County of Fairfax v. Southern Iron Works, Inc.

410 S.E.2d 674, 242 Va. 435, 8 Va. Law Rep. 1375, 1991 Va. LEXIS 154
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedNovember 8, 1991
DocketRecord 910097
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 410 S.E.2d 674 (County of Fairfax v. Southern Iron Works, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
County of Fairfax v. Southern Iron Works, Inc., 410 S.E.2d 674, 242 Va. 435, 8 Va. Law Rep. 1375, 1991 Va. LEXIS 154 (Va. 1991).

Opinion

JUSTICE KEENAN

delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this appeal, Fairfax County seeks reversal of a decision in which the trial court declared invalid the Zoning Ordinance Amendment (ZOA) enacted by the Board of Supervisors on December 11, 1989. The trial court declared the ZOA invalid on four separate procedural grounds. We conclude that the trial court erred in invalidating the ZOA on each of the four grounds upon which it relied. Therefore, we will reverse its decision, and based on this action, do not reach the additional issues raised here by the County.

Prior to December 11, 1989, the Fairfax County Zoning Ordinance allowed office buildings in all Commercial and Industrial Districts as a permitted use. This meant that landowners could construct offices in these districts without obtaining special approval from the Board of Supervisors. On September 11, 1989 the Board instructed the County staff to draft proposed amendments to the Commercial and Industrial District provisions. The staff responded by developing the ZOA, which, among other things, changed office use from a permitted use to a special exception use. This meant that landowners in the affected districts would be required to obtain permission from the Board before constructing office buildings. Although the ZOA revised both Commercial and Industrial District provisions, this appeal pertains solely to the revision of the Ordinance as it pertains to the Industrial Districts.

On September 18, 1989, the Board considered the staff recommendations and concluded that the existing Zoning Ordinance contained “provisions in the Commercial and Industrial Districts which make it impossible to effectively plan; and . . . [that] the public necessity, the convenience, general welfare and good zoning practice require [d]” their action. The Board then voted to author *439 ize the advertisement of the ZOA and referred it to the County Planning Commission (Commission) for its recommendations.

After a series of public hearings and upon receiving the recommendations of the Commission, the Board met on December 11, 1989 to give final consideration to the ZOA. During the morning session of this meeting, the Board had various documents before it, including a “Board Package” containing several attachments. Attachment 1 consisted of a chart comparing the Commercial and Industrial provisions of the existing Zoning Ordinance to the amendments of these sections proposed by the staff and the Commission. Attachment 2 contained the Commission’s recommended amendments to the Industrial District provisions. Attachment 7 consisted of the Commission report, which included a summary of its recommendations, as well as relevant transcripts of Commission meetings. After evaluating and discussing the Commission’s recommendations, the Board directed the staff to develop final motions (Motions Package) conforming to what the Board had approved during the morning session.

The Motions Package consisted of a series of motions and attachments reflecting all of the amendments to the Commercial and Industrial Districts. Motion II, the only motion challenged in this appeal, stated:

II. INDUSTRIAL DISTRICTS

I move that the Board of Supervisors adopt the proposed amendments to the industrial districts as recommended by the Planning Commission with the following changes:

- Whereas office will be permitted only by special exception up to the existing FAR’s, 1 w all other uses in the revised industrial districts will be permitted to the revised FAR’s by right as recommended by the Planning Commission and with FAR’s above that by special exception only to the existing FAR’s; and

- Establishments for scientific research, development and training will be permitted in the 1-5 district only by special exception up to the existing FAR.

This is attachment 3 dated December 11, 1989. *440 Attachment 3 to the Motions Package, entitled “Additional Revisions To Planning Commission Recommendation On Industrial Districts,” contained the Board’s changes to the Commission’s recommendations. However, the Motions Package did not contain a full text of the Board’s amendments regarding the Industrial Districts.

The Board adopted the Motions Package containing the ZOA in the afternoon session of the December 11, 1989 meeting. The ZOA removed office use as a permitted use in Industrial Districts 1 through 6, instead making office use a special exception use. It also revised certain Industrial District Floor Area Ratios (FARs) for various uses including office use.

Following the adoption of the ZOA, the staff compiled a complete version of what the Board had passed, relying on the various documents before the Board during the December 11, 1989 meeting. The staff compilation was completed within one week, distributed as a loose-leaf supplement entitled ZO-89-185, and added to the Zoning Ordinance. Because the ZOA was silent as to its effective date, the staff inserted an effective date of 12:01 a.m., December 12, 1989.

Shortly thereafter, the County Zoning Administrator realized that ZO-89-185 contained an error in the numbering of certain paragraphs denoting uses in the Industrial Districts. Prior to the enactment of ZO-89-185, an earlier ordinance amendment had added a new use, thereby requiring a renumbering of certain paragraphs. This renumbering was not taken into account in the staff’s compilation of ZO-89-185. Thus, while the Board’s motion called for deletion of office use as a permitted use, ZO-89-185 deleted permitted uses other than office use due to the insertion of incorrect use numbers. The Zoning Administrator testified that this was a mistake made by the staff. The incorrect use numbers were subsequently corrected.

Additionally, there were two other discrepancies in the compilation of the Motions Package and ZO-89-185. First, Attachment 3 to the Motions Package amended, among other things, Section 9-515 of the Zoning Ordinance by providing that “[i]n the I-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5 and 1-6 Districts, the Board may approve a special exception to allow office uses.” However, the staff failed to include the 1-1 and 1-2 districts in section 9-515 of ZO-89-185. The Zoning Administrator stated that this was a staff mistake; however, it was never corrected. Second, while the Commission recommended *441 that use number 17 (office use) be included in Section 9-502, the amendment to that section presented in the Motions Package did not include this use. The staffs compilation of ZO-89-185, however, did include use 17.

Two hundred sixty-nine Bills of Complaint were filed challenging ZO-89-185 on procedural and substantive grounds. The trial court ordered the cases consolidated and established a Litigation Steering Committee (LSC) to coordinate the complainants’ cases. The trial court also ordered the LSC to file a single pleading containing all of the procedural complaints.

After a hearing on these procedural issues, the trial court sustained the complainants’ contention that the Board’s initiating resolution adopted on September 18, 1989, was insufficient in that it failed to state a valid public purpose as required by Code § 15.1-491(g).

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Bluebook (online)
410 S.E.2d 674, 242 Va. 435, 8 Va. Law Rep. 1375, 1991 Va. LEXIS 154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/county-of-fairfax-v-southern-iron-works-inc-va-1991.