Matthews v. Board of Supervisors

203 Cal. App. 2d 800, 21 Cal. Rptr. 914, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 2427
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 21, 1962
DocketCiv. 64
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 203 Cal. App. 2d 800 (Matthews v. Board of Supervisors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matthews v. Board of Supervisors, 203 Cal. App. 2d 800, 21 Cal. Rptr. 914, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 2427 (Cal. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

STONE, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment denying a writ of mandate. Appellant Matthews is the congregation servant or presiding minister of the Modesto West Unit of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and appellant Woody is the Watchtower *802 Study Servant of the same organization. Appellant Woody, as trustee for Modesto West Unit of Jehovah’s Witnesses, acquired an interest in Lot 1, Block 10040 of Olympic Tract in the County of Stanislaus, which is zoned R-l-residential. He filed an application for a use permit to build a church on the property and, after a hearing, the planning commission denied the application for a variance to construct a church in the area. The planning commission gave as reasons for its denial :

" (1) The site is inadequate and less than that considered needed for a minimum church use, as well as possible future expansion needs.
" (2) The site is within a self-contained residential subdivision, which would introduce foreign traffic to the detriment of the peace of the inhabitants. That the church would be better located if access was over a major thoroughfare, rather than a neighborhood street. ’ ’

Appellants Matthews and Woody, following the procedure provided by the ordinance, appealed the denial to the board of supervisors. After a hearing de novo, at which appellants and respondent presented evidence, the board of supervisors upheld the planning commission and denied the application for a variance or use permit. Appellants then sought a writ of mandate in the superior court to compel the Board of Supervisors of the County of Stanislaus to issue the permit. The court issued an alternative writ, and after a hearing entered a judgment by which the alternative writ of mandate was vacated, and the petition for writ of mandate was denied. This appeal followed.

The pertinent sections of the zoning ordinance with which we are concerned, read as follows:

"Section 12.0 Regulations for single family residential or ‘R-l’ districts.
"12.1 The following regulations shall apply in all ‘R-l’ Districts and shall be subject to the provisions of Section 20 of this ordinance.
“12.11 Uses Permitted: (a) single family dwellings,
(b) accessory uses and buildings normally incidental to single family residences.”
"Section 20.0 General Provisions
"20.1 The regulations specified in this ordinance shall be subject to the following general provisions and exceptions:
"20.11 Uses: ...(e) Churches, . . . may be permitted in any ‘R’ district providing a use permit shall first be obtained in each ease.”
*803 “Section 22.0 Permits and Variances
“22.1 Zoning Permits. . . . 22.24 Action by Board of Adjustment : (a) In order to grant any use permit, the findings of the Board of Adjustment shall be that the establishment, maintenance or operation of the use or building applied for will not, under the circumstances of the particular case, be detrimental to the health, safety, peace, morals, comfort and general welfare of persons residing or working in the neighborhood of such proposed use or be detrimental or injurious to property and improvements in the neighborhood or to the general welfare of the County.”

Appellants question the constitutionality of the regulation of church construction in a residential area, upon the ground the zoning ordinance restricts freedom of religious worship. The constitutionality of this kind of zoning ordinance is so well settled that we need only cite cases deciding the issue in California. The decisions in Corporation Presiding Bishop, etc. Latter Day Saints v. City of Porterville, 90 Cal.App.2d 656, 660 [203 P.2d 823] ; Minney v. City of Azusa, 164 Cal.App.2d 12, 18 [330 P.2d 255]; and Tustin Heights Assn. v. Board of Supervisors, 170 Cal.App.2d 619, 630 [339 P.2d 914], have settled beyond cavil that zoning laws as such do not abridge the constitutional rights to freedom of religious worship.

Nor is the section of the ordinance governing the issuance of use permits unconstitutional because there are no fixed standards and specifications governing a variance. The provision under attack is 22.24, supra. By its very nature a variance is an exception to the fixed standards of a basic and specific zoning ordinance. Therefore the variance provisions need contain no detailed, rigid standards, and necessarily must vest a broad discretion in the planning commission and the appeals board. The questioned constitutionality of a similar ordinance was thoroughly discussed in Tustin Heights Assn. v. Board of Supervisors, supra, at pages 633, 634 and 635. Rather than burden this opinion with a lengthy quotation from Tustin, we simply refer to the foregoing citation and hold that for the reasons stated therein the variance permit provisions of the zoning ordinance before us are not unconstitutional by reason of vagueness or uncertainty. (See also Garden Grove Congregation v. City of Garden Grove, 176 Cal.App.2d 136, 140 [1 Cal.Rptr. 65]; City & County of San Francisco v. Superior Court, 53 Cal.2d 236, 251 [1 Cal.Rptr. 158, 347 P.2d 294].)

*804 Appellants next argue that the planning commission and the board o£ supervisors discriminated against appellants by applying the ordinance in an unconstitutional manner. This argument rests upon the fact that there are two churches in the same restricted zone, the implication being that the planning commission and the board of supervisors issued use permits to the other churches and therefore discriminated against appellants. We are bound by the record before us, and nothing therein indicates that the two churches were granted use permits under circumstances similar to those presented here. The evidence cited by appellants on this issue consists of conclusions and unsupported statements. The vice of an argument referring to prior events without presenting evidence of the circumstances of those events is disclosed by the answering brief of county counsel that "these two churches were constructed in the Olympic Tract long prior to the enactment of the Stanislaus County Zoning Ordinance, ...”

Finally, appellants argue that the case of Redwood City Co. of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Inc. v. City of Menlo Park, 167 Cal.App.2d 686 [

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Lucas Valley Homeowners Assn. v. County of Marin
233 Cal. App. 3d 130 (California Court of Appeal, 1991)
Griffin Development Co. v. City of Oxnard
703 P.2d 339 (California Supreme Court, 1985)
City of Imperial Beach v. Escott
115 Cal. App. 3d 134 (California Court of Appeal, 1981)
Garavatti v. Fairfax Planning Commission
22 Cal. App. 3d 145 (California Court of Appeal, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
203 Cal. App. 2d 800, 21 Cal. Rptr. 914, 1962 Cal. App. LEXIS 2427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matthews-v-board-of-supervisors-calctapp-1962.