Ragucci v. Metropolitan Development Commission

702 N.E.2d 677, 1998 Ind. LEXIS 598
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 2, 1998
Docket49S02-9805-CV-299
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 702 N.E.2d 677 (Ragucci v. Metropolitan Development Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ragucci v. Metropolitan Development Commission, 702 N.E.2d 677, 1998 Ind. LEXIS 598 (Ind. 1998).

Opinion

ON PETITION TO TRANSFER

BOEHM, Justice.

We granted transfer to consider the legal standards for evaluating changes in a legally established nonconforming use under a zoning ordinance. We hold that the interpretation of ordinances that restrict the expansion of nonconforming uses turns in the first instance on the specific language of the relevant ordinance, giving its words their plain, ordinary, and usual meaning. Each municipality is, subject to constitutional limitations, free to enact an ordinance that limits the expansion of nonconforming uses in the manner and to the degree that it deems appropriate.

Factual and Procedural Background

The Hatherleigh has been a multi-unit apartment building in Indianapolis for at least 80 years. In 1966 Marion County adopted a Dwelling Districts Zoning Ordinance (“DDZO”), 1 which permitted only a single- or two-family dwelling on the site of the Hatherleigh. The Hatherleigh thereby became a legally established nonconforming-use, subject to a separate DDZO provision prohibiting the conversion of nonconforming buildings.

At the time the DDZO was adopted, the Hatherleigh contained five units — four two-bedroom apartments and a terrace/basement apartment. Between 1969 and 1972 two of the two-bedroom apartments were converted into four one-bedroom apartments. In 1974 the previously uninhabited third floor attic of the Hatherleigh was transformed into one *679 three-bedroom apartment. From that time until today, the Hatherleigh has contained eight dwelling units.

Anthony Ragucci purchased the Hather-leigh in 1986. In 1994 the Metropolitan Development Commission of Marion County brought an action against Ragucci alleging that his building was in violation of the DDZO. Ragucci asserted a legally established nonconforming use and both Ragucci and the Commission moved for summary judgment. The trial court concluded that the creation of the additional apartments was a violation of the DDZO and granted the Commission’s motion. A divided Court of Appeals reversed and directed that summary judgment be entered in favor of Ragucci. Ragucci v. Metropolitan Dev. Comm’n, 685 N.E.2d 104 (Ind.Ct.App.1997). We granted transfer.

I. The Ordinance Violation

The ultimate purpose of zoning ordinances is to confine certain classes of uses and structures to designated areas. Berkey v. Kosciusko County Bd. of Zoning Appeals, 607 N.E.2d 730, 732 (Ind.Ct.App.1993). Because nonconforming uses by definition detract from the fulfillment of that purpose, zoning ordinances properly seek to restrain them. Id. In light of this important purpose, Indiana courts have refused to permit the expansion of or changes in nonconforming uses in a variety of factual situations. See, e.g., Stuckman v. Kosciusko County Bd. of Zoning Appeals, 506 N.E.2d 1079 (Ind.1987) (nonconforming automobile graveyard existing on lots E-K could not be expanded on to lots A-D); Berkey, 607 N.E.2d at 732 (nonconforming junkyard could not be expanded beyond the land being so used at the time the restrictive ordinance was adopted); Metropolitan Dev. Comm’n v. Goodman, 588 N.E.2d 1281 (Ind.Ct.App.1992) (nonconforming two-unit carriage house apartment building could not be expanded into three units); Taylor v. Metropolitan Dev. Comm’n, 436 N.E.2d 1157 (Ind.Ct.App.1982) (nonconforming use of building as a package liquor store did not authorize the change of its use to a tavern); Chizum v. Elkhart County Plan Comm’n, 147 Ind.App. 691, 263 N.E.2d 654 (1970) (poles and lights for night racing could not be erected at nonconforming daytime drag racing track); O’Banion v. State ex rel. Shively, 146 Ind.App. 223, 253 N.E.2d 739 (1969) (nonconforming sale of beer did not justify use of property for the sale of any other alcoholic beverage).

A. The legal standard for evaluating a nonconforming tise

The 1966 DDZO authorized and at the same time restricted nonconforming uses in the following provisions:

1. With the exception of legally established nonconforming uses, no land, building, structure, premises or part thereof shall be used or occupied except in conformity with these regulations and for uses permitted by this ordinance.
2. No building, structure, premises or part thereof shall be constructed, erected, converted, enlarged, extended, reconstructed, or relocated except in conformity with these regulations and for uses permitted by this ordinance.

MaRion County, Ind., Dwelling DISTRICTS Zoning ORDINANCE § 2.00(A) (1966).

Although quoting this language and acknowledging that the DDZO was “relevant to our analysis,” Ragucci, 685 N.E.2d at 105 n. 2, the Court of Appeals majority did not address the particular language of the DDZO. Rather, the majority took the view that the changes were permitted because “the alteration of the Hatherleigh to create additional apartments is most appropriately characterized as an intensification of the nonconforming use which does not have the effect of extinguishing it.” Id. at 106. 2

*680 The majority then adopted a list of four “[f]actors to be considered in determining whether a change in a nonconforming use is permissible”: (1) “[t]he time, space, and volume of the change;” (2) “[i]ts possible effect on the owners or occupants of neighboring properties;” (3) “[wjhether the alteration is in conformity with a police, building, or other regulation;” and (4) “[wjhether the nonconformity is in the character of the structure apart from the use, or in the character of the use apart from the structure.” Id. The court cited City of Beech Grove v. Schmith, 164 Ind.App. 536, 543, 329 N.E.2d 605, 610 (1975) as the source of these factors. However, the four factors were mentioned in Schmith merely as “certain key factors [that] are often referred to,” in evaluating the extent and character of permissible changes in nonconforming uses. Id. Schmith itself did not apply these factors in ruling on the proposed changes to the nonconforming building in that ease. Indeed, they have never before been adopted by an Indiana court as a test to guide courts considering the expansion of a nonconforming use. More importantly, the four factor test, if viewed as a general rule, imposes the same inquiry on all cases, despite very different wording adopted by different municipalities clearly reflecting different policies. For example, the first factor considers the “space” and “volume” of the change.

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Bluebook (online)
702 N.E.2d 677, 1998 Ind. LEXIS 598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ragucci-v-metropolitan-development-commission-ind-1998.