State ex rel. Shemo v. Mayfield Hts.

2002 Ohio 1627, 95 Ohio St. 3d 59
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedApril 10, 2002
Docket2001-1325
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 2002 Ohio 1627 (State ex rel. Shemo v. Mayfield Hts.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Shemo v. Mayfield Hts., 2002 Ohio 1627, 95 Ohio St. 3d 59 (Ohio 2002).

Opinion

[This decision has been published in Ohio Official Reports at 95 Ohio St.3d 59.]

THE STATE EX REL. SHEMO ET AL. v. CITY OF MAYFIELD HEIGHTS ET AL. [Cite as State ex rel. Shemo v. Mayfield Hts., 2002-Ohio-1627.] Mandamus sought to compel city of Mayfield Heights et al. to commence appropriation proceedings to determine the amount for the city’s temporary taking of relator’s property—Writ granted, when. (No. 01-1325—Submitted February 5, 2002—Decided April 10, 2002.) IN MANDAMUS. __________________ Per Curiam. {¶ 1} Relators, Michael A. Shemo and Larry Goldberg, are co-owners as trustees of a 22.6-acre parcel of land in respondent city of Mayfield Heights. Relators acquired the parcel in January 1992. {¶ 2} On March 19, 1992, relators filed a complaint in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, naming Mayfield Heights and the Ohio Attorney General as defendants. Relators requested a declaratory judgment that the existing U-1(1) Single-Family House District zoning classification unconstitutionally restricted the use of the property to single-family residential development. Relators initially wanted the property rezoned to permit mid-rise, multifamily development. {¶ 3} In June 1995, relators voluntarily dismissed the declaratory judgment action and refiled it. Relators again requested a judgment declaring that the U-1(1) zoning classification was unconstitutional as applied to their property. This time, however, relators requested that the property be rezoned to U-4 Local Retail and Wholesale District so that retail and warehouse development would be permitted. Relators alleged that the U-1(1) zoning classification denied them an economically viable use of the property without substantially advancing a legitimate interest in the health, safety, or welfare of Mayfield Heights. SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

{¶ 4} In December 1995, relators and Mayfield Heights stipulated that the U-1(1) zoning classification as applied to relators’ property was invalid. Over relators’ objection, the city rezoned the property to U-2-A Planned Unit Development District, which restricted the use of the property to attached and detached single-family residential dwellings. Relators then challenged the constitutionality of this new classification in their pending declaratory judgment action. {¶ 5} In May 1996, following a trial, the common pleas court held that the U-2-A zoning classification was unconstitutional as applied to relators’ property. The common pleas court found that the U-2-A zoning classification did not substantially advance any legitimate health, safety, or welfare concern of Mayfield Heights and that the U-2-A zoning rendered the property economically nonviable. {¶ 6} In September 1997, on remand from the court of appeals, the common pleas court entered a judgment incorporating its May 1996 declaration that the U- 2-A zoning classification was unconstitutional as applied to the property and held that relators’ proposed retail use of the property, as described in their site plan, was reasonable. The common pleas court ordered that relators make the improvements to Golden Gate Boulevard specified in their site plan, that Mayfield Heights take actions to facilitate these road improvements, that the city and municipal officers named as defendants be enjoined from interfering with relators’ proposed retail use of the property and installation of the road improvements, and that the city and the individual defendants allow retail development and use consistent with the court’s judgment. {¶ 7} On appeal, the court of appeals vacated the common pleas court judgment and remanded the cause for further determination. On further appeal, we reversed the judgment of the court of appeals and reinstated the September 1997 common pleas court judgment. Shemo v. Mayfield Hts. (2000), 88 Ohio St.3d 7, 722 N.E.2d 1018 (“Shemo I”). In so holding, we stated that “[s]ince [relators] have

2 January Term, 2002

shown that the city lacks any legitimate governmental health, safety, and welfare concerns in support of the U-2-A zoning classification, we find that the trial court was correct in declaring the U-2-A zoning ordinance unconstitutional.” Id. at 13, 722 N.E.2d at 1024. We also found that competent, credible evidence supported the common pleas court’s conclusions that the property was not suitable for residential use and that relators’ proposed commercial use of the property was reasonable. Id. at 12-13, 722 N.E.2d 1018. {¶ 8} In August 2000, Mayfield Heights enacted an ordinance in which it claimed ownership of certain unimproved streets located on relators’ property and authorized the mayor to sell these “paper streets.” These streets had been dedicated to the city in June 1927, but had never been constructed. After Mayfield Heights accepted the dedication of an adjacent subdivision in 1959, the paper streets were blocked from access to actual streets. The city did not claim ownership of the paper streets during the declaratory judgment proceeding even though there was testimony and evidence concerning them during that proceeding. {¶ 9} Relators subsequently filed a common pleas court action to enjoin the sale of the paper streets and to declare that they had been abandoned by the city or, if not abandoned, to declare them vacated under R.C. 723.09. In December 2000, the parties resolved that case by consent and agreed that the paper streets were vacated and that relators were declared the owners of the property that contained the paper streets. {¶ 10} In March 2001, relators applied to respondent Mayfield Heights Planning and Zoning Commission for road improvements consistent with the common pleas court judgment reinstated by this court in Shemo I. The development also required a modification of an easement by an adjacent property owner for a new access drive. The city council initially disregarded the property owner’s application for an improvement to modify the easement because it found that relators were unable to demonstrate either that they had obtained a wetlands permit

3 SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

for the property or that no permit was required. No city ordinance, however, authorized the planning commission or city council to deny building permits based upon environmental regulations. {¶ 11} In April 2001, the planning commission approved the application for modification of the easement, but it refused to completely approve relators’ road improvement plans, instead restricting the use of Maplewood Road, which provides access to the proposed retail development, to emergency use. The city council confirmed the decision of the planning commission. As required by Shemo I, the city rezoned relators’ property from U-2-A to U-4 in April 2001. {¶ 12} On May 16, 2001, relators filed a complaint in this court against respondents, Mayfield Heights and its mayor, city council, and planning commission. Relators requested a writ of mandamus to compel respondents to grant final approval of their road improvement plans, including unrestricted, nonemergency access to Maplewood Road, in accordance with the September 1997 common pleas court judgment reinstated by this court in Shemo I. Relators also requested a writ of mandamus to compel the city to commence appropriation proceedings in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, Probate Division, to determine the amount of the city’s alleged regulatory taking of relators’ property. {¶ 13} In July 2001, we dismissed without prejudice relators’ mandamus action because they had failed to fully comply with the affidavit requirement of S.Ct.Prac.R. X(4)(B). State ex rel. Shemo v. Mayfield Hts. (2001), 92 Ohio St.3d 324, 750 N.E.2d 167 (“Shemo II”). {¶ 14} On July 23, 2001, relators refiled their mandamus action, which fully complied with S.Ct.Prac.R.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2002 Ohio 1627, 95 Ohio St. 3d 59, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-shemo-v-mayfield-hts-ohio-2002.