Fuller v. Springville City

2015 UT App 177, 355 P.3d 1063, 791 Utah Adv. Rep. 13, 2015 Utah App. LEXIS 186, 2015 WL 4293233
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedJuly 16, 2015
Docket20140433-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 2015 UT App 177 (Fuller v. Springville City) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fuller v. Springville City, 2015 UT App 177, 355 P.3d 1063, 791 Utah Adv. Rep. 13, 2015 Utah App. LEXIS 186, 2015 WL 4293233 (Utah Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

*1065 Memorandum Decision

CHRISTIANSEN, Judge:

T1 David and Ruth M. Fuller appeal from the district court's orders granting summary judgment in favor of Springville City and dismissing the Fullers claims. The Fullers sought review in the district court of the Springville City Board of Ad-Jjustment's decision denying their request for approval of a nonconforming use. The Fullers argue that the Board of Adjustment's application of Springville City's zoning ordinances pertaining to single-family and multifamily-residential uses resulted in an unconstitutional taking of their property. For the reasons stated below, we affirm the district court's dismissal of the Fuller's claims.

12 The Fullers' property is situated in an area of Springville City zoned solely for single-family use. The Fullers maintain a basement apartment in their residence and utilize their home as a multifamily dwelling. The Fullers claim that they have maintained this multifamily dwelling for many years. When Springville City learned of the basement apartment, however, the city notified the Fullers that such use violated the zoning laws and needed to stop.

13 The Fullers then applied for a certificate of nonconformity, claiming that their basement apartment qualified as a preexisting nonconforming use. Springville City's community-development director (the Director) denied their application and concluded that the Fullers had failed to prove that their basement apartment "could have [ever] been legal under the zoning ordinances in place since the house was constructed" and that the Fullers' use therefore had not been "legally established" as required to demonstrate a nonconforming use under both state statute and Springville City ordinance. The Fullers appealed that decision to the Spring-ville City Board of Adjustment (the Board), which upheld the denial of the Fullers' application for a certificate of nonconformity. Thereafter, the Fullers filed a complaint in the Fourth District Court appealing the Board's decision.

4 In their complaint, the Fullers asserted a number of claims, alleging "tortuous bad faith failure to investigate and resolve nonconforming use certificate which may arise out of implementation of previous settlement agreement," "bad faith denial of request for non-conformity," "abuse of process," and "breach of expressed agreement to good faith negotiation." The Fullers sought a declaratory judgment that the Board's "decision denying request for non-conformity is arbitrary, capricious, and against the substantial weight of the evidence" and that Springville City's zoning ordinance was "null and void." 1

T 5 Springville City filed a motion for partial summary judgment "seeking dismissal of all of the Fullers' claims or theories other than a claim which might appropriately constitute a Petition for Review of the [Board's] decision." At the hearing on the motion, the court orally granted Springville City's motion except as to that portion of the Fullers complaint that the court determined could be construed as a petition for review of the Board's decision. The district court requested additional briefing from the parties on whether the Fullers could bring a constitutional challenge to Springville City's historical zoning ordinances based on the Utah Supreme Court's holding in Gillmor v. Summit County, 2010 UT 69, 246 P.3d 102.

T 6 Before the district court entered a final ruling on Springville City's motion for summary judgment, the parties stipulated to a stay of the district court case and a remand to the city for "further proceedings and consideration of evidence by [the Director]" regarding "whether and to what extent [the Fullers] can prove the nonconforming use of their property as a two-family dwelling was ever lawfully and legally established in the first instance." After additional consideration, the Director again denied the Fullers application. The Director found that the lot on which the Fullers home was constructed was not of sufficient size to have ever allowed multifamily use in the zoning district where it was located. Thus, the Fullers could not *1066 demonstrate that use of their property as a multifamily dwelling had ever been legally established. The Fullers requested reconsideration by the Director and requested additional time to conduct further research and present additional arguments. The Director denied the Fullers requests and affirmed his previous decision.

T7 The Fullers again appealed to the Board. The Board upheld the Director's decision based on "a lack of evidence presented to [the] Board that when the use was originally established that it conformed with the applicable zoning ordinance either under the Utah County zoning ordinance or Springville City zoning ordinance and that, for that reason there's been a lack of evidence showing that it was legal in the first instance." The Fullers then amended their original complaint in the district court case, seeking judicial review of the Board's final decision.

T8 Subsequently, the district court held another hearing on Springville City's motion for summary judgment. After the hearing, the district court entered a written order memorializing its grant of summary judgment to Springville City on all of the Fullers' claims except their claim for review of the Board's decision. The district court also ordered that "[slolely in the context and for the purposes of the Fullers' remaining Petition for Review claim," the Fullers could challenge the facial validity of Springville City's zoning ordinances. The district court allowed the Fullers to file an amended complaint to "deseribfe] the basis for their claim that the [Board's] decision on their noneon-forming use application was arbitrary, capricious or illegal" and to clarify the Fullers constitutional challenges to Springville City's ordinances.

T9 Springville City then filed a motion for summary judgment on the Fullers' claim regarding their petition for review of the Board's decision. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Springville City and affirmed the Board's decision denying the Fullers' application for a certificate of nonconformity.

10 Several months later, Springville City filed a final motion for summary judgment seeking to dismiss the Fullers remaining constitutional claims. The district court granted the motion and dismissed "the Fullers' claims against the City ... in their entirety, with prejudice and on the merits." The Fullers appeal.

T11 This case involves a challenge to a land use authority's decision to deny an application for a nonconforming use. We review the district court's judgment "as if we were reviewing the land use authority's decision directly, and we afford no deference to the district court's decision." Pen & Ink, LLC v. Alpine City, 2010 UT App 203, ¶16, 238 P.3d 63 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

112 The Fullers first argue that application of the zoning ordinances to prohibit their keeping a basement apartment constitutes an unconstitutional taking of their property. However, the Fullers have failed to demonstrate that their unconstitutional takings claim was preserved below, as they are required to do by our rules of appellate procedure. An appellant's brief must include "citation to the record showing that the issue was preserved in the [district] court; or ...

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2015 UT App 177, 355 P.3d 1063, 791 Utah Adv. Rep. 13, 2015 Utah App. LEXIS 186, 2015 WL 4293233, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fuller-v-springville-city-utahctapp-2015.