Hillside Community Church, S.B.C. v. Olson

58 P.3d 1021, 2002 WL 31641893
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedNovember 25, 2002
Docket01SC808, 01SC878
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 58 P.3d 1021 (Hillside Community Church, S.B.C. v. Olson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hillside Community Church, S.B.C. v. Olson, 58 P.3d 1021, 2002 WL 31641893 (Colo. 2002).

Opinion

Justice RICE

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

In this combined proceeding, we granted certiorari to determine whether the requirement in the Golden Municipal Code (GMC) that a public hearing be held before a special use permit is issued affords neighboring landowners a property right in that procedure warranting the protection of Fourteenth Amendment due process guarantees. 1

The trial court held, and the court of appeals affirmed, that Respondents had a legitimate claim of entitlement to notice of, and participation in, a public hearing regarding a special use permit for Hillside Community Church’s building addition. They concluded that this entitlement was a property right warranting procedural due process protection. Accordingly, because no public hearing was held as required by the GMC, both courts held that Respondents’ due process rights were violated pursuant to their claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In addition, because 42 U.S.C. § 1988 provides for an award of attorney fees to the prevailing party in a § 1983 claim, the court of appeals affirmed the trial court’s grant of attorney fees to Respondents in a separate opinion.

We reverse. We hold that procedural guarantees stemming from state law or local ordinance do not create a constitutionally cognizable property interest. As such, they cannot be the basis of a meritorious § 1983 claim, and hence, the award of attorney fees to Respondents under § 1988 was improperly granted. We further conclude that Respondents had an adequate remedy for their claims under state law, and therefore no basis upon which to seek recourse under § 1983.

I. FACTS & PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This case arose from a dispute between the Hillside Community Church (Hillside) and Respondents Marian L. Olson and Ida M. Brueske, over the construction of an addition to the church. Respondents own and reside in homes adjacent to the church property in Golden, Colorado. In the spring of 1997, Hillside began construction activities on its property without investigating applicable planning and zoning requirements, and thus without obtaining a permit of any kind. Although Hillside belatedly obtained a “Foundation Only” permit in May of 1997, it subsequently exceeded the bounds of that permit by commencing construction on the addition itself. Petitioner, the City of Golden, eventually issued a building permit to Hillside in October of 1997.

In April of 1998, when the addition was substantially complete, Respondents asserted to the City of Golden that Hillside should have obtained a special use permit prior to construction, that the addition might be in violation of height limitations applicable to the R 1 zone district, and that other code provisions were being violated.

In May of 1998, the City Attorney for Golden agreed, determining that Hillside’s building permit had been improperly granted because the church addition constituted an extension of a non-conforming use in the R 1 zone district. Under the requirements of the GMC, the extension of a non-conforming use was precluded unless a special use permit had been obtained. The GMC further mandated that before a special use permit could be issued, a public hearing must be held and neighboring landowners given notice and an opportunity to participate. This had never occurred with regard to the church addition. Although acknowledging the mistake, the City Attorney did not require that a special *1024 use permit be obtained or a hearing held after the fact, because the addition was by then substantially complete. He also declined to revoke the building permit or require that the addition be modified or torn down, relying on the doctrine of relative hardship set forth in Hargreaves v. Skrbina, 662 P.2d 1078 (Colo.1983). In June, Hillside belatedly obtained a five-foot height variance. In November, the City issued a certificate of occupancy to Hillside for the addition.

In June of 1998, Respondents filed suit in the district court seeking injunctive relief and mandamus under C.R.C.P. 106(a)(2). They alleged six claims for relief, 2 among them a violation of their rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. That statute states, in pertinent part, that:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, ....

42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2000). Specifically, Respondents claimed that because Golden had issued a building permit to Hillside without granting them an opportunity to participate in the special use permit hearing as mandated by the GMC, Respondents had been deprived of a property interest in violation of their due process rights as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The trial court ordered the City to set aside the height variance, vacate the certificate of occupancy, hold a hearing as required by the GMC pursuant to the issuance of a special use permit, and only reissue a certificate of occupancy upon approval of the special use permit and compliance with all other provisions of the GMC. Provided that the special use permit was ultimately granted, however, and finding that Hillside had relied in good faith on the assurances of the City, the court declined to order the church addition altered or removed, citing the doctrine of relative hardship. Finally, the trial court held that Respondents had a “constitutionally protected property interest to see that local zoning and planning ordinances are followed, where non-compliance affects their property.” Olson v. Hillside Cmty. Church, No. 98CV1842, slip op. at 19 (Colo.Dist.Ct.1999). Having thus concluded that Respondents had prevailed in their claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the trial court ordered reasonable attorney fees awarded to them pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988.

The court of appeals affirmed Respondents’ § 1983 claim, but reversed on the relative hardship doctrine. The court concluded that Hillside had not, in fact, acted in good faith, and hence should not be afforded the positive presumption of that doctrine. It accordingly reversed the trial court’s ruling on that issue, and remanded to the trial court to require Hillside to modify the church addition to comply with existing GMC ordinances. 3

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Bluebook (online)
58 P.3d 1021, 2002 WL 31641893, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hillside-community-church-sbc-v-olson-colo-2002.