Swanton Township Board of Trustees v. Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority

585 N.E.2d 871, 66 Ohio App. 3d 555, 1990 Ohio App. LEXIS 2100
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 1, 1990
DocketNo. L-89-258.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 585 N.E.2d 871 (Swanton Township Board of Trustees v. Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority) 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
Swanton Township Board of Trustees v. Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, 585 N.E.2d 871, 66 Ohio App. 3d 555, 1990 Ohio App. LEXIS 2100 (Ohio Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

This case is an appeal and cross-appeal from a judgment of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas.

The undisputed facts of the case are as follows. Toledo Express Airport is partially located in Swanton Township. Appellee and cross-appellant, city of Toledo, is the owner of the land where the airport is located. Appellee and cross-appellant, Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority (“Port Authority”), leases the land and operates Toledo Express Airport.

Toledo Express Airport presently includes two runways, a terminal, cargo buildings, airplane hangars and maintenance buildings. The Port Authority does not directly provide the services available at the airport. Instead, the Port Authority, through subleasing agreements with individual airlines, provides passenger and cargo air transport. The same is true of other services, which are inherent in the operation of any public, metropolitan airport, such as *557 automobile parking and rental, motel and restaurant facilities and airplane hangar rental to various companies and other organizations. However, all transportation and other ancillary services are centralized, organized and managed through the Port Authority.

In 1989, the Port Authority began construction of a new hub facility and related improvements to be leased to Burlington Air Express USA, Inc., an air cargo transport company. Neither the city of Toledo nor the Port Authority applied for a zoning permit in regard to this project.

Appellant and cross-appellee, Swanton Township Board of Trustees (“Trustees”), brought the present action for declaratory judgment alleging that Toledo Express Airport is subject to Swanton Township zoning regulation and, therefore, zoning certificates must be obtained for the new construction at the airport. In contrast, appellees argue that the airport is exempt from township zoning regulations because it is a public utility exempt from such regulation under R.C. 519.211.

On June 5, 1989, appellees filed a motion for summary judgment. On August 3, 1989, the trial court entered judgment in favor of appellees on the ground that as a public utility Toledo Express Airport is exempt from township zoning regulation. The trial court declined to address the further issue regarding the validity of the Swanton Township Zoning Resolution.

It is from that judgment that the Trustees raise the following three assignments of error:

“1. The language of R.C. § 519.211, when construed ‘in pari materia’ with other sections of the Ohio Revised Code relating to the same subject (airports) will not permit a judicial determination that an airport is a public utility for purposes of § 519.211.
“2. Even if the language of R.C. § 519 [sic ] would permit an interpretation that an airport is a public utility, it was error for the trial court to conclude as a matter of law that the Toledo Express Airport is a public utility exempt from regulation pursuant to R.C. Chapter 519 without first conducting an examination of the facts peculiar to the specific business of Toledo Express Airport and basing its decision upon that examination.
“3. Even if the language of R.C. § 519.211 would permit an interpretation that an airport is a public utility, plaintiff/appellant believes that when construing the facts most strongly in favor of plaintiff/appellant (as required by Ohio Rule of Civil Procedure 56[C]) reasonable minds could conclude that the Toledo Express Airport does not qualify as a public utility and it was error for the trial court to grant defendant[s]/appellees’ motion for summary judgment.”

*558 It is also from that judgment that appellees raise the following sole cross-assignment of error:

“If this court should conclude that Toledo Express Airport is not a public utility and thus is subject to the zoning authority of Swanton Township, this court must still affirm the decision of the trial court dismissing the action against the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority on the ground that the Swanton Township zoning resolution is invalid. The trial court should have found the resolution invalid.”

As their first assignment of error, the Trustees argue that an airport may never be considered a public utility under R.C. 519.211. Essentially, the Trustees argue if an airport may be considered a public utility under R.C. 519.211, R.C. Chapter 4563 (governing airport hazard areas) and R.C. 308.-06(Q) (governing airport authorities) will be nullified.

We find that Sections II through IIIB of the well-reasoned opinion of the Honorable Frederick H. McDonald, rejecting the argument that R.C. Chapter 4563 requires a finding that airports may not be considered public utilities, are dispositive of this issue as raised in the first assignment of error. For that reason, such opinion is hereby adopted as our own. See Appendix.

We further find the Trustees’ remaining argument, that R.C. 308.06(Q) requires a finding that airports may not be considered public utilities, also without merit. R.C. 308.06(Q) authorizes regional airport authorities to request the appropriate zoning board “to establish and enforce zoning regulations pertaining to any airport * * * in the manner prescribed by sections 4563.01 to 4563.21 of the Revised Code.” (Emphasis added.) Inasmuch as we have determined that R.C. Chapter 4563 does not preclude airports from being considered public utilities, it cannot be argued that R.C. 308.06(Q), which provides for the enforcement of R.C. Chapter 4563, precludes airports from being considered as such. Accordingly, the Trustees’ first assignment of error is found not well taken.

The Trustees’ second and third assignments of error will be considered together. Essentially, the Trustees argue that even if an airport may be considered a public utility, the determination that a particular airport, i.e., Toledo Express Airport, is a public utility must be made on a case-by-case basis. The Trustees further argue that the facts of the present case do not support the trial court’s determination that Toledo Express Airport is a public utility.

R.C. 519.211 specifically exempts public utilities from township zoning regulation, although there is no definition of a “public utility” to be found in R.C. Chapter 519. The Supreme Court of Ohio in Marano v. Gibbs (1989), 45 *559 Ohio St.3d 310, 311, 544 N.E.2d 635, 636, held that “the determination of entities as public utilities is a mixed question of law and fact.” The Marano court further stated that “an entity may be characterized as a public utility if the nature of its operation is a matter of public concern, and membership is indiscriminately and reasonably made available to the general public.” Id. The Maraño court also held that “while it is important that an entity be subject to regulatory control, such regulation is not necessarily required for an entity to be considered a public utility.” Id.

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585 N.E.2d 871, 66 Ohio App. 3d 555, 1990 Ohio App. LEXIS 2100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/swanton-township-board-of-trustees-v-toledo-lucas-county-port-authority-ohioctapp-1990.