City of Dallas v. Haworth

218 S.W.2d 264, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1579
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 28, 1949
DocketNo. 14040.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 218 S.W.2d 264 (City of Dallas v. Haworth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Dallas v. Haworth, 218 S.W.2d 264, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1579 (Tex. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

CRAMER, Justice.

In 1929 the City of Dallas enacted its original comprehensive zoning ordinance. At that time the National and State Constitutions prohibited the sale of intoxicating liquors. The ground floor of 311 North Collett Street was then being used as a cafe, restaurant, or tea room, the second floor as a residence. After beer was legalized, the City, under such original ordinance, adopted a general policy of granting beer licenses and wine permits for use in connection with cafes and restaurants located in local retail districts or districts of lower classification, as well as in connection with non-conforming uses in other districts ; and, in line with that policy, in 1938, and yearly thereafter, issued such permits to the operators of the cafe at said location. On April 30, 1947 appellant City adopted an amended or revised zoning ordinance. Under this revised ordinance appellee’s property was zoned A-l Apartment. Under the old ordinance it had been zoned 2-D Apartment. The City did not contest, but agreed to appellee’s right to continue the use of his property as a restaurant, as a non-conforming use. On December IS, 1947, appellee petitioned the City Council to rezone his property from A-l Apartment to LR-2 Local Retail. The sale of beer was, under the new ordinance, prohibited in all classifications having a residential classification as well as in an LR-1 local retail district. Appellee was selling beer in said cafe under a license when the new ordinance was adopted, which license did not expire until February 17, 1948. On February 6, appellee made an application to appellant’s Building Inspector for a certificate of compliance, such certificate being necessary in order for appellant to secure a State beer license. On the same date this was refused and appellee immediately appealed to the Board of Adjustment. On the same day appellant and appellee entered into an agreement whereby appellee was to receive a provisional permit from the City and from the State of Texas to sell beer pending action of the Board of Adjustment on the appeal, and, if necessary, pending the action of a court of competent jurisdiction on an appeal from the ruling of such Board, which agreement is hereinafter set out in full.

On March 8, 1948, the Board of Adjustment denied the appeal of appellee!

On March 9, 1948, the City Council denied appellee’s petition for a zoning change.

On the trial below, the parties, among other facts, agreed to the following: “ (26) From the time of the legalization of the sale of beer in the City of Dallas until the enactment of the new zoning ordinance, it was the administrative policy of the City of Dallas to issue certificates to the effect that the sale of beer was allowed in connection with non-conforming uses. (27) At some time during the summer of 1947, an opinion was given by the City Attorney of the City of Dallas to .the effect that, under the new zoning ordinance, the sale of beer had become illegal in connection with non-conforming uses located in dwelling, duplex and apartment districts. (30) At the time of the enactment of the new zoning ordinance, there were numerous establishments in the City of Dallas, constituting non-conforming uses, located in dwelling, duplex or apartment districts, which were then engaged in the sale of beer under licenses issued by the City of Dallas. (33) It is now the policy of the City of Dallas to require every person holding a license to sell beer in connection with a non-conforming use to appeal annually to the Board of Adjustment, and to appear annually before that Board, before receiving a renewal of such license.”

The appellee did not secure the State or City beer license under the provisional certificate until March 19, when the State license was issued, and March 22, when the City license was issued. The City license expired March 19, 1949. He had sold beer without City or State license from Febru *266 ary 18 to March 19, 1948. Thereafter on May 18, 1948, the City Council, by resolution, cancelled the beer permit and directed the City Attorney to institute suit to cancel the license and for injunction.

Appellee by his first two counter points asserts that, the trial court’s judgment should be affirmed because there are no findings of fact by the trial court and appellant’s brief does not show that there is no reasonable theory upon which the judgment could be sustained. The trial court’s judgment contains the following findings of fact:- “ * * * and the court having heard the pleadings, the stipulations, the evidence and the argument of counsel, finds that the defendant holds a valid and subsisting license issued by the plaintiff for the sale of beer at 311 North Collett Street, dated March 22, 1948, expiring March 19, 1949, and that such license should not be revoked, and that such license was regularly and properly issued, inasmuch as the defendant and his predecessors in title have been engaged in the lawful sale of beer in connection with the operation of a restaurant business, incidental to and a portion of the legal non-conforming use existing at 311 North Collett Street since prior to September 11, 1929, and that su'ch property is properly zoned for apartment use, subject to the right of the defendant to continue his non-conforming use as it has heretofore existed,” etc. This raises the question: Is it necessary to request and secure findings of fact, if they are substantially contained in the judgment, or be penalized by the above rule claimed by appellee? This same question has been passed on adversely to appellee by the Fort Worth Court of Civil Appeals in Warren v. Haverkorn, 191 S.W.2d 793, syl. 10. On that authority, the assignments are overruled.

Appellant’s first point of error attacks the trial court’s holding that the sale of beer was incidental to, and a part of, the non-conforming use of the property in question, as a restau'rant. Appellee’s counter point is to the effect that since the new zoning ordinance does not expressly prohibit the'sale of beer on appellant’s property, the trial court did not err in holding the beer permit was regularly and properly issued by the City, and correctly followed the City’s administrative- interpretation existing since 1933, permitting the sale of beer in connection with the operation of a cafe as a legal non-conforming use. The record shows that the old ordinance did not expressly cover, nor refer to, the sale of beer in any classification. The new ordinance, Article 165 — 11, provides for Zone A-l Apartment District Regulation (the zone in which appellant’s property is located) as follows: “Section 1. Use Regulations. In an A-l District no land shall be used and no building shall be erected for or converted to any use other than: 1. Any use permitted in a D district. 2. Multiple family dwellings. 3. Apartment buildings in which rooms and apartments are rented to resident guests in which, however, no retail businesses are permitted. 4. Accessory buildings including a storage garage and bona fide servants quarters not for rent but for use of servants employed on the premises, when located not less than sixty (60) feet from the front line and not less than ten (10) feet from any other street line. 5. Temporary buildings. See Art. 165 — -5, sec. 1, par. 8. 6. Bulletin boards and signs. See Art. 165 — 5, sec. 1, par. 9.” (Section 2 provides for height regulations, sec. 3 to area regulations, not material here.)

Section 165 — 5, sec. 1, paragraphs 8 and 9, referred to in subdivisions 5 and 6 of sec.

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

Related

State v. Farhad Nayeb
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Cottle v. Knapper
571 S.W.2d 59 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1978)
Davis v. Davis
507 S.W.2d 841 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1974)
Clesi v. Northwest Dallas Imp. Ass'n
263 S.W.2d 820 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1953)
Fulford v. BD. OF ZONING ADJUSTMENT OF CITY OF DOTHAN.
54 So. 2d 580 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1951)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
218 S.W.2d 264, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1579, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-dallas-v-haworth-texapp-1949.