Schwing v. City of Baton Rouge

249 So. 2d 304, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 6016
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 14, 1971
Docket8420
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 249 So. 2d 304 (Schwing v. City of Baton Rouge) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schwing v. City of Baton Rouge, 249 So. 2d 304, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 6016 (La. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

249 So.2d 304 (1971)

Charles E. SCHWING et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
CITY OF BATON ROUGE et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 8420.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

May 14, 1971.
Rehearing Denied June 30, 1971.

*306 Joseph F. Keogh, Parish Atty., John Caskey, Asst. Parish Atty., Baton Rouge, for defendants-appellants.

R. Gordon Kean, Jr., and John V. Parker, of Sanders, Miller, Downing & Kean, Carlos G. Spaht of Kantrow, Spaht, Weaver & Walter, Baton Rouge, for plaintiffs-appellees.

Before LOTTINGER, SARTAIN and TUCKER, JJ.

TUCKER, Judge.

This is a mandamus proceeding brought by the plaintiffs, Charles E. Schwing, E. B. Schwing, Jr., J. P. Owen, Jr., and James R. Smith, to compel the defendants, the City of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge, hereinafter referred to as City-Parish, their Planning Commission and the members thereof, to grant approval of a final plat and re-subdivision of certain property owned by the plaintiffs, and to compel the Building Official or Inspector of the said city and parish to grant a building permit for a building to be erected within the right of way of the proposed extension of South Choctaw Drive on the same property, which is described as follows:

Thirty-four (34) acres of commercial property identified as Tract "A" of the C. C. Bird property in Section 73, Township 7 South, Range 1 East in the Parish of East Baton Rouge; more particularly described as being bounded on the North by the right of way of the Illinois Central Railroad, on the East by Wooddale Boulevard, on the West by Lobdell Avenue, and on the South by a drainage servitude and by Tract "B" of the C. C. Bird property.

The above described property was bought by plaintiffs on September 29, 1967. At that time a master Street Plan for the City-Parish had previously been adopted and approved with proper public hearings and all due procedures as required by statute, but it had not been recorded in the Clerk of Court's office. This Master Plan showed by a line an 80' right of way for the extension of South Choctaw Road. There are no immediate plans for the construction of this street, and in fact a traffic survey made by Wilbur Smith and Assoc. indicates it probably will not be needed to handle the traffic of the City-Parish before 1985.

In 1969 plaintiffs undertook preliminary action toward the resubdivision of their property in order to sell it. Upon presentation of a preliminary plat the plaintiffs were informed by the Planning Commission that they must install a sanitary sewer collection line across the entire property in a drainage servitude reserved for it, which allegedly cost plaintiffs in excess of $19,000.00. After compliance with this request plaintiffs again submitted a plat, entitled "Final", to the Planning Commission for approval, but this commission refused to approve the plat, informing the plaintiffs that the northern portion of the tract lay across the proposed extension of South Choctaw Drive from Lobdell Avenue to Wooddale Boulevard, as set forth in the Master Street Plan, which required a dedication of an 80' right of way. The Planning Commission later reduced the 80" requirement for the right of way to 50', but the plaintiffs refused to make this dedication. Subsequently the plaintiffs requested the City and Parish Council to delete from the Master Street Plan this proposed extension of South Choctaw Drive between Lobdell Avenue and Wooddale Boulevard. The Council refused to make this deletion from the subject plan. Plaintiffs then offered to sell the strip of land to the City and Parish at the fair market value, and in the event of failure to agree on an acceptable sum to make use of arbitration, *307 but the City and Parish refused to negotiate.

Following this rebuff the plaintiffs proposed to erect a building on the northeastern portion of the tract, lying within the proposed right of way of South Choctaw Drive, and requested a building permit for same. The building inspector for the City-Parish refused to issue the permit, however, on the basis and for the reason that said permit, if granted, would violate the building setback requirements of Title 7, Chapter 3, Section 4.410(2) of the Zoning Ordinances of the City of Baton Rouge. The plaintiffs filed suit immediately against the defendants.

The plaintiffs contended that, inasmuch as the Master Street Plan was not filed in the Clerk of Court's Office, as required by R.S. 33:108, 33:109, until March 18, 1970, it could have no "legal status" until its filing, and, therefore, could not serve as authority for the Planning Commission's refusal to approve their "final" plat. They argued alternatively that the City's requirement that the strip of land be dedicated would amount to a confiscation of private property for public use contrary to the provisions of the V and XIV amendments to the Constitution of the United States and Section 1 of Article 2 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1921.

The City-Parish contended that the legislature had conferred upon it through LSA-R.S. 33:101-33.119 the power to sub-divide land, and that the said governing bodies had exercised the powers reasonably. The City-Parish also filed dilatory exceptions of Prematurity, based on the proposition that the plaintiffs had not exhausted all of their administrative remedies in advance of filing suit, Unauthorized Use of Summary Procedure on the ground that mandamus would not lie where legislative discretion was reposed in the council, and such discretion had not been exercised in an arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable manner, and a peremptory exception of No Cause or Right of Action, all on behalf of the Planning Commission and the building inspector. After arguments and hearing testimony thereon the trial court overruled all exceptions and proceeded to hear the merits of the case on the rule to show cause, rendering judgment ordering a writ of mandamus to issue to the Planning Commission to the City of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge directing it to carry out its ministerial duty of approving the last plat submitted for subdivision of the subject tract, and, also, against the building inspector ordering him to issue a building permit to the plaintiffs for the erection of the building within the northeastern portion of the property, as prayed for.

From this judgment the defendants appeal, specifying the following errors:

I. The Trial Court erred in finding that the dedication of right of way as required by the Subdivision Regulations would amount to an unconstitutional taking of property.
II. The Trial Court erred in not basing its judgment on R.S. 33:101-119 and on the local subdivision ordinances and regulations based on these statutes.
III. The Trial Court erred in issuing writs of mandamus, which constituted an improper use of summary procedure where both legislative and administrative discretion on the part of public officials was involved.
IV. The Trial Court erred in basing its judgment on a ruling that the road would not be required until 1985 when, in fact, the testimony concerning 1985 was based on the traffic count as set forth in the Wilbur Smith Transportation Study, and that immediate construction of the road could be waived because of the traffic count as determined by the Study.
V. In the alternative, the Trial Court erred in directing the Building Official to issue a permit, which permit is in violation of the setback requirements *308

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

Related

Opinion Number
Louisiana Attorney General Reports, 2003
Lordan v. Feld
3 Mass. L. Rptr. 435 (Massachusetts Superior Court, 1995)
Paradyne Corp. v. State, Dept. of Transp.
528 So. 2d 921 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1988)
Nollan v. California Coastal Commission
483 U.S. 825 (Supreme Court, 1987)
Howard County v. jjM, Inc.
482 A.2d 908 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1984)
Christopher Estates, Inc. v. PARISH, ETC.
413 So. 2d 1336 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1982)
McCloud v. Parish of Jefferson
383 So. 2d 477 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1980)
Ventures in Property I v. City of Wichita
594 P.2d 671 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1979)
Old Jefferson Civic Ass'n Inc. v. Planning Com'n
364 So. 2d 193 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1978)
Bode v. Parish of Jefferson
309 So. 2d 730 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1975)
Schwing v. City of Baton Rouge
252 So. 2d 667 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
249 So. 2d 304, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 6016, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schwing-v-city-of-baton-rouge-lactapp-1971.