City of Okoboji, Iowa v. Leo Parks, Jr. And Okoboji Barz, Inc. D/B/A Okoboji Boat Works, Fish House Lounge and Clucker's Broasted Chicken

830 N.W.2d 300, 2013 WL 1785992, 2013 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 45
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedApril 26, 2013
Docket12–0335
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 830 N.W.2d 300 (City of Okoboji, Iowa v. Leo Parks, Jr. And Okoboji Barz, Inc. D/B/A Okoboji Boat Works, Fish House Lounge and Clucker's Broasted Chicken) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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City of Okoboji, Iowa v. Leo Parks, Jr. And Okoboji Barz, Inc. D/B/A Okoboji Boat Works, Fish House Lounge and Clucker's Broasted Chicken, 830 N.W.2d 300, 2013 WL 1785992, 2013 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 45 (iowa 2013).

Opinion

APPEL, Justice.

In this case, we again consider issues surrounding the efforts of the City of Oko-boji to enforce zoning restrictions on a property located on the shore of West Lake Okoboji. The lakefront property is zoned residential, but has been historically operated as a marina pursuant to special-use permits allowing nonconforming use. We have previously held that while the use of the property as a marina is lawful under the special-use permits, they do not allow an expansion of use that includes on-premises consumption of alcohol with live entertainment, karaoke, hog roasts, and full-moon parties. City of Okoboji v. Okoboji Barz, Inc. (City of Okoboji I), 717 N.W.2d 310, 315-16 (Iowa 2006). After the district court, on remand from our decision in City of Okoboji I, entered a narrow injunction limiting relief to denial of a city liquor license, we held in a certiorari proceeding that the district court erred in not giving the City broader relief and remanded the case again. City of Okoboji v. Iowa Dist. Ct. (City of Okoboji II), 744 N.W.2d 327, 332 (Iowa 2008).

Undeterred, the owner of the property now seeks to operate a bar on a structure called the Fish House Lounge, which, while generally moored to the marina’s “seawall,” is capable of getting underway on the lake. The Fish House Lounge has a class “D” liquor license from the state. The City objected to the operation of the Fish House Lounge as contrary to our holdings in City of Okoboji I and City of Okoboji II and sought declaratory and in-junctive relief. The district court ruled that the arrangement amounted to a nonconforming use of the property in violation of the City’s zoning regulations. The court entered an injunction prohibiting use of the marina property to provide parking, access to or from, and supporting services, including bathroom facilities, to patrons of a boat, vessel, or structure on which alcohol is served or upon which entertainment, music, karaoke, abandon-ship parties, or *302 howl-at-the-moon parties are provided. The injunction further prohibited the selling or serving of alcohol, wine, and beer on any boat or structure moored to or attached to the marina and on or from any boat or structure attached to a dock extending from the premises.

The property owner appeals. We now affirm the district court as modified below.

I. Factual and Procedural Background.

The factual background of this dispute has already been set forth in City of Okoboji I and City of Okoboji II. Historically, two marinas, the Cove and Okoboji Boats, were located on the lakeshore of West Lake Okoboji. In 1972, the City of Okoboji enacted a zoning ordinance. The properties where the marinas were located were zoned lakeshore residential. Section 2(A) of article VII of the ordinance dictates that single-family dwellings are the only permitted principal uses of lakeshore residential property. Okoboji Zoning Ordinance art. VII, § 2(A) (2006) (originally codified in 1972). In addition, section 2(B)(2) of article VII prohibits use of property in a lakeshore residential district as an entry point for commercial access. Id. § 2(B)(2). In 1973, the properties received special-use permits that grandfathered in then-existing operations as nonconforming uses under the ordinance. In 1975, the two marinas merged into a single marina known as Okoboji Boat Works.

Leo Parks, Jr., purchased Okoboji Boat Works in 2001. 1 As part of a remodeling effort, Parks sought to build a bar on the marina property that would serve on-site liquor. The City denied Parks’s request for a class “C” commercial liquor license, stating that “operation of a tavern/restaurant on premises represents a substantial change in the nature and character of the use permitted under the special use permit.” City of Okoboji I, 717 N.W.2d at 313. When Parks appealed the City’s denial to the alcoholic beverages division of the Iowa Department of Commerce, the City filed an action seeking temporary and permanent injunctive relief against operation of a tavern as a nonconforming use. Id. The district court denied the City relief, and the City appealed. Id.

On appeal, we reversed the judgment of the district court and remanded the case to the district court for entry of a permanent injunction prohibiting the use of the property as a bar. Id. at 317. We noted that Parks intended to operate his bar for long hours and to host activities such as karaoke, live music, hog roasting, and monthly full-moon parties. Id. at 316. We held that such activity changes the nature and character of the nonconforming use. Id. As a result, we held Parks’s proposal to operate a full-fledged bar could not be considered an accessory use to the operation of the marina. Id.

On remand, the City asked the district court to enter an injunction prohibiting both the operation of the bar and use of the marina for live music, karaoke, hog roasts, and full-moon parties. City of Okoboji II, 744 N.W.2d at 329-30. The district court entered an injunction that only prohibited Parks from selling alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption, thus prohibiting him from obtaining a class “C” liquor license. Id. at 330. The City sought a writ of certiorari, arguing that under the district court’s order, Parks could sell packaged beer and wine to pa *303 trons and maintain a bar-like atmosphere on the premises. Id.

In City of Okoboji II, we sustained the writ and held the narrow district court order fell short of our mandate in City of Okoboji I. Id. at 338. We emphasized that our opinion in City of Okoboji I was based on the expanded activities associated with the proposed bar and not on the method of licensing. Id. at 332. We stated, “[T]he injunction must prohibit the activity of operating a bar under the circumstances proposed without regard to the manner alcoholic beverages would be sold or consumed.” Id.

Twenty-five days prior to the issuance of our City of Okoboji I opinion, Parks began implementing an alternate legal strategy. Parks obtained a class “D” liquor license from the alcoholic beverages division of the Iowa Department of Commerce for an excursion boat, the Fish House Lounge. The Fish House Lounge is a thirty-by-forty-foot structure on pontoons. Parks obtained the class “D” liquor license for the Fish House Lounge from the state, and not the City, based upon the state’s control of the lake bed. Later applications for a state liquor license requested licensing for additional excursion boats.

In February 2010, after the Fish House Lounge had been in operation for a period of time, the City brought a second action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The district court granted the City relief.

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830 N.W.2d 300, 2013 WL 1785992, 2013 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 45, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-okoboji-iowa-v-leo-parks-jr-and-okoboji-barz-inc-dba-iowa-2013.