Jenkins v. St. Tammany Parish Police Jury

716 So. 2d 897, 96 La.App. 1 Cir. 2255, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 1490, 1998 WL 322217
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 22, 1998
DocketNo. 96 CA 2255
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 716 So. 2d 897 (Jenkins v. St. Tammany Parish Police Jury) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jenkins v. St. Tammany Parish Police Jury, 716 So. 2d 897, 96 La.App. 1 Cir. 2255, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 1490, 1998 WL 322217 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinions

LWHIPPLE, Judge.

In this appeal, plaintiff, C.H. Jenkins, challenges a zoning decision denying a request for a conditional use permit to construct a family cemetery. For the following reasons, we reverse.

[898]*898FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On June 15, 1995, plaintiff submitted a conditional use permit application to the St. Tammany Parish Police Jury, requesting permission to construct a-one-acre family cemetery on his property. Plaintiff owns 145 acres of woodland property situated along Louisiana Highway 40. The property is divided by a road into two tracts measuring approximately ninety and fifty acres each.

Plaintiff requested permission to construct the family cemetery on the ninety acre section off Highway 40. The property is zoned R-Rural. The application was advertised, and a hearing was held before the St. Tammany Parish Zoning Commission on August 1, 1995. The record reflects that Mr. E.J. Landry and Mr. Hezzie Parker, who reside near the proposed cemetery, appeared at the hearing to voice their opposition to the location of the proposed cemetery. Mr. Landry complained that the proposed location was 1,000 feet from his house. Mr. Parker added that his property was surrounded by cemeteries. The record" reflects that there are five cemeteries in the immediate vicinity of the proposed cemetery.

The Commission proposed that plaintiff relocate the cemetery to the fifty acre tract off of a secondary road on that property. Plaintiff was not willing to consider any other location. He testified that the site selected was the highest on his property and that he wanted his family cemetery located on a hill.

The Commission voted to recommend the denial of the conditional use permit application, citing the number of cemeteries in the area and plaintiffs refusal to compromise on the location of his family cemetery. Plaintiff appealed to |3the St. Tammany Parish Police Jury, which concurred in the recommendation of the Commission and denied the permit.

Plaintiff challenged the permit denial in the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court, seeking a writ of mandamus ordering the Police Jury to grant approval of the conditional use permit. He alleged that § 3.02 of the St. Tammany Parish Zoning Regulations, which provides for conditional use permits, is unconstitutional. He further alleged that there was insufficient evidence to support the denial of his permit application.

After the presentation of the evidence, the trial court, in written reasons for judgment, found no constitutional infirmity in the challenged ordinance. The trial court also ruled that plaintiff had failed to establish that the Police Jury’s decision was arbitrary, unreasonable or discriminatory. Thus, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of the Police Jury, dismissing plaintiffs claim with prejudice.

From this judgment, plaintiff appeals, again asserting the unconstitutionality of the zoning ordinance. In addition, plaintiff contends that the trial court applied the wrong-standard of review in assessing the propriety of the zoning decision.

DISCUSSION

Regarding plaintiffs first contention, we agree that the trial court erred in failing to find the ordinance in question unconstitutional. Plaintiff challenges § 3.02 of the St. Tammany Parish Land Use Regulation Zoning Ordinance No. 523. This section of the ordinance lists conditions and general standards relative to conditional use permits. Through this ordinance, plaintiff attempted to obtain a special use permit for a one-acre family cemetery on his land. Plaintiff contends that this section of the ordinance fails to contain sufficient objective criteria to govern the decision-making process in whether to grant or deny a permit and fails to establish adequate standards for uniform treatment of permit applications, resulting in “unbridled and uncontrolled discretion left to the Zoning Commission.” LThus, he contends that absent objective and meaningful criteria to be considered by the Zoning Commission, this section of the ordinance is unconstitutional. Plaintiff further contends that even if the ordinance is constitutional on its face, the permit process, in practice, is constitutionally infirm, as the Zoning Commission has adopted a practice whereby any objection by a citizen to an application will result in denial. Thus, as applied herein, the ordinance is unconstitutional.

[899]*899The authority to enact zoning regulations flows from the police power of governmental bodies and is valid if it bears a rational relation to the health, safety and welfare of the public. Four States Realty Co., Inc. v. City of Baton Rouge, 309 So.2d 659, 672 (La.1974) (on rehearing). Zoning ordinances are presumed to be valid, and the party attacking the ordinance bears the burden of proving that it is unconstitutional. Morton v. Jefferson Parish Council, 419 So.2d 431, 434 (La.1982). Special use classifications are entitled to the same standard of review as other zoning enactments. Morton, 419 So.2d at 434.

However, a zoning ordinance which contains no standard for the uniform exercise of the power to grant or deny applications for permits is unconstitutional. Morton, 419 So.2d at 434. To be constitutional, a zoning ordinance (1) must be sufficiently definite to notify citizens of their rights pursuant to the ordinance and (2) must establish adequate standards to govern officials with respect to the uniform treatment of applications for permits under the ordinance. Morton, 419 So.2d at 434.

Section 2.0103 of the ordinance in question provides for various “conditional uses.” The section states that conditional uses may only be granted when application for the use is made and such use is “favorably approved” by the Zoning Commission. One of the conditional uses listed in this section is non-profit/family cemeteries. § 2.0108(1).

15The ordinance at issue lists four conditions pertaining to conditional uses in Section 3.0201(B), as follows:

1. All regulations of the district in which a conditional use is located shall apply to such uses, except where specific differences in requirements of any section of these regulations apply, or where requirements are specifically amended by the conditions under which the conditional use is granted.
2. The Zoning Commission may attach such conditions to the conditional use as are necessary to assure continuous conformance to all applicable standards and requirements.
3. Failure to observe the conditions of the Commission, imposed pursuant to the issuance of the conditional use, shall be deemed to be a violation of these regulations and may be grounds for revocation of the conditional use.
4. The Zoning Commission may approve uses subject to the regulations, and to any additional requirements imposed in the public interest to covér circumstances unique to the selected site including a drainage analysis of the site by an independent engineering firm.

Subsection (C) of Section 3.0201 lists seven general standards pertaining to conditional uses. These provide as follows:

1.

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Related

Jenkins v. St. Tammany Parish Police Jury
736 So. 2d 1287 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1999)

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716 So. 2d 897, 96 La.App. 1 Cir. 2255, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 1490, 1998 WL 322217, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jenkins-v-st-tammany-parish-police-jury-lactapp-1998.