Goodfellow Tire Co. v. Commissioner of Parks & Boulevards of Detroit

128 N.W. 410, 163 Mich. 249, 1910 Mich. LEXIS 594
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 11, 1910
DocketCalendar No. 24,099
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 128 N.W. 410 (Goodfellow Tire Co. v. Commissioner of Parks & Boulevards of Detroit) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goodfellow Tire Co. v. Commissioner of Parks & Boulevards of Detroit, 128 N.W. 410, 163 Mich. 249, 1910 Mich. LEXIS 594 (Mich. 1910).

Opinion

Moore, J.

The relator is a Michigan corporation, whose principal business is that of filling automobile tires •with a composition claimed to render them puncture proof. It also sells and handles automobile accessories. It is the owner of the north 95 feet of the easterly 100 feet of lots 2 and 8 and the southerly 5 feet of lot 1 of Frisbee & Foxen’s subdivision of part of fractional section 31. These lots are at the corner of the boulevard and Woodward [250]*250avenue in the city of Detroit. Lots 1, 3, and 3 front upon Woodward avenue. On the front 100 feet of the lots a block of stores, three stories high, is erected; at the rear of said stores, and between them and the alley, the relator is erecting a two-story building for the purpose of carrying on its business. Its property fronts on the boulevard. It applied to the respondent for a permit to give access to its building to and from the boulevard by means of two driveways. The commissioner having denied the application for permission to construct the driveways, a petition for a writ of mandamus was filed in the court below, and, on denial of this petition, the cause was brought to this court by certiorari.

The claim of the respondent is stated by his counsel as follows (we quote from the brief):

“ The respondent further says in his answer that under the statute relating to said office of commissioner of parks and boulevards of said city of Detroit, and to the parks and boulevards of said city, he submits he has the sole charge and management and control of said parks and boulevards and of the improvements and maintenance thereof, and he avers it was and is within his exclusive judgment and discretion, as to whether a permit should be issued for the construction of said driveway, and, in the exercise of such judgment and discretion, he refused to issue a permit therefor. This respondent respectfully submits that this court has no jurisdiction to control the exercise of the discretion of this respondent to command him as against his judgment in the premises to issue permits for the construction of driveways on said boulevard or determine when, how, or where said driveways shall be made, and he makes this submission as in the nature of a demurrer to said petition.”

One of the counsel for respondent says in his brief that:

“Almost this identical question here contended for was presented to this court in a case which is entitled Abrey v. Livingstone, 95 Mich. 181 (54 N. W. 714). The jurisdiction of the commissioner in that case and in this is similar, and the act there construed is the act here under consideration. Abrey desired to have ingress and egress from the land under the control of the park commissioners [251]*251to his land which abutted upon its holdings, and his right for that purpose was denied.”

An examination of that case will show that the act which was construed was not the one before us now, but was Act No. 891, Local Acts 1879. In disposing of the case, Justice Long, speaking for the court, said, in part, as follows:

“The complainants filed their bill in the Wayne circuit court in chancery, setting up that they are the owners of the lands adjacent to these strips, and have a frontage thereon. They procured their titles to these lands after Kanter and wife deeded the approach to the bridge to the city, and now claim that such approach is in its entire width a public street, through which they have the right of ingress and egress from their lands. It is claimed by the defendants that it is their intention to ornament these strips outside of the walks, and, to prevent encroachments thereon, to erect necessary fences or walls along the outer sides of the same. The complainants seek by their bill to enjoin the defendants from erecting and maintaining these fences or walls. Defendants claim that these pieces of land are not a part of the public highway, but that the city may devote them for the purposes of a park, and shut off the approaches from either side. Complainants’ bill was dismissed in the court below, and they appeal. It is contended by counsel for complainants that these parcels of land have always been regarded throughout their entire width by the common council and the board of public works as a street; that the strip of land from Jefferson avenue to the river was purchased for the purpose, and no other, of an approach to the bridge and a continuation or extension of the boulevard to the bridge. This piece of land was purchased by the city under the power granted by the above-named act.”

The court held, in that case, with the defendant, that the land had never been a highway and sustained the contention of the city. The boulevard was called into existence by virtue of Act No. 874, Local Acts 1879. When the boulevard was established, much of it, including the land now belonging to the relator, was in the country outside of the city limits. Section 10 of the act gave to the commissioners the following powers:

[252]*252“ To adopt plans, for constructing, laying out, improving, ornamenting and beautifying the said boulevard, and shall have a supervisory and superintending control of the execution of such plans. They shall also have a like control and management of the maintenance and care of the said boulevard, and shall have power to make all reasonable rules and regulations concerning the use of said boulevard, and for the protection of the same.”

Section 14 of the act reads:

“Whenever the said boulevard, or any part thereof, shall be opened, either by grant or conveyance, or by proceedings in invitum, the same shall, under such reasonable rules and regulations as shall be adopted by the said board of boulevard commissioners, be common and public, for the uses and purposes of such .boulevard.”

After the city limits were extended so as to take in the boulevard, legislation was had to meet the new conditions. The respondent is the successor of the previous commissioners. The act of 1879 was amended May 24,1895, and May 4,1901. By the act of 1895 (Act No. 436, Local Acts 1895), numerous detailed provisions were added further regulating or empowering the commissioners to regulate the use of the parks and boulevards. For example, prohibiting the bringing or the driving of animals, excepting horses, in the parks and boulevards; limiting the rate of speed, restraining the use of footpaths, grass plats, and other portions thereof, excepting upon carriage drives, by vehicles; preventing the obstruction of roadways, the injuring of property, the destruction of or interference with plants, trees, grass, etc. Heavy traffic was forbidden excepting where there was no alley in rear, and then only to the nearest cross street. Funeral and other processions were prohibited, as was also the playing of games and the speeding of horses, excepting at places designated by the commissioner. The act of 1901 (Act No. 417, Local Acts 1901) provided for a single commissioner of parks and boulevards in place of the board of commissioners and re-enacted many of the sections of the act of 1895, substituting “commissioner” in place of “commission[253]*253ers” or “board.” In its present form both of these acts contained the following (section 39, Act No. 436, Local Acts 1895; section 39, Act No. 417, Local Acts 1901):

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Bluebook (online)
128 N.W. 410, 163 Mich. 249, 1910 Mich. LEXIS 594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goodfellow-tire-co-v-commissioner-of-parks-boulevards-of-detroit-mich-1910.