East Fairfield Coal Co. v. Miller

71 Ohio Law. Abs. 490, 1955 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 328
CourtMahoning County Court of Common Pleas
DecidedNovember 10, 1955
DocketNo. 140481
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 71 Ohio Law. Abs. 490 (East Fairfield Coal Co. v. Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
East Fairfield Coal Co. v. Miller, 71 Ohio Law. Abs. 490, 1955 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 328 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1955).

Opinion

[496]*496OPINION

By MAIDEN, J.

I. Taking up the claims of the plaintiffs in the order above set forth, the first is that the enabling legislation (§519.01 et seq R. C.), containing exemptions for agriculture and other uses of land, the effect of which denies to other users of land the uniform protection bf the laws and violates the constitutional provisions above mentioned, is therefore unconstitutional and invalid. Sec. 519.20 R. C. classifies outdoor advertising as a business use and provides that it shall be permitted in all districts zoned for industry, business or trade, or lands used for agricultural purposes. Sec. 519.21 R. C. provides that nothing in the Act shall confer any power on any board of township trustees or board of zoning appeals to prohibit the use of any land for agricultural purposes, and defines the meaning of the word, “agriculture.” Sec. 519.21 R. C. provides that nothing in the Act shall confer any power on the township trustees or board of zoning appeals in respect to buildings or structures of any public utility or railroad or the use of land by any public utility or railroad for the operation of its business; it further provides that no power is conferred on any board of county commissioners, township trustees or board of zoning appeals to prohibit the use of any land or building for the maintenance and operation of any mercantile, or retail establishment, drug store, hotel, lunch room, restaurant or place of entertainment in any area zoned for trade or industry.

Plaintiffs state on Page 7 of their trial brief as follows:

[497]*497“The effect of the foregoing sections of the enabling act would preclude township trustees from regulating the construction or maintenance of hog pens, chicken yards and stables within a residential district of the township but would permit them, as in the Canfield Township Zoning Ordinance, to prohibit the owner of the land on which such improvements are located from removing mineral resources worth $4,000 per acre, exclusive of their value to the community.”

It is the claim of the plaintiffs that this type of exemption for agriculture and other purposes has been held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in the ease of Connolly v. Union Sewer Pipe Company, 184 U. S. .540 (1902), wherein the Court was considering an anti-trust statute of the State of Illinois which contained the following language:

“The provisions of this act shall not apply to agricultural production or live stock while in the hands of the producer or raiser.” The Court held the foregoing exemption was unconstitutional and void because it denied to those pursuing activities other than agriculture the equal protection of the laws, and that since the exemption was invalid and the producers of agricultural products would thereby be subjected to the anti-trust law of Illinois, contrary to the intention of the legislature, the entire anti-trust law was unconstitutional.

Plaintiffs further cite Smith v. Cahoon, 283 U. S. 553 (1930), wherein the Court considered a Florida statute requiring motor vehicle carriers to obtain certificates of necessity and convenience, which statute exempted from such requirements transportation companies engaged exclusively in transporting agricultural, horticultural, dairy or other farm products. As stated, the Court held there was no justification for the distinction exempting carriers of agricultural products from the requirements of the act and held it was discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Other cases cited by plaintiffs are: Winter v. Barrett, 352 Ill. 441; 186 N. E. 113 (1933); Kellyville Coal Co. v. Hanier, 207 Ill. 624; 69 N. E. 927 (1904); Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority v. Thatcher, 140 Oh St 38; 42 N. E. (2d) 437 (1942).

It would seem that those cases are entirely distinguishable from the matter at bar. In the Connolly case we have a penal statute enacted for a certain distinct purpose which exempted for no sound or logical reason whatever certain individuals and corporations from its operation; similarly, in the Smith case, as well as in the other cases cited. In those cases the classification is not based on anything having relation to the purpose for which it is made. Here we have no penal or regulatory statute legislating against a course of conduct or action which arbitrarily exempts anyone from that prohibited conduct or action. Here we have a grant of authority by the Sovereign to one of its branches, namely, the township trustees, and in conneciton with that grant of authority, the Sovereign puts certain limitations upon the local power to act. Here the classification is based on sound and logical factors having relation to the purpose for making it, as well as a definite relation to the Act itself. There is no doubt that the legislature has power to make a classification provided the basis of classification is not an arbitrary one; a statute is general and uniform within the requirements [498]*498of the Constitution if it operates equally upon every person and locality within the circumstances covered by the Act, and when a classification has a reasonable basis, it is not invalid merely because not made with exactness or because in practice it may result in some inequality. It is said the clasification must not be arbitrary, artificial, ficticious or evasive, used to circumvent the constitutional requirement of uniformity but must be based upon a real and substantial distinction in the nature of the class or classes upon which the law operates. 8 O. Jur. Page 630; 58 Am. Jur., Zoning, Paragraph 75, Page 989.

“The permissible location within a municipality of particular public utilities is sometimes designated by ordinance and the validity of such an ordinance has been upheld as a proper exercise of the police power, but public utilities are also often expressly excepted from the prohibitions or restrictions of zoning laws. * * * Such provisions are not invalid as * * * class legislation or a denial of the equal protection of the laws, since there is sufficient reason for the distinction based upon the comfort and convenience of the public.” 58 Am. Jur., Zoning, Paragraph 122, Pages 1009-1010.

“Zoning ordinances sometimes exempt farming, truck gardening or horticultural or agricultural activities generally from inclusion among businesses prohibited in specified zones. Such exception does not render the ordinance void.” 58 Am. Jur., Zoning, Paragraph 75, Page 989 (cited above).

The same principle would apply where the constitutionality of a statute is challenged. The nature of the business in which railroads and public utilities are engaged and its relation to the public welfare clearly justify the legislature’s action; the same thing is true as to agriculture in connection with township and county zoning. As to outdoor advertising, sound reason can readily be seen for the exemption, without going into detail.

The Court holds that the township zoning enabling act and the Canfield Zoning Ordinance are not upon the basis of this claim unconstitutional.

• II. Plaintiffs’ next claim is that the regulation of strip-mining is a matter of state-wide concern over which township trustees have no power and, therefore, the zoning ordinance is invaild. They point out that Article II, Section 1, of the Ohio Constitution provides that the legislative power of a state shall be vested in a General Assembly, and that Article II, Section 36, reads in part as follows:

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Related

Kane v. Kreiter
195 N.E.2d 829 (Tuscarawas County Court of Common Pleas, 1963)
State ex rel. Brizes v. DePledge
162 N.E.2d 234 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1958)

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Bluebook (online)
71 Ohio Law. Abs. 490, 1955 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 328, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/east-fairfield-coal-co-v-miller-ohctcomplmahoni-1955.