Department of Public Works & Buildings v. Association of Franciscan Fathers

360 N.E.2d 70, 44 Ill. App. 3d 49, 4 Ill. Dec. 323, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 3682
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 28, 1976
Docket73-441
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 360 N.E.2d 70 (Department of Public Works & Buildings v. Association of Franciscan Fathers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Department of Public Works & Buildings v. Association of Franciscan Fathers, 360 N.E.2d 70, 44 Ill. App. 3d 49, 4 Ill. Dec. 323, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 3682 (Ill. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinions

Mr. JUSTICE HALLETT

delivered the opinion of the court;

This is an eminent domain case in which the jury’s determination of the just compensation to be paid the owner for land taken for a highway interchange turns in large part upon one particular instruction. Although the owner’s appraisal witnesses were permitted to take into consideration the reasonable “probability” that the land would be rezoned from its then interim “institutional” classification, the court refused to give a tendered instruction approving this and, instead, gave an instruction which required that, in order to be considered, the rezoning be anticipated with reasonable “certainty.” We conclude that this, compounded by the petitioner’s attorney’s final argument emphasizing “certainty” as opposed to “probability,” constituted prejudicial error. We therefore reverse and remand the case for a new trial, without reaching the other grounds urged for reversal.

The property in question is a 9.828-acre parcel, part of 235 acres belonging to the Franciscan Fathers. The defendant’s property, which is situated in Oak Brook, Illinois, runs from 31st Street on the north to 35th Street on the south and from Route 83 on the east to Midwest Road on the west. It is at the very edge of Oak Brook.

The original quick-take proceeding was filed on April 28, 1970. An order was entered for the immediate vesting of title and possession and preliminary compensation was set at *196,500. The defendant was given leave to file a cross-petition for damages to the remainder. After an appeal by the defendant (3 Ill. App. 3d 503, 278 N.E.2d 111), the Department of Transportation filed action to acquire 951 feet of access rights along 31st Street and access routes along Route 83 from 31st to 35th Streets, immediately adjacent to the defendants property. While the trial court originally ordered these two actions consolidated, he later vacated this order and ordered that the two cases be tried separately. Thus, it would appear that the value of the lost access rights was not properly before the jury in this case although the defendants witnesses had to some extent considered the effect this loss would have upon the remaining land in determining the extent of the loss to the remainder. On the other hand, objections to certain questions were sustained because access was not a part of the case.

As stated before, the property in question is situated on the very outskirts of Oak Brook. To the south is Westmont. At the time of the trial the Franciscan property was used solely for church and school purposes and was Institutional — an admittedly interim classification. The property to the west is zoned R-l and R-2, except that the property at the northwest corner which is used as a golf course is not zoned; the property to the north is zoned R-3 and R-4 (the residential rating having the highest density); the property on the northeast corner (directly opposite the corner condemned) is zoned B-l (business); the property to the east (which is also directly opposite some of the condemned property), is zoned R-2; the property to the southeast is zoned R-l but there was pending at the time of the trial a petition to rezone this property; the property immediately to the south, which is in Westmont is zoned for a mixture of commercial, industrial and apartment uses. That contiguous to the Franciscan property is in part at least designated for industrial purposes. At the southwest corner of that particular tract is a shopping complex. It is nearly entirely industry from 35th Street, across from the Franciscan Fathers, down to Ogden. Route 83 on the east side of the defendant’s property is a heavily travelled road averaging over 24,000 vehicles per day south of 31st Sreet.

In the period from 1966 to 1971 three of the five requests for rezoning had been granted. The successful efforts were all by the Oak Brook Development Company. One of these changes was from R-l (2-acre residential home sites) to ORA-1 (office, research and assembly). Flexibility in zoning was also shown by a 1969 memorandum from the Chairman of the Plan Commission to the Village Trustees recommending the rezoning of certain residential property to ORA-1. Even a comprehensive plan adopted in 1973, while recommending that the property be developed into residential uses as a buffer to the extremely high densities proposed in Westmont using a planned unit development approach, also recommended that Oak Brook encourage convenient shopping areas.

Mr. Carl Gardner, a city planning and zoning consultant, testified for the defendant that the highest and best use for the corner part (about 25 acres) before the taking of part of the land would have been as a local shopping complex (B-l zoning) with a gas station at the corner, retail establishments and related office buildings. Such rezoning was reasonably probable because the property is located very advantageously for shopping center use; it is comparable almost identically with the B-l classification of the property diagonally across from it; with the R-3 and R-4 zoned property there is a tremendous amount of residential area. The zoning ordinance is flexible and subject to adjustment to bring it into accord with existing conditions. He also testified that the highest and best use of the western portion of the property before the taking was R-4. Since the taking, a shopping center would no longer be feasible, and R-4, the most intensive residential use permitted, would be the highest and best use. Another defense witness, Mr. Voosen also testified that the property should be used for a combination of B-l and R-4 uses.

Most of the defendant’s appraisal witnesses testified that the highest and best use of the property, or at least part of it, including that condemned, based on a reasonable probability of rezoning was, before the taking, as a B-l property. Mr. Feulner testified that before the taking, the best use of the approximately 35 acres of the whole tract was for a commercial center. Mr. Feulner valued the entire tract at *9,428,000 and the buildings at *7,830,000; the total value after the taking would be *15,921,760. The value of the land taken was *786,240; the damage to the remainder *550,000, caused by loss of access to property off of 31st Street, and loss of frontage from 31st to 35th Street. The State’s motion to strike the valuation testimony because of the separate valuation of the land and the buildings was denied.

However, Mr. Doss’ valuation (*1,070,000 or *1,177,000 for the 10-acre piece) was stricken because he only appraised the land that was taken and did not know the total number of acres in the entire property. Mr. Doss, who was a general manager of the Del E. Webb Corporation, one of the partners of the Oak Brook Development Company which had owned originally about 3,000-3,500 acres of Oak Brook, had testified that the best use of the property was as B-l since it is across the street from B-l property. He also testified that the diamond interchange would detrimentally affect the corner because no one wants to live next to a diamond interchange; there are traffic problems in and out of the property and there will be a problem of drainage.

Mr. Dana, who also had been connected with the Del E. Webb Corporation, also testified that the best use of the corner (about 25 acres) based on a reasonable probability of rezoning would be as a B-l use.

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Bluebook (online)
360 N.E.2d 70, 44 Ill. App. 3d 49, 4 Ill. Dec. 323, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 3682, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/department-of-public-works-buildings-v-association-of-franciscan-fathers-illappct-1976.