South Hill Neighborhood Association v. Romney

421 F.2d 454
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 6, 1970
Docket19995_1
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 421 F.2d 454 (South Hill Neighborhood Association v. Romney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
South Hill Neighborhood Association v. Romney, 421 F.2d 454 (6th Cir. 1970).

Opinion

421 F.2d 454

SOUTH HILL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION, Inc., a nonprofit
incorporated association of the Commonwealth of Kentucky;
the Bluegrass Trust for Historic Preservation, Inc., a
nonprofit incorporated association of the Commonwealth of
Kentucky; Curtis Harrison; Mrs. Stathis Kafoglis; Mr. & Mrs.
W. T. Dennis; on behalf of themselves and all other United
States or Kentucky citizens, taxpayers, property owners, or
historic preservation groups and persons similarly situated,
Appellants,
v.
George ROMNEY, Secretary of the United States Department of
Housing and UrbanDevelopment, et al., Appellees.

No. 19995.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

Nov. 24, 1969, Certiorari Denied April 6, 1970, See 90 S.Ct.
1261.

Eugene F. Mooney, Jr., Lexington, Ky., for appellants on motion for injunction.

J. Montjoy Trimble, C. Thomas Greene, Kincaid, Wilson, Schaeffer, Trimble & Hembree, Lexington, Ky., for appellees.

Urban Renewal and Community Development Agency of the City of Lexington, A Municipal Corporation, Robert E. Featherston, William R. Embry, Byron Romanowitz, D. C. Noble, H. J. Hagler, Jennie Bryant, The City of Lexington, A. Municipal Corporation, Charles Wylie, Mayor, The Board of City Commissioners, on motion for order denying injunctive relief.

A. Gene Oliver, Strother, Oliver & Strother, A. B. Rouse, Jr., Fowler, Rouse, Measle & Bell, Richard Smith, Acting City Manager and Corp. Counsel, George Cline, U.S. Atty., Lexington, Ky., for appellees.

Before PHILLIPS, Chief Judge, and PECK and COMBS, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

The subject matter of this action, which has come on for consideration by this panel at the direction of the Chief Judge, has been the core of a controversy which has seen the parties at odds in both administrative and judicial proceedings. The latter have included an action in the courts of the Commonwealth of Kentucky with review by its Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, with negative results to the plaintiffs, and an action with a similar conclusion in the District Court, from which the present appeal was perfected.

The ultimate aim of the plaintiffs is the protection from demolition of fourteen buildings, claimed to be of historic significance, which stand in an area designated for improvement under the Urban Renewal Plan of the City of Lexington, Kentucky, all as appearing in detail in the documents before us, as will be later herein commented upon.

The matter is before this Court for consideration of certain motions, the first of which is the plaintiffs-appellants' Motion for Injunction Pending Appeal. Subsequent motions include defendants-appellees' Motion to Require Plaintiffs to File Bond, which will not herein be considered for reasons which will be later apparent, and the motion of certain appellees for an order denying injunctive relief pending appeal. We choose to and will consider the latter motion as a motion to affirm the judgment of the District Court and as having been filed under the provisions of Rule 8(b) of the Rules of this Court.1 The propriety of such consideration as well as the fact that appellants have been apprised of such nature of the motion will readily appear from Branch (2) of the motion and from the conclusion of the memorandum in support thereof wherein 'it is respectfully concluded that this court should deny the injunctive relief requested by the Appellants and affirm the Order of the District Court * * *.' Responsive to our requests, counsel have with expedition and obvious diligence favored us with exhaustive briefs which have been most helpful in acquainting the Court with the facts and offering citations to applicable legal principles. Without implying criticism but rather to illustrate the breadth of the factual presentation before us, we observe that the briefs, perhaps particularly those of the appellants, go occasionally outside the record, and offer averments not otherwise evidenced. To the extent that they are germane to our consideration, however, all uncontroverted representations have been taken into account.

We thus note the contention of the appellees in the motion we consider as one to affirm to the effect that 'unless this appeal is fully and finally disposed of prior to November 28, 1969, the Urban Renewal Plan of the City of Lexington, Kentucky, will be placed in grave jeopardy and probably destroyed.'

$1, 2$ The Order from which this appeal was perfected was entered by Judge Mac Swinford in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and was accompanied by an exhaustive Memorandum. Rather than restate, paraphrase or extensively quote from that Memorandum, due to the exigencies of time urged upon us by all parties, we attach Judge Swinford's Memorandum hereto as Appendix A. In addition to the authorities cited in that memorandum, reference is made to this Court's opinion in Moist v. Belk, 380 F.2d 721, cert. denied, 389 U.S. 960, 88 S.Ct. 338, 19 L.Ed.2d 369 (1967). It is here determined that the District Court properly dissolved the Temporary Restraining Order previously entered by it, overruled the plaintiffs' Motion for a Temporary Injunction and sustained the defendants' Motion to Dismiss and dismissed the complaint as amended, and it is further here determined that it is manifest that the questions on which the decision of the cause depends are so unsubstantial as not to need further argument, and that therefore the motion to affirm is well taken and should be sustained.

The judgment of the District Court is affirmed.

APPENDIX A

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY LEXINGTON

NO. 2080

SOUTH HILL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION, INC., ET AL PLAINTIFFS v. GEORGE ROMNEY, ET AL DEFENDANTS

MEMORANDUM

Filed 11-14-69

Plaintiffs in this action allege that George Romney, Secretary of United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, failed to notify the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation of the proposed demolition of buildings registered pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act. 16 U.S.C. 470.

This case is before the court on plaintiffs' motion for a temporary injunction and defendants' motions to dismiss the complaint. A full disclosure and discussion of the parties and facts which led to this controversy are imperative to a ruling on these motions.

The parties to this action include: Plaintiffs (1) South Hill Neighborhood Association, Inc. (South Hill), a non-profit Kentucky corporation having as one of its purposes the preservation of historical buildings; (2) The Bluegrass Trust for Historic Preservation, Inc.

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