City of Phoenix v. Donofrio

407 P.2d 91, 99 Ariz. 130, 1965 Ariz. LEXIS 320
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 29, 1965
Docket8454
StatusPublished
Cited by84 cases

This text of 407 P.2d 91 (City of Phoenix v. Donofrio) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Phoenix v. Donofrio, 407 P.2d 91, 99 Ariz. 130, 1965 Ariz. LEXIS 320 (Ark. 1965).

Opinion

UDALL, Justice.

This is an appeal by the City of Phoenix, hereinafter referred to as appellant, from the dismissal of its amended complaint by the Superior Court of Maricopa County. Appellant filed a complaint in eminent domain on March 29, 1963. Upon motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the complaint was dismissed on May 24, 1963 with leave to amend within twenty days. Appellant filed an amended complaint on June 13, 1963, and the amended complaint was dismissed for failure to state a claim on December 23, 1963. Judgment was entered thereon June 1, 1964, and Notice of Appeal was filed with this Court on the same *132 date. We have jurisdiction under A.R.S. § 12-2101 as amended. ■

Appellant brought suit to condemn for municipal purposes two parcels of land located in the vicinity of the Phoenix Municipal Building. Paragraph II of the amended complaint alleged, in part:

“ * * * said property must be acquired by the City of Phoenix for the purpose of establishing parking areas for official City vehicles, parking for members of commissions and boards of the City of Phoenix and parking for the general public conducting business with the City of Phoenix; and, further, for the ultimate establishment of administration buildings and grounds to meet the expanding municipal needs of the City of Phoenix, * * *; that the use for which said property is sought by the City of Phoenix is a public use and necessity therefor exists as a matter of public convenience, necessity and welfare.”

Thus, the amended complaint sought to condemn certain land which would in the long run be developed into administration buildings and grounds, but in the short run would be used as a vehicle parking lot.

The trial court granted the motion to dismiss the amended complaint and rendered judgment accordingly, stating:

“ * * * the Legislature has not by statute empowered the cities and towns of Arizona to exercise the power of eminent domain for the purposes of creating parking areas for Sec. 12-1111 (3) of our code * * * does not contain the language and is not sufficiently broad enough to lay a foundation for any such implication.
* * * plaintiff’s pleadings and its ordinance upon which its pleadings are based, and which speak of the ultimate establishment of administration buildings and-grounds to meet the expanding municipal need of the City of Phoenix, are too remote and highly in the abstract.”

The questions presented for review, in accordance with Ariz. S.Ct.R. 5, subsec. b, 7, as amended, 17 A.R.S., are: (1) whether A.R.S. § 12-1111, subsec. 3 (1956) grants cities the power of eminent domain to acquire property for parking areas to be used in conjunction with city buildings; and (2), whether a condemnation complaint alleging the land condemned ultimately will be used for establishment of administration buildings and grounds states a claim upon which relief can be granted.

A.R.S. § 12-1111 (1956) lists the purposes for which eminent domain may be exercised. This statute states, “the right of eminent domain may be exercised by * * * a * * * city * * * for the following uses:

******

*133 3. Buildings and grounds for the use of a t ^ ^ city ‡ ^ ‡

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Nowhere in A.R.S. § 12-1111 (1956) is there an express grant of power to a city to condemn for parking areas for official vehicles, parking for members of city commissions and boards, and parking for the general public while conducting business with the city. Therefore, if the power to condemn for these purposes exists, it must be by implication from the express powers given by A.R.S. § 12-1111, subsec. 3 (1956).

Appellee contends there is no statutory power of condemnation for off-street parking purposes, express or implied, and appellant’s request for such authority should be made to the legislature. This argument is couched upon the wording of A.R.S. § 12-1111 (1956) which, appellee urges, is explicit and sets forth the purposes for which eminent domain may be exercised with some degree of particularity. Hence, appellee concludes, the statute must be strictly construed; and so construed, this statute does not give the city power to condemn property for use as a parking lot.

Nearly all of the Arizona statutes pertaining to eminent domain were adopted from California. Viliborghi v. Prescott School Dist. No. 1 of Yavapai County, 55 Ariz. 230, 100 P.2d 178 (1940). In Arizona, like California, the exercise of the right of eminent domain has largely been provided for by the legislature rather than by a constitutional enabling provision. See City of Scottsdale v. Municipal Court of the City of Tempe, 90 Ariz. 393, 368 P.2d 637 (1962).

One of the prerequisites to the taking of property by condemnation under A.R.S. § 12-1112 (1956), is that, “The use to which the property is to be applied is a use authorized by law.” A similar provision in California, C.C.P. § 1241, requires that the use be one of “those public uses which the legislature has authorized.” Lindsay Irrigation Company v. Mehrtens, 97 Cal. 676, 32 P. 802 (1893).

It is a basic principle of law that a municipality can only exercise the right of eminent domain when it is conferred upon it by the legislature expressly or by necessary implication. See, 11 McQuillin, Municipal Corporations, § 32.12 (3d ed. 1964).

The purposes for which eminent domain may be exercised are set forth in A.R.S. § 12-1111 (1956), and nowhere in this section is taking for off-street parking lots declared to be an approved purpose. A fundamental rule of statutory construction is that courts will not read into a statute something which is not within the manifest intention of the legislature as gathered from the statute itself. State ex rel. Morrison v. Anway, 87 Ariz. 206, 349 P.2d 774 (1960). Also, a court will not inflate, expand, stretch or extend a statute to matters not falling within its expressed provisions. We *134 hold that the “building and grounds” provision of A.R.S.

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Bluebook (online)
407 P.2d 91, 99 Ariz. 130, 1965 Ariz. LEXIS 320, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-phoenix-v-donofrio-ariz-1965.