capable of creating 250 jobs and a $1,250,000 payroll, particularly when said petitioner made a showing, without substantial dispute, of an intention to avoid in the construction of its plant any nuisance to the neighborhood not ordinarily associated with any industrial use.
The township board in denying these applications made no findings of fact as to what, if any, portion [449] of the application for the proposed plant represented a violation of the standards set forth for their consideration in the zoning ordinance. As noted, the zoning' hoard of appeals refused to entertain any appeal, in obvious violation of CL 1948, § 125.290 (Stat Ann 1949 Rev § 5.2963[20]). In neither instance did the local hoards comply with the last sentence of the section of the township rural zoning act cited above: “The grounds of every such determination shall be stated.”
In subsequent testimony before the circuit court members of the board unanimously denied any reason to dispute the representations of plaintiff as to the enclosure of plant and mine head in 1 building, as to the installation of modern electrostatic dust precipitators, or as to effective control of dust from its manufacturing operations.
John E. Oosterhouse, supervisor of Paris township and a member of the township board, who was in charge of the meeting, testified, in part, as follows : ;
“I did understand that and believe that they were willing to install modern, efficient, dust and smoke arresting equipment. I didn’t know that that equipment would comply with the strictest smoke and dust ordinances in general use for the regulation of industrial plants in municipalities. I had no reason to disbelieve that statement when they stated that. "When they said it would require between 250 to 300 employees nearly all of whom would be recruited in the Grand Rapids area, and that the payroll would average from $25,000 to $30,000 a week, or from a million and a quarter to a million and three-quarters a year, I had no reason to doubt the accuracy of that statement. And when they stated that the parking facilities with respect to the plant would be on their own properties and off the highways, I had no reason to doubt that. When on behalf of the company it was offered that the resolution approv[450] ing the use be conditioned upon an agreement that the company would protect and save harmless the water supply of the adjacent property owners from either diminution or pollution by virtue of the applicant’s manufacturing operation, I had no reason to doubt'that.
“I thought the company was financially able to stand back of such a guaranty. * * *
“I recall that at this meeting the objectors objected to visiting a plant or delaying the decision until the plant could be seen. I recall that there was a plan that the board would adjourn for a week after the hearing of October 20th to examine the evidence that had been presented and permit the ■submission of briefs to the board’s attorney by the attorneys for the objectors and by Certain-teed’s attorney. I recall that the members of the objectors and the attorney for the objectors did not want any adjournment for that purpose. They wanted a decision that night.
“I did not have an opportunity at the hearing itself to read the exhibits that were presented at the December meeting. I was acting as chairman. I wasn’t too close. I don’t recall that at the close of that meeting that you requested me to the extent I hadn’t had an opportunity of reading these, to take them with me to the board meeting and examine them. These were not taken downstairs that night. I never had an opportunity or I have never read the typewritten and printed parts of these exhibits. I just looked at the pictures so far as I could see them from the board table. When the board met about the first thing that was decided was not to extend the zoning, the way I remember it. We decided not to extend the zone and decided not to grant the plant.
“I was a member of the board when the township appointed the presént attorneys to represent it in the case in circuit court.”
Testimony nearly identical with that which has been quoted above is contained in this record from [451] the other 4 members of the township board who voted on this issue.
We believe that a fair summary of such testimony as was given by these board members as to their reasoning in denying the applications for this manufacturing plant is that they were strongly affected by personal knowledge of and evidence pertaining to the carrying on of gypsum manufacturing and mining in the so-called Butterworth area during a period of 100 years or more in the past.
Practically all of the testimony pertaining to dust conditions and to vibrations from mine blasting and-ground subsidence pertains to this old operation. It appears that the gypsum mining and manufacturing industry, of which plaintiff is a part, had been anything but a good neighbor in its Butterworth area operations.
Against plaintiff’s offer to avoid these same conditions by modern plant construction, modern dust removal methods, and modern mining methods, and to have approval of its application conditioned upon strict observance of such representations, the members of the township board indicate no factual knowledge to the contrary but a retention of “doubt” which apparently tipped the scales. We believe this record indicates that appellant’s application to the township board received the form, but not the fact, of administrative due process.
Against the background of such a hearing and decision by the township board acting in an administrative capacity for finding of fact in relation to plaintiff’s 2 applications, it is doubly unfortunate that the statutorily-provided appeal to the township zoning board of appeals was denied. It is apparent from the language of the statute that the purpose of this appeal is to grant a more careful and-orderly review than might be had at the administrative level. The zoning board of appeals under the statute may [452] “reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination as in its opinion ought to be made in the premises.” •CL 1948, § 125.293 (Stat Ann 1949 Bev § 5.2963[23]).
The zoning board of appeals plainly had jurisdiction. It was an abuse of its discretion to fail to hear plaintiff’s appeal and make the required determination thereupon. We agree with the trial judge in his tentative conclusion that the zoning board of appeals had jurisdiction to review the action of the township board, and we likewise agree with him that, since plaintiff had completely exhausted its administrative remedy, it was entitled to a review of the action of the township board and of the zoning board of appeals by the court..
We do not deal here with a local legislative body’s adoption of a zoning ordinance. Bather, we .are concerned with appeals from administrative decisions of 2 township boards authorized by statute to make such decisions based upon findings of fact. Specific authority for appeal from the decisions of the administrative boards in question is contained in the township rural zoning act, CL 1948, § 125.293 (Stat Ann 1949 Bev § 5.2963[23]). Into any such administrative decisions pertaining to zoning there should enter not only proper consideration of the preservation of adequate space for quiet residential development, but also the stake of the local community and the State in the provision of employment and growth of industry.
This township did not seek to exclude industry from its borders. By its industrial zoning it offered industry sites for development. When a particular industry sought location in its industrial zone, the township boards could not act to exclude it because of whim or caprice. The right to carry on a lawful business must not depend on the whim of any man. [453] Osius v. City of St. Clair Shores, supra; Robison v. Miner & Haug, 68 Mich 549.
'Nor should the administrative board in such-an important decision rely upon a captious doubt of the representations made by the industrial petitioner as to the way it will conduct its business. Technological change makes possible tremendous differences in the operations of industry. And we feel that a review of this record reveals competent and undisputed testimony that plaintiff can build and operate* and intends to build and operate, an industrial plant and mine head completely enclosed and equipped with such modern dust-control devices as- to make it comparable as a neighbor to any major industrial' installation. . ■ . . ::
It is apparent that plaintiff was défeatéd in its township applications primarily because of the bad record as neighbors which the-plaster industry generally had developed for itself in- its. older unregulated Butterworth area operations. Ample power, to compel adherence to the dust-free standards lay in the township boards and may now be exercised by the court. The history of bad neighborliness upon which the defendants rely suggests and requires1 strict regulation. It does not, in our view, support exclusion of a plant proposed to be built to modern and totally different standards..
The Paris township zoning ordinance provided for certain special classes of industry* including this one, to be admitted to its industrial zone upon proper application. Denial of such an application must of necessity be related to the standards of the township zoning act and to evidence that the contemplated use under the application would be more injurious to the surrounding neighborhood than normal industrial uses for which no special application was provided. Any other interpretation of these, provisions would deny to those industries singled [454] put fd'r special application the equal protection of the law. US Const, Am 14.
We cannot find in this record that the township-board or the circuit court had before them facts-which indicated that petitioner’s contemplated plant operation, if. built and' operated to. its represented standards, would offend the standards of the ordinance or be more objectionable than many other industries able to locate in the same district as a matter of-right under the local ordinance.
In In the Matter of Long Island, Lighting Co. v. Griffin, 272 App Div 551 (74 NYS2d 348), aff’d, 297 NY 897 (79 NE2d 738), in a situation where the .facts calling for restriction were much stronger than those in this essentially rural neighborhood, the court held as follows (syllabus 1):
“Petitioner owns property in an area classified under the zoning ordinance of the town in which it is situated as an industrial use district. A variety of industrial uses are permitted in such area under the zoning ordinance. Other industrial uses are expressly permitted, inclusive of gas manufacture-from coal, coke or petroleum, or storage thereof, subject to authorization by the board of zoning appeals. Petitioner has been denied permission to» erect a gas manufacturing plant and storage holder on this property upon the grounds that it would injure the appropriate use of the neighboring property and that the location had not been established, to í)e the only suitable site. There is no question as to the need for additional facilities. The area is concededly industrial and no residence is nearer than 1,200 to 1,500 feet from petitioner’s proposed’ plant, in which modern equipment is to be used to» eliminate dust, pollution of water, noise and odors.. Since it is evident that the proposed plant is less-detrimental to neighboring property than other uses-freely permitted in that industrial district, the board is directed to grant permission for the erection of [455] the plant and holder, subject to such reasonable conditions and safeguards as it may impose.”
See, also, Mitchell Land Co. v. Planning & Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Greenwich, 140 Conn 527 (102 A2d 316); Faucher v. Grosse Ile Township Building Inspector, 321 Mich 193.
Under the situation' of fact and law which we have outlined, we hold that the denial of plaintiff’s application for construction of a gypsum manufacturing plant to the extent that it could be built in the industrial zone in Paris township was arbitrary and capricious and represented an abuse of discretion on the part of the township board and the zoning board of appeals. We further hold that the application should have been granted, conditioned upon plaintiff’s representations as to plant construction and operation, and that the court below was in error in failing to enter such an order.
We do not think, however, that the reasoning above necessarily applies to the second of plaintiff’s applications — namely, that which seeks a 750-foot extension of the industrial zone into the agricultural and residential zone. Under the ordinance, this extension is not a matter of right for any industrial use. Plaintiff plainly had a duty to show that such a grant would not offend against the uses permitted in the “Gr” zone. We cannot say, particularly in view of the testimony pertaining to the Bakker home, that plaintiff had satisfactorily carried that burden. On this issue, we agree with the trial judge. We do not find that on this issue the decision of the township board is arbitrary or capricious or against the great weight of evidence.
At oral argument of this matter before this Court, counsel for plaintiff indicated that they could locate their plant and mine head wholly inside the industrially-zoned area paralleling the Chesapeake & Ohio [456] tracks. We believe that any extension of this zoning should depend upon reapplication to the township board and zoning board of appeals and upon such showing of protection for the property in the immediate vicinity as plaintiff may be able to offer at that time.
We turn now to the most interesting and most, puzzling of the legal problems raised by this litigation — the problem of the effect of zoning upon subsurface mining.
This issue, though frequently referred to at the-township board hearing, was not actually involved in the applications before the township board or zoning board of appeals, nor is it involved in the appeal therefrom. It was raised by the bill for declaratory decree heard at the same time as the appeal before the circuit judge and, like the appeal,, was decided adversely to the plaintiff.
The circuit judge held that the township rural zoning act authorized prohibition of deep mining in township zoning ordinances, that the currently-considered zoning ordinance prohibited deep mining-in the agricultural zone, and that both the statute- and the ordinance were reasonable and constitutional when applied to the current set of facts. In effect, he held that zoning powers paralleled the historic-concept of ownership by extending ad coelum et ad infernos to the heavens and to the depths.