Save the Welwood Murray Memorial Library Committee v. City Council

215 Cal. App. 3d 1003, 264 Cal. Rptr. 896, 1989 Cal. App. LEXIS 1192
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 16, 1989
DocketE005844
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 215 Cal. App. 3d 1003 (Save the Welwood Murray Memorial Library Committee v. City Council) 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
Save the Welwood Murray Memorial Library Committee v. City Council, 215 Cal. App. 3d 1003, 264 Cal. Rptr. 896, 1989 Cal. App. LEXIS 1192 (Cal. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

*1006 Opinion

McDANIEL, J.

The City Council of the City of Palm Springs, together with the City of Palm Springs (collectively referred to as City), has appealed from a judgment directing that a writ of mandate issue to compel City to vacate and set aside the second amended participation agreement (the Second Agreement) between City and Wessman Development Company (the developer). Such judgment declared that City could not take certain actions related to City-owned real property on which a public library is located, and it further enjoined City and its agents and employees from undertaking such actions in the future.

Facts

The City of Palm Springs owns certain real property within its corporate limits on the southeast comer of Tahquitz Way and South Palm Canyon Drive. This property, which will be referred to as “the Library Property,” is the site of the Welwood Murray Memorial Library.

The Library Property was acquired by City by two grant deeds. The first deed, executed in 1938 by George Welwood Murray and May D. Murray, provided in relevant part that: “Now this conveyance is made upon the express agreements and conditions herein contained:

“(1) The Grantee agrees that if this conveyance is made it will, either directly or through the Palm Springs Library Association, continue and forever maintain the Palm Springs Free Public Library above mentioned in and on buildings which are now or may be hereafter placed on the property hereby conveyed and will to that end itself expend, or in the alternative furnish for expenditure by said Library Association, the sum of at least Two Thousand dollars in each year beginning with the year 1940, and that until the year 1940 at least Two Thousand dollars each year will be expended for the maintenance of said Library by said Library Association, or said City of Palm Springs.
“(2) That the buildings [sz'c] or buildings upon the said plot of land hereby conveyed and the Library thereon contained shall forever be designated and known as the ‘Welwood Murray Memorial Library’ and shall bear a clearly legible inscription upon a bronze tablet or otherwise to that effect.
“In case any agreement or condition of this deed shall be violated or shall fail to be observed and fulfilled by the Grantee and the same shall continue *1007 in default for the space of three months, this deed and the conveyance thereby made shall be void and of no effect and all title to the property and rights hereby conveyed shall instantly revert to the Grantor, George Welwood Murray, his heirs and assigns.”

Thereafter, the question of the acceptance of this deed and the execution of an agreement by City to facilitate the carrying out of the deed’s conditions was submitted to, and approved by, the qualified electors of City.

The second deed, executed in 1940 by Cornelia B. White, provided, in relevant part: “This conveyance is made upon the condition that the said City of Palm Springs either directly or through the Palm Springs Library Association, establish within two years from and after the date herein, a free public library in buildings to be erected upon that certain real property situate at the Southeast comer of Palm Canyon Drive and Tahquitz Drive, measuring 80 feet North and South by 100 feet East and West, of which the parcel herein granted is a part. In case the said condition of this deed is breached by the City of Palm Springs, and such breach continue for a continuous period of ninety days, then the conveyance hereby made shall be and become void and of no effect, and all title to the property and rights herein described, shall instantly revert to the grantor, her heirs or assigns.”

Thereafter, a building for use as a public library was constmcted on the Library Property, and that building continues to exist to this day as a public library.

In December 1986, City and its redevelopment agency entered into an agreement with the developer, which agreement will be referred to as the Amended and Restated Participation Agreement. The Amended and Restated Participation Agreement provided that the developer was to purchase the Library Property from City and make it part of the commercial development surrounding the Library Property, which commercial development the developer was to rehabilitate as part of a plan of redevelopment. Under this agreement, the famous (at least locally) restaurant, Louise’s Pantry, was to be relocated “to the library,” thereby providing a larger opening in front of the Plaza Theatre, which was ultimately to be remodeled as a shopping arcade.

Thereafter, the Save the Welwood Murray Memorial Library Committee, a nonprofit unincorporated association formed for a self-explanatory purpose (the Committee), filed a petition for a writ of mandate (case No. 51176) to prevent the sale of the Library Property to the developer. A hearing on this petition was scheduled for October 2, 1987.

*1008 On September 8, 1987, the city council adopted enabling legislation related to the conveyance of the Library Property in accordance with the Amended and Restated Participation Agreement. The Committee promptly began collecting signatures on referendum petitions to require the enabling legislation be put to a vote of the electors. Under Election Code sections relating to referenda, the Committee had 30 days within which to gather the necessary signatures, or until October 8, 1987, six days after the scheduled hearing on its petition for a writ of mandate.

Because City had taken the position that the enabling legislation is not subject to referendum, the Committee feared that City would contend that it would be free to sell the Library Property if it were successful at the October 2, 1987, hearing, even though the 30-day period for collecting signatures had not yet expired. The Committee therefore filed a second action (case No. 51525, referred to hereafter as the second action) in which it sought a temporary restraining order against the sale, based upon authorities related to referenda and on the fact that it believed the matter to be subject to referendum and that the sale should be restrained until the referendum process had been completed.

On September 29, 1987, the trial court in the second action issued a temporary restraining order enjoining the sale of the Library Property until the referendum process could be completed. Thereafter, the city council repealed the enabling legislation when it became apparent that the referendum petitions had been signed by enough voters to require an election.

In due course, a hearing was held on the petition for a writ of mandate, and the trial court took the matter under submission. The Committee then filed a motion in both actions seeking attorneys’ fees under the private attorney general doctrine pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5.

While the trial court still had the petition under submission, the Committee learned that City had entered into a “Second

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

County of Solano v. Handlery
66 Cal. Rptr. 3d 201 (California Court of Appeal, 2007)
City of Palm Springs v. Living Desert Reserve
82 Cal. Rptr. 2d 859 (California Court of Appeal, 1999)
Choice-In-Education League v. Los Angeles Unified School District
17 Cal. App. 4th 415 (California Court of Appeal, 1993)
Walton v. City of Red Bluff
2 Cal. App. 4th 117 (California Court of Appeal, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
215 Cal. App. 3d 1003, 264 Cal. Rptr. 896, 1989 Cal. App. LEXIS 1192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/save-the-welwood-murray-memorial-library-committee-v-city-council-calctapp-1989.