Gail Moreschi v. Village of Williams Bay and Town of Linn ETZ Zoning Board of Appeals

CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedJuly 31, 2019
Docket2018AP000283
StatusUnpublished

This text of Gail Moreschi v. Village of Williams Bay and Town of Linn ETZ Zoning Board of Appeals (Gail Moreschi v. Village of Williams Bay and Town of Linn ETZ Zoning Board of Appeals) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gail Moreschi v. Village of Williams Bay and Town of Linn ETZ Zoning Board of Appeals, (Wis. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS DECISION NOTICE DATED AND FILED This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. July 31, 2019 A party may file with the Supreme Court a Sheila T. Reiff petition to review an adverse decision by the Clerk of Court of Appeals Court of Appeals. See WIS. STAT. § 808.10 and RULE 809.62.

Appeal No. 2018AP283 Cir. Ct. No. 2017CV338

STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT II

GAIL MORESCHI,

PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,

V.

VILLAGE OF WILLIAMS BAY AND TOWN OF LINN ETZ ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS, WILLIAM L. EDWARDS AND SUZANNE EDWARDS,

DEFENDANTS-RESPONDENTS.

APPEAL from an order of the circuit court for Walworth County: DAVID M. REDDY, Judge. Affirmed.

Before Reilly, P.J, Gundrum and Hagedorn, JJ.

¶1 HAGEDORN, J. William and Suzanne Edwards wanted to rebuild their home, but their plans required a setback variance. They sought and received the variance from the Village of Williams Bay and Town of Linn Extraterritorial No. 2018AP283

Zoning Board of Appeals (the Board).1 One of their neighbors, Gail Moreschi, was not pleased and filed a certiorari complaint challenging the Board’s decision. The circuit court denied the challenge, as do we.

¶2 Moreschi objects to the decision on both procedural and substantive grounds. Procedurally, she challenges the content of the record before us, asserting that the Board improperly filed new minutes and issued a new decision after she brought suit, along with various swings-and-misses by the Board in complying with certain deadlines. We find none of these challenges availing. Moreschi filed suit before the Board had formalized its decision following the public hearing. Moreschi cites no authority for the proposition that the Board cannot complete its work under these circumstances. Substantively, Moreschi maintains that the Board’s decision was unreasonable and unsupported. This challenge too falls flat. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶3 In November 2016, the Edwards applied for a variance from the setback requirements of Village of Williams Bay Extraterritorial Zoning (ETZ) Ordinance § 18.1703M(D).2 Understanding the general chronology of the

1 The Board acts as the zoning board of appeals for the extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction of the Village of Williams Bay, which includes certain territorial overlap with the Town of Linn in Walworth County. Village of Williams Bay Extraterritorial Zoning (ETZ) Ordinance §§ 18.1701B, 18.1716(A). 2 The ordinance requires that unsewered single-family residences maintain minimum setbacks of twenty-five feet for rear yards and fifteen feet for side yards. ETZ Ordinance § 18.1703M(D). The Edwards sought a rear-yard setback of eighteen feet and a side-yard setback of six feet.

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proceedings that followed is important for purposes of Moreschi’s procedural challenges on appeal.

¶4 On May 23, 2017, the Board held a public meeting during which testimony and argument were presented for and against the Edwards’ application. Moreschi—whose property abuts the Edwards’—was among those who opposed the variance request. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Board unanimously voted to grant the application.3

¶5 On June 12, 2017, Moreschi filed a complaint with the circuit court seeking certiorari review of the Board’s decision. On June 28, 2017, the court granted review and issued a writ of certiorari to be served on the Board.

¶6 Also on June 28, 2017, Moreschi obtained a copy of the minutes from the May 23 meeting through an open records request. The copy describes the consideration of the Edwards’ application as follows:

Board of Appeals Decision: The Village of Williams Bay Extraterritorial Zoning Board of Appeals, during the meeting of March 23, 2017 for the petition of Williams [sic] and Susan Edwards requesting a variance to the zoning code section 18.1703M(D) to allow a rear yard setback of 18’ (25’ required) and a side yard setback of 6’ (15’ required). Robert Winter moved to APPROVE the request. Richard Tuma seconded the motion. A vote was taken and carried unanimously by those present. 4 – AYE (Richard Tuma, Vernon Choyce, Mike O’Brien, Robert Winter), 0 – NAY. The request was APPROVED.

Board of Appeals Findings: The Village of Williams Bay Extraterritorial Zoning Board of Appeals felt that there was a lack of detriment and allowed the variance. 3 The Edwards had also earlier received approval for the variance from the Town of Linn Plan Commission.

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¶7 On July 7, 2017, the Board was served with the writ, which ordered it to respond to the court in ten days with “a correct transcript of the record and proceedings in the action, together with all applications, process, pleadings, entries, exhibits, and documents made, filed or returned, to the end that [the court] may further act.”

¶8 On July 28, 2017, in a letter to the court, the Board stated that it was still in the process of assembling the record for its return on certiorari. Related to that record, the Board explained that Moreschi had obtained a “draft of minutes for [the May 23] hearing” that still needed to be approved and finalized at its next scheduled meeting. It further noted that a written decision on the Edwards’ application was forthcoming.

¶9 On July 31, 2017, the Board held its next meeting, during which it approved and finalized the May 23 minutes and produced a written decision. Like the minutes Moreschi received through her open records request, the finalized minutes reflect that the Board unanimously voted in favor of approving the variance. The findings in the finalized minutes now read:

The Village of Williams Bay Extraterritorial Zoning Board of Appeals having considered all of the testimony and evidence presented at the hearing found beyond a reasonable doubt that all of the facts and conditions set forth in ETZ Zoning Ordinance [§] 18.1716(H) exist in favor of granting the requested variance. The Board reviewed the application for variance and attached documents; letter from Town of Linn approving the variance; letters from citizens in favor and opposed to the variance; documents presented by Attorney Thompson; along with other documents presented at the hearing. The Board heard testimony from Mr. Edwards and his attorney, Mara Sping re: why the variance was necessary. The Board heard testimony from citizens in favor and opposed to the variance, including Attorney Thompson on behalf of Ms. Moreschi.

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The written decision—which was signed by the four Board members who granted the application—contained an extended narrative on the Board’s factual findings and conclusions in light of the evidence presented at the hearing.

¶10 The next day—August 1, 2017—the Board submitted its return, attaching the finalized minutes and the written decision. Upon review, the circuit court affirmed the Board’s decision, and Moreschi now seeks relief from this court.

DISCUSSION

¶11 On an appeal from a circuit court order on certiorari, this court reviews the decision of the Board. Hearst-Argyle Stations, Inc. v. Board of Zoning Appeals of Milwaukee, 2003 WI App 48, ¶12, 260 Wis. 2d 494, 659 N.W.2d 424. In order for us to review the Board’s decision here, we must first resolve the parties’ disagreement as to what constitutes the actual decision and Moreschi’s other challenges to the content of the record. Then we assess Moreschi’s substantive challenges to the decision.

Moreschi’s challenges to the content of the record

¶12 Moreschi raises multiple issues with the nature of the record before us.

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Related

State Ex Rel. Whiting v. Kolb
461 N.W.2d 816 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 1990)
State v. Pettit
492 N.W.2d 633 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 1992)
Snajder v. State
246 N.W.2d 665 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1976)
State Ex Rel. Irby v. Israel
291 N.W.2d 643 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 1980)
Snyder v. Waukesha County Zoning Board of Adjustment
247 N.W.2d 98 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1976)
Hearst-Argyle Stations, Inc. v. Board of Zoning Appeals
2003 WI App 48 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2003)
Ottman v. Town of Primrose
2011 WI 18 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2011)

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Bluebook (online)
Gail Moreschi v. Village of Williams Bay and Town of Linn ETZ Zoning Board of Appeals, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gail-moreschi-v-village-of-williams-bay-and-town-of-linn-etz-zoning-board-wisctapp-2019.