Storier v. Heasley

3 N.E.2d 655, 52 Ohio App. 282, 6 Ohio Op. 353, 21 Ohio Law. Abs. 536, 1935 Ohio App. LEXIS 354
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 10, 1935
StatusPublished

This text of 3 N.E.2d 655 (Storier v. Heasley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Storier v. Heasley, 3 N.E.2d 655, 52 Ohio App. 282, 6 Ohio Op. 353, 21 Ohio Law. Abs. 536, 1935 Ohio App. LEXIS 354 (Ohio Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

Nichols, J.

This cause comes into this court on error from the Court of Common Pleas of Trumbull county, Ohio, wherein Anna N. Storier instituted her action in mandamus against the City Planning Commission of Warren, Ohio, the members of the Board of Appeals of the City Planning Commission of Warren, Ohio, the Building Inspector of the city of Warren, Ohio, and the city of Warren, Ohio, praying that the defendants in error be compelled to issue a permit for the erection of a gasoline station on the premises owned by Anna N. Storier in the city of Warren, Ohio, and further praying that these defendants be compelled to change the classification of plaintiff’s property from “Residence B” to “Commercial.”

The case was submitted to the trial court upon an agreed statement of facts, which agreed statement of facts constitutes the bill of exceptions in this error proceeding.

*283 At the January term, 1935, of the Court of Common Pleas, these defendants recovered a judgment by the consideration of .that court against Anna N. Storier, on all the issues raised by the pleadings and the evidence in the case. Motion for a new trial was duly filed and overruled by the trial court, and this Court of Appeals is now asked to reverse the judgment of the trial court, the following propositions, as prejudicial error against the plaintiff below, being asserted as grounds for reversal of the judgment of the trial court:

“First: Said court erred in overruling motion of plaintiff in error for a new trial.

“Second: Said court erred in overruling motion of plaintiff in error to arrest case and grant final judgment to the plaintiff in error.

“Third: The judgment of the court is not sustained by sufficient evidence.

“Fourth: That the judgment of the court is not sustained by law.

“Fifth: That the judgment of the court below should have been for the plaintiff in error and not the defendants in error.”

In the brief of plaintiff in error the arguments and the law cited are stated to be applicable to all the assigned grounds of error, and it is admitted that plaintiff in error has not, at any time, raised the question as to the constitutionality of the zoning ordinance of the city of Warren, and that the only question involved is whether or not the inclusion of the property owned by the plaintiff in error in the “Residential B” district under the zoning ordinance of the city of Warren, under the facts and circumstances existing, was such that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

As sustaining the contention of plaintiff in error that the facts and circumstances shown in this case were such that the inclusion of plaintiff’s property in “Residential B” district violates the Fourteenth Amend *284 ment of the United States Constitution, we are cited by plaintiff in error to the following three cases:

(1) Mehl v. Stegner, Dir. of Dept. of Bldgs., 38 Ohio App., 416, 175 N. E., 712 (syllabus): “The inclusion of private land in a residential district under a zoning ordinance, with resulting inhibition of its use for business and industrial buildings to the serious damage of the owner, violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, if the health, safety, convenience or general welfare of the part of the city affected will not be promoted thereby.”

(2) Nectow v. City of Cambridge, 277 U. S., 183, 72 L. Ed., 842, 48 S. Ct., 447 (syllabus): “The inclusion of private land in a residential district under a zoning ordinance, with resulting inhibition of its use for business and industrial buildings to the serious damage of the owner, violates the Fourteenth Amendment if the health, safety, convenience, or general welfare of the part of the city affected will not be promoted thereby. ’ ’

(3) City of Cincinnati v. Struble, 30 N. P. (N. S.), 380, paragraph one of the syllabus: “Governmental interference with the general rights of the land owner by restriction upon a character of his use is permissible only where such restriction bears a substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals or general welfare.”

From these three authorities it is the claim of plaintiff in error that, although the city has a right to pass an all-inclusive zoning ordinance, where the use of the land is restricted to residential purposes in a district adjacent to unrestricted property and there is no necessity for inclusion therein by reason of the health, safety, convenience and general welfare of the inhabitants of the part of the city affected, such restrictions are in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution.

In the'brief of counsel for defendants in error, as well as in oral argument, it seems to be conceded that if the *285 classification of the property of plaintiff in error as “Residential B” has no real or substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, convenience and general welfare of the inhabitants of the part of the city affected, such restrictions as have been placed upon plaintiff in error’s property would be in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. But it is the claim of defendants in error that the evidence contained in the agreed statements of facts supports the judgment of the trial court for the reason that such evidence preponderates in showing that the public health, safety, morals, convenience and general welfare of the inhabitants of that part of the city wherein plaintiff in error’s property is located would be injuriously affected by the erection of a filling station on the property of plaintiff in error, and by the change of the classification of her property from “Residence B” to “Commercial.” It is further claimed by defendants in error that this court in hearing this cause upon error can not reverse the judgment of the Common Pleas Court unless such judgment is against the manifest weight of the evidence and is such as to show that the defendants have been guilty of gross abuse of discretion in refusing to change the classification of plaintiff in error’s property, and in refusing to grant a permit for the erection of a gasoline station thereon.

This court finds and holds that the judgment of the Comm'on Pleas Court can not be reversed unless such judgment is manifestly against the weight of the evidence upon the question whether the change prayed for in plaintiff’s petition and the issuing of a permit as therein requested would adversely affect the health, safety, convenience and general welfare of the inhabitants of the part of the city wherein the property of plaintiff in error is located, and this court further finds and holds that it can not reverse the judgment of the trial court unless the evidence preponderates in showing an abuse of discretion upon the part of the defend *286 ants in error, and unless it is plain that the health, safety, convenience and general welfare of the inhabitants of the district are not affected.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
3 N.E.2d 655, 52 Ohio App. 282, 6 Ohio Op. 353, 21 Ohio Law. Abs. 536, 1935 Ohio App. LEXIS 354, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/storier-v-heasley-ohioctapp-1935.