People ex rel. Huntley Dairy Co. v. Village of Oak Park

268 Ill. 256
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedApril 22, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 268 Ill. 256 (People ex rel. Huntley Dairy Co. v. Village of Oak Park) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People ex rel. Huntley Dairy Co. v. Village of Oak Park, 268 Ill. 256 (Ill. 1915).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Watson

delivered the opinion of the court:

A petition for a writ of mandamus was filed in the superior court of Cook county in behalf of the Huntley Dairy Company, the purpose being to require the corporate authorities of the village of Oak Park to issue a permit to the relator for the erection, at a certain location, of a building to be used for a milk distributing depot, with stable attached. The cause was heard in that court upon an amended petition, the answer thereto, the replication to the answer and the evidence adduced in behalf of the respective parties. The court found the issues for the relator and awarded the writ, requiring thereby the issuance of the permit within ten days from the date of the order. • Appeal was prayed and allowed, and the trial judge certified that in his opinion the public interest required the cause should be appealed directly to the Supreme Court, the validity of a municipal ordinance being involved.

The proceedings raise two questions for decision here, involving the sufficiency of the. relator’s application for a building permit and the validity of certain portions of the village ordinances pertaining to the subject of buildings.

According to the proofs the relator first applied on January 2, 1914, for a permit to erect its building for the purposes aforesaid at the corner of Madison street and Cuyler avenue, in Oak Park, after having asked for and obtained a copy of the ordinances relating to and regulating the erection of buildings. The application was not granted by the village authorities, a protest having been' filed by the school -board, objecting to the erection of the building at the place specified. Appellee contends that at the several meetings at which the subject was considered by the committee of the village trustees, the school board and appellee, an understanding was reached whereby appellee was led to believe that if it would construct its proposed building upon the site now in question, abandoning its intention to erect such building on the corner, the permit would be granted. Accordingly it purchased- for $5000 a site 64.8 feet west of the corner of Lombard avenue and Madison street, fronting south on Madison street and extending north to an alley in the middle of the block, and on March 5, 1914, made application for a permit to erect the building at the new location. The application states the building is to be a one-story brick building, 50 by 125 feet, but 100 feet wide at the alley line, with press brick on the front and common brick on the other three sides, to be used as an office, a milk distributing plant and a stable for the horses and wagons used in that business, and to cost $16,-boo. It was accompanied by the plans and specifications originally prepared for the corner building, showing the use of press brick on three sides and common brick on one side; also by a statement, called an agreement, wherein the appellee informs the president and trustees of the village that in case the permit shall be granted it will construct the building in a good, workmanlike manner and in accordance with the ordinances of the village “as now in force” and the statutes of the State of Illinois. The application was refused.

The ordinance of the village providing for building permits and specifying the conditions on which they may be issued consists of twenty-five sections. Those for our consideration may be summarized as follows: Section i prohibits the erection of any building without a permit from the board of trustees. Section 2 provides for application in writing, stating location, exterior dimensions, number of stories, estimated cost, purpose or use, and material for construction of the proposed building. This section also requires the applicant for a permit to file plans and specifications, which shall first have the approval of the commissioner of public works, and shall show such details of construction as are usually shown in building plans and specifications and as are specified in said section. Section 4 has been amended by the passage of another ordinance and is now in terms following:

“Sec. 4. No livery, boarding or sale stable, or other building to be used for any business purpose which may be obnoxious to a residence district, shall be erected or maintained in any block in the village of Oak Park in which one-third of the buildings thereon, or one-third of the buildings fronting on the same street in the block opposite thereto, are devoted exclusively to residence purposes, without the written consent of every property owner owning premises any part of which approaches within a radius of three hundred and fifty (350) feet of the proposed stable or building; and no gas house or gas reservoir shall be erected or maintained in any block in the village of Oak Park in which one-third of the buildings thereon, or one-third of the buildings in the block opposite thereto, are devoted exclusively to residence purposes, without the written consent of every property owner owning premises any part of which approaches within one thousand (1000) feet of the proposed gas house or gas reservoir.”

We are of the opinion the evidence shows the application of March 5, together with the original plans and specifications as modified by the terms of the application and with the so-called agreement as to the method of construetion, constitutes a substantial compliance with the provisions of sections i and 2 of the building ordinance. True, the plans did not have the approval of the commissioner of public works and appellee was mistaken or misinformed as to the person who was the incumbent of that office; nevertheless the commissioner is shown to have been present at the meetings of the committee of the trustees when the plans in question were under consideration and to have withheld his approval thereof. He is not a party to the suit nor does he need to be, for under section 1 of the ordinance it is the duty of the trustees to grant the permit when the application is in substantial accordance with the provisions of the ordinance, as we have above held the application under consideration to be, and the failure-of the commissioner to give his approval thereto will not relieve the trustees from performance of the duty imposed upon them.

The powers given by statute to the city council in cities and to the president and board of trustees in villages are enumerated in section 1 of article 5 of chapter 24, (Hurd’s Stat. 1913, p. 270,) and amongst them are the powers delegated in clauses or sub-sections 82 and 84 of section 1, which are as follows:

“Bighty-second—To direct the location and regulate the use and construction of breweries, distilleries, livery, boarding or sale stables, blacksmith shops, foundries, machine shops, garages, laundries, and bathing beaches, within the limits of the city or village.”

“Bighty-fourth—To compel the owner of any grocery, cellar, soap or tallow chandlery, tannery, stable, pig-sty, privy, sewer or other unwholesome or nauseous house 01-place, to cleanse, abate or remove the same, and to regulate the location thereof.”

In Merrill v. Town of Monticello, 138 U. S. 673

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Bluebook (online)
268 Ill. 256, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-huntley-dairy-co-v-village-of-oak-park-ill-1915.