Lawton v. City of Austin

404 S.W.2d 648, 1966 Tex. App. LEXIS 2718
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 15, 1966
Docket11406
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 404 S.W.2d 648 (Lawton v. City of Austin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lawton v. City of Austin, 404 S.W.2d 648, 1966 Tex. App. LEXIS 2718 (Tex. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

HUGHES, Justice.

Earl L. Dolifka, J. E. Berryman and Leonard Lawton, appellants, by an amended pleading sued the City of Austin, Safeway Stores, Inc., Nash Phillips, Clyde Copus and R. B. Lewis for a declaratory judgment invalidating three ordinances passed by the City of Austin making changes in its zoning ordinances.

Trial was non-jury. Judgment was rendered declaring the ordinances attacked to be valid and denying appellants any relief, the Court reciting “that plaintiffs have failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the enactment of” the ordinances by the City “has had or will have any effect upon plaintiffs’ property.”

The three ordinances in suit amended existing zoning ordinances so as to change the areas described from a classification of residential “A” to commercial “G.R.” zoning.

Each of appellants owned residential property which, it was alleged, would suffer a diminution in value as a result of the enactment of one or more of such ordinances. On this issue the evidence was disputed and the trial judge made the finding, above noted, that no loss of value was proved. Appellants have no point questioning the validity of this finding. Their first point, however, is that the “Trial Court erred in holding (if it did so hold) that plaintiffs were under the burden of proving irreparable injury to their property as a resulting fact from the passage of the subject ordinances.”

We believe that a discussion of this point would be academic because it does not *650 present a point of error which could be determinative of this appeal.

The enactment of zoning laws is an exercise of the police powers of the State by the legislative branch of the government. The State of Texas has delegated some of this legislative authority to municipalities. Arts. 1011a — 1011j, Vernon’s Ann.Tex.Civ.St. The Legislature, of course, may put such restrictions on and provide the manner in which municipalities may exercise the delegation of this authority as it sees fit. See Smart v. Lloyd, Tex.Civ.App., 370 S.W.2d 245, Texarkana, n. w. h.

Our problem here is, as we see it, twofold, (1) to determine if the City has substantially tracked the statutes under which it derived authority to enact the ordinances in suit and (2) whether the notice provisions of Art. lOllf are constitutional.

The statute of primary concern here and the only one the partial validity of which is assailed is Art. lOllf which we quote, in part:

“Art. lOllf. Zoning commission
In order to avail itself of the powers conferred by this Act, such legislative body shall appoint a commission, to be known as the Zoning Commission, to recommend the boundaries of the various original districts and appropriate regulations to be enforced therein. Such Commission shall make a preliminary report and hold public hearings thereon before submitting its final report, and such legislative body shall not hold its public hearings or take action until it has received the final report of such Commission ; provided, however, that any city or town, by ordinance, may provide for the holding of any public hearing of the legislative body, after published notice required by Section 4 of this Act, jointly with any public hearing required to be held by the Zoning Commission, but such legislative body shall not take action until it has received the final report of such Zoning Commission. Where a City Plan Commission already exists, it may be appointed as the Zoning Commission. Written notice of all public hearings before the Zoning Commission on proposed changes in classification shall be sent to owners of real property lying within two hundred (200) feet of the property on which the change in classification is proposed, such notice to be given, not less than ten (10) days before the date set for hearing, to all such owners who have rendered their said property for city taxes as the ownership appears on the last approved city tax roll. Such notice may be served by depositing the same, properly addressed and postage paid, in the city post office.”

Sec. 4 referred to in the above statute, is Art. lOlld, which reads:

“Art. lOlld. Method of procedure
The legislative body of such municipality shall provide for the manner in which such regulations and restrictions and the boundaries of such districts shall be determined, established, and enforced, and from time to time amended, supplemented, or changed. However, no such regulation, restriction, or boundary shall become effective until after a public hearing in relation thereto, at which parties in interest and citizens shall have an opportunity to be heard. At least 15 days’ notice of the time and place of such hearing shall be published in an official paper, or a paper of general circulation, in such municipality.”

Art. lOlle, provides, in part, that, “The provisions of the previous section relative to public hearing and official notice shall apply equally to all changes or amendments.”

On the issue of constitutionality of the notice provisions of the above statutes, appellants cite authorities for the rule that notice to satisfy the requirements of due process must be “reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise *651 interested parties of the pendency of the action and afford them an opportunity to present their objections.”

We hold that the notice provisions of the statutes referred to above are valid for two reasons. The first reason is that the enactment and amendment of zoning laws is legislative in character and due process of law does not require notice of such proceedings. The second reason is that the notice provisions of these statutes are constitutionally adequate even if notice is required.

Our first reason is sustained by these authorities. 66 C.J.S. Notice § 14, p. 652, Burke v. Board of Representatives of Stamford, 148 Conn. 33, 166 A.2d 849, 16A C.J.S. Constitutional Law § 569(5), p. 580, n. 20. Among the cases cited in this note is Willapoint Oysters v. Ewing, 174 F.2d 676, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, cert. denied 338 U.S. 860, 70 S.Ct. 101, 94 L.Ed. 527, rehearing denied, where the Court stated, “However in legislation, or rule-making, there is no constitutional right to any hearing whatsoever.” Cited to support this holding was the following language from an opinion by Justice Holmes, “Where a rule of conduct applies to more than a few people, it is impracticable that everyone should have a direct voice in its adoption. The Constitution does not require all public acts to be done in town meeting or an assembly of the whole. General statutes within the state power are passed that affect the person or property of individuals, sometimes to the point of ruin, without giving them a chance to be heard. Their rights are protected in the only way that they can be in a complex society, by their power, immediate or remote, over, those who make the rule.”

In Lombardo v. City of Dallas, 124 Tex. 1, 73 S.W.2d 475

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Bluebook (online)
404 S.W.2d 648, 1966 Tex. App. LEXIS 2718, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lawton-v-city-of-austin-texapp-1966.