Heidrich v. City of Lee's Summit

26 S.W.3d 179, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 384, 2000 WL 690156
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 31, 2000
DocketNos. WD 56869, WD 56900
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 26 S.W.3d 179 (Heidrich v. City of Lee's Summit) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Heidrich v. City of Lee's Summit, 26 S.W.3d 179, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 384, 2000 WL 690156 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

PAUL M. SPINDEN, Presiding Judge.

When the city council of Lee’s Summit approved Community Bank of Pettis County’s plan to erect a bank building at 1800 S.E. Blue Parkway, Pierre Heidrich and Maria Long asked the circuit court to declare that the plan did not conform to the city’s comprehensive zoning ordinance and to enjoin erection of the bank building. They also averred that the ordinance approving the building’s erection was void because it was arbitrary, unreasonable, not fairly debatable, illegal and unconstitutional, and they asked the circuit court to enjoin the city council from passing any zoning ordinances affecting the property and from issuing permits to construct the bank according to the plans submitted to the city. The circuit court disagreed with Heidrich’s and Long’s contentions and entered judgment for Lee’s Summit and the bank. Heidrich and Long appeal.

We issued an opinion on March 21, 2000, affirming the circuit court’s judgment. We granted Heidrich’s and Long’s motion for rehearing filed on April 5, 2000, to reconsider the issue of whether the city presented substantial evidence that the bank’s site plans met the requirements of the city’s comprehensive zoning ordinance, No. 715. After reconsideration, we again affirm the circuit court’s judgment.

Heidrich and Long have been feuding with governing authorities in Lee’s Summit for some time about the development of 138 acres of land which extends 1.25 miles north of U.S. 50 and is bounded on the west by Todd George Road. See Heidrich v. City of Lee’s Summit, 916 S.W.2d 242 (Mo.App.1995). In 1978, Jackson County authorities zoned the land for “unplanned,” commercial use. Lee’s Summit annexed the land and, on April 7, 1992, rezoned it as a planned business district (C-P), and it became known as Charleston Park. Heidrich and Long sued Lee’s Summit in 1992, challenging this rezoning. The circuit court upheld the rezoning. On appeal, this court upheld rezoning Phases II and III of Charleston Park but invali[183]*183dated rezoning Phases IV and V.1 Id.

On December 11, 1996, Community Bank obtained 1.74 acres of Charleston Park’s Phase II. Preliminary development plans for Phase II indicated that it would be developed as a “strip shopping center” with seven pads comprising 293,000 square feet of structures and a parking lot for 1604 vehicles. The original plans did not provide for a building on the land purchased by Community Bank.

Across Todd George Road to the west of the tract is Silkwood Estates, a single-family residential subdivision. Long is Silkwood Estates’ developer, and she owns a house in the subdivision which she uses as a model house and office. Heidrieh owns a house and resides in the subdivision.

In September 1996, Community Bank applied for a special use permit to allow erection of a temporary structure on the property. City officials advised Charleston Park’s owner, Tarquad, Inc., that Tar-quad would have to file a revised preliminary site plan for Phase II. On October 10, 1996, Tarquad filed a revised preliminary site plan. The city’s planning staff recommended that the city council deny a special use permit for the temporary building, and Community Bank and Tarquad withdrew their applications and the revised preliminary development plan for Phase II.

On March 10, 1997, Community Bank filed a final site plan for a building to house a full-service bank with four drive-up windows and an automated teller machine. The total site area was 1.742 acres. The site plan showed an 80-foot buffer between the proposed bank building and Todd George Road.

The city’s planning commission scheduled a hearing on the plan for April 14, 1997. Before the hearing, however, city officials decided that the bank’s final site plan changed Phase II’s “ownership pattern or stages of construction [and would] lead to a different development concept.” City officials told Community Bank that it would have to file a revised preliminary development plan. On March 20, 1997, the bank filed its application for revised preliminary site plan approval. Section 170.B.5 of the city’s comprehensive zoning ordinance provides that approval of a preliminary development plan, when granted separately from the rezoning of the subject property, must be done by amendment to the tract’s original rezoning and only after a public hearing. The city, therefore, scheduled a public hearing for May 12, 1997.

On May 12, 1997, the city’s planning commission held a public hearing. After the hearing, the commission unanimously recommended approval of the bank’s preliminary site application. On June 3,1997, the city council held a public hearing on the bank’s application. After the hearing, the council passed a motion to approve the bank’s preliminary site plan application. Thereafter, the council adopted an ordinance amending Charleston Park’s original rezoning ordinance and approved the bank’s final site plan application.

Heidrieh and Long then filed their petition for declaratory judgment and injunction. The circuit court found that the bank’s preliminary site plan application and the final site plan application reasonably conformed to the requirements of the city’s comprehensive zoning ordinance and that the city council’s decision to amend Charleston Park’s rezoning ordinance to permit the bank building was not arbitrary and unreasonable. Heidrieh and Long appeal.

In response to Heidrich’s and Long’s appeal, the bank asserts a cross-claim. It contends that the circuit court erred in not dismissing Heidrich’s and Long’s claim as moot. It argues:

[184]*184[T]he only relief prayed for by [Heidrieh and Long] was injunctive relief prohibiting the issuance of building or occupancy permits ... which is now moot because all permits have been granted and the building has been built. Even if this Court determined that the [Lee’s Summit] ordinance ... is unconstitutional or otherwise void, that relief would have no effect upon [the bank], A ruling of this Court determining that the [Lee’s Summit] ordinances ... are unconstitutional or void or that [Lee’s Summit] approval of the [bank] was unauthorized, has no practical effect upon the real controversy which is [Heidrich’s and Long’s] objection to the construction and occupancy of the [bank].

Heidrieh and Long, however, also sought the circuit court’s declaration that the bank’s preliminary and final site plans did not comply with the city’s comprehensive rezoning ordinance. Even if construction is complete, we must determine whether zoning ordinances were violated and order the appropriate remedy. This court has the authority to order removal of the building if we determine that it was erected in violation of a zoning ordinance. See 4 ROBERT M. ÁNDERSON, AMERICAN LAW OF Zoning § 29.03 (1986); Donald G. Hagman and Julian Conrad Juergensmeyer, Urban PLANNING AND LAND DEVELOPMENT CONTROL Law § 23.6 (2 nd ed.1986); 4 Arden H. RathKopf and Daken A. RathKopf, Rath-kopf’s The Law of Zoning and Planning § 45.04 (Edward H. Ziegler, Jr., reviser, 1999). This case is not moot.

In reviewing Heidrich’s and Long’s appeal, we are guided by the same standard of review as was announced in Heidrich’s and Long’s previous appeal:

[T]he exercise of zoning power is a legislative rather than a quasi-judicial function....

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Bluebook (online)
26 S.W.3d 179, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 384, 2000 WL 690156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heidrich-v-city-of-lees-summit-moctapp-2000.