State v. Scherer

721 P.2d 743, 11 Kan. App. 2d 362, 1986 Kan. App. LEXIS 1285
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedJuly 3, 1986
Docket58,465
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 721 P.2d 743 (State v. Scherer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Scherer, 721 P.2d 743, 11 Kan. App. 2d 362, 1986 Kan. App. LEXIS 1285 (kanctapp 1986).

Opinion

Brazil, J.:

The defendant J. D. Scherer appeals his conviction of a continuing misdemeanor violation of the zoning regulations of Aubry Township, Johnson County, Kansas, by operating a salvage yard as defined therein.

Scherer bought ten acres in Aubry Township on a contract for deed in about 1966 and obtained full title in 1968.

On July 11, 1984, Scherer was charged with willful misdemeanor violations from June 1,1984, to July 10,1984, of the 1982 and 1975 Aubry zoning regulations. The complaint was amended on October 2, 1984, to include violations of the 1959 regulations, and again at trial on April 24, 1985, to include violations through April 22, 1985.

At trial, the State’s witnesses testified to the gradual accumulation of farm equipment, mostly horse drawn, from 1977 until the present when they estimated from 800 to 1,000 pieces were located on the property. In addition to farm equipment, they also mentioned eight trucks, a boat with motor, a couple of old washing machines, a badly damaged horse trailer, steel beams, lumber, an old bicycle, an old swimming pool, wagons, four automobiles, and other items.

The only evidence Scherer presented was his own testimony. He stated, “I farm and raise cattle and horses, and do some row cropping and hay, quite a bit of hay.” The ten acres in Aubry is his home base, but most of the land he farms is in Missouri. He claimed he broke horses to use the horse-drawn farm equipment *364 he had and used them to farm in Missouri but later admitted he had cut little of his most recent hay crop with the horses and merely hoped to plant corn with them in the future. He finally stated he was getting ready to and hoped to use all the equipment some day. He testified he collected much of the equipment to be able to repair equipment that broke down because horse-drawn equipment is no longer manufactured. He stated that every item he had was usable with a little bit of repair work. He testified the lumber and steel beams were to be used in rebuilding a house that burned down, perhaps as long ago as 1970. He was also working on a metal building which he poured footings for three or four years before the trial.

The jury found Scherer guilty of maintaining a salvage yard and he has appealed.

The first two issues raised on appeal by Scherer address the adequacy of the court’s jury instruction on nonconforming use.

The State claims that Scherer violated Aubry zoning regulations by willfully maintaining on his property a salvage yard as defined in the 1982 regulations and as prohibited by the 1982 regulations, the 1975 regulations, and the 1959 regulations. Scherer claimed at trial that if his use was found to be a salvage yard, that it existed at the time the 1982 regulations were passed and so could be continued as a prior nonconforming use. The trial court apparently agreed with Scherer that nonconforming use was an issue and gave the following instruction:

“The defendant is charged with violation of the zoning regulations of Aubry Township, Johnson County, Kansas, during the period commencing June 1, 1984 and ending April 22, 1985. The defendant pleads not guilty.
“The defendant alleges a non-conforming use. The term ‘non-conforming uses’ refers to uses of certain property which are permitted to continue if such uses were in existence at the time of the adoption of zoning regulations, and conformed to the prior zoning regulations, if any, which were in effect at the time such use commenced.
“Such ‘non-conforming use’ does not permit an enlargement or extension of the prior use, and any such enlargement or extension may constitute a violation of the zoning enactments.”

Scherer objected to this instruction.

Scherer first claims that the instruction should have informed the jury he was entitled to acquittal if his use was a valid nonconforming use. We agree. He cites PIK Crim. 2d 52.08, which states: “If the defense asserted causes you to have a reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s guilt, you should find the *365 defendant not guilty.” The instruction given in this case merely defined “nonconforming uses” and stated a restriction on them. It did not inform the jury what effect this defense should have and it is difficult to see that it could tell from the instructions as a whole what to make of it.

Scherer next argues that the instruction failed to distinguish between permissible intensification and impermissible enlargement of a valid nonconforming use. He cites Union Quarries, Inc. v. Board of County Commissioners, 206 Kan. 268, 478 P.2d 181 (1970). See also Carroll v. Hurst, 103 Ill. App. 3d 984, 431 N.E.2d 1344 (1982); City of Central City v. Knowlton, 265 N.W.2d 749 (Iowa 1978); Worthington v. Everson, 10 Ohio App. 2d 125, 226 N.E.2d 570 (1967). Contrary to the State’s assertion that abandonment of a nonconforming use was the only issue in the Union Quarries case, the court also considered the claim that the quarrying operations involved in the case had expanded in volume and intensity. 206 Kan. at 276-77. The court upheld the increased use because “[i]t underwent no fundamental change in quality.” 206 Kan. at 277. The State further asserts Union Quarries is inapplicable because the Aubry regulations require the nonconforming use to be “the principal use” of the land in question. But the question here is whether the court’s instruction on nonconforming use was correct. It seems entirely possible, given the evidence presented, that the jury would have concluded that a “salvage yard” as defined in the 1982 regulations was the principal use of Scherer’s land and that his additions to his collection of machinery after 1982 did not constitute a fundamental change in the quality of his use.

A final problem relating to the issue of nonconforming use is the question whether use of land as a “salvage yard” as defined in the 1982 regulations was prohibited under the 1975 regulations. We believe it was not. It appears that the court relied on State’s Exhibit 6, the 1975 regulations to inform the jury what uses were permitted by those regulations and then to consider the nonconforming use defense. This seems inadequate to discharge the court’s duty to instruct the jury on the essential elements of the crime. State v. Nesmith, 220 Kan. 146, 151, 551 P.2d 896 (1976), quoting State v. Smith, 215 Kan. 865, 866, 528 P.2d 1195 (1974). The 1975 regulations do not appear to prohibit a “salvage yard” as defined in the 1982 regulations. “Junkyard” *366 is defined in the same language as “salvage yard” in 1982, but nowhere is use as a junkyard prohibited or restricted.

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Bluebook (online)
721 P.2d 743, 11 Kan. App. 2d 362, 1986 Kan. App. LEXIS 1285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-scherer-kanctapp-1986.