Town of Grand Lake v. Lanzi

937 P.2d 785, 20 Brief Times Rptr. 925, 1996 Colo. App. LEXIS 187, 1996 WL 316999
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 13, 1996
DocketNo. 95CA0449
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 937 P.2d 785 (Town of Grand Lake v. Lanzi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Town of Grand Lake v. Lanzi, 937 P.2d 785, 20 Brief Times Rptr. 925, 1996 Colo. App. LEXIS 187, 1996 WL 316999 (Colo. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge ROY.

Plaintiff, the Town of Grand Lake (the Town), appeals the summary judgment holding that defendant, Elmer Lanzi, was not required to provide off-street parking for Vdlage Center, a shopping center. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

The Town amended its zoning ordinance to add the requirement, inter alia, that all retail and commercial buildings have one off-street space for each 250 square feet of gross leasable area (parking ordinance). Village Center was constructed and occupied prior to the adoption of the parking ordinance and, with respect thereto, became a non-conforming use. The parking ordinance further provided as follows:

No building shall be erected, enlarged to the extent of increasing the floor area by as much as Fifty Percent (50%), or changed in use by rezoning unless there is either an off-street parking fee paid to the town if allowed, or there is provided on the lot, space for parking and space for the loading and unloading of automobiles or tracks in accordance with the following standards and requirements....

The zoning ordinance further provided that: “Each day that such a violation continues to exist shall be considered a separate offense.”

In 1986, W.C. and Patricia Jones (Jones), the then owners of Village Center, renovated the center increasing the square footage of gross leasable area. Jones and the Town entered into a parking agreement by which Jones agreed that Village Center was required to provide off-street parking in accordance with the parking ordinance and that Jones would provide requisite parking on a nearby complying property (the parking property). The parking agreement contained the legal description of Village Center and the parking property, was recorded, and provided that it was a covenant appurtenant to both parcels.

At the time the parking agreement was recorded, Village Center and the parking property were subject to separate deeds of trust for the benefit of different lenders. Jones defaulted on both secured obligations, and the lenders foreclosed.

Following the foreclosures and prior to defendant’s purchase of Village Center, the Town took the position that it was in violation of the parking ordinance. Defendant was aware of the Town’s position when he purchased Village Center.

Beginning in 1990, customers of Village Center were denied access to the parking property. In June 1990, the Town cited defendant for violating the parking ordinance, but dismissed the charges after access to the parking property was restored.

In September 1992, the Town demanded that defendant provide parking as required [787]*787by the parking ordinance or pay the fee of $2500 for each off-street parking space not provided in lieu thereof. When defendant refused to do either, the Town commenced this action on January 8, 1993, to enforce the parking ordinance.

The Town filed and renewed a motion for summary judgment claiming that because Jones agreed to provide parking spaces after adding floor space and because defendant in his contract to purchase Village Center acknowledged that it “may not comply with the applicable parking requirements,” the Town was entitled to summary judgment because these material facts were undisputed.

The trial court denied the Town’s motion, stating that: (1) any admissions and concessions by Jones as the owners of Village Center in the parking agreement were not binding on defendant because under § 38-38-501, C.R.S. (1995 Cum.Supp.), defendant was a successor in interest to the foreclosing lender, but not to Jones; (2) there remained a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Jones’ renovations enlarged Village Center to such an extent that it became subject to the parking ordinance; (3) there was a genuine issue of material fact concerning whether the parking agreement precluded the Town from enforcing the parking ordinance; and (4) although defendant did not file a cross-motion for summary judgment, there was also a genuine issue of material fact as to when the Town’s action accrued because the claim was subject to the one-year statute of limitations under § 38-41-119, C.R.S. (1982 Repl.Vol. 16A) for enforcement of building restrictions.

On November 14, 1994, defendant filed his motion for summary judgment claiming that the statute of limitations, § 38-41-119, barred the Town’s claim because the cause of action had accrued no later than March 16, 1990. The court granted defendant’s motion stating: (1) the Town’s complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted because the only remedy the Town had was to enforce the parking agreement, which was not binding on defendant; and (2) § 38-41-119 barred the Town’s claim because it arose at the latest on October 25, 1991, more than one year before the action commenced. This appeal followed.

I.

Initially, we note that summary judgment is a drastic remedy and is never warranted except upon a clear showing that there exists no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. C.R.C.P. 56(c); Graven v. Vail Associates, Inc., 909 P.2d 514 (Colo.1995). A party moving for summary judgment has the initial burden of establishing that no genuine issue exists as to any material facts. Travelers Insurance Co. v. Savio, 706 P.2d 1258 (Colo.1985). The party against whom summary judgment is sought is entitled to all favorable inferences that may be drawn from the facts. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan v. Sharp, 741 P.2d 714 (Colo.1987).

II.

We first determine whether, as the Town argues, the parking agreement is binding on defendant as a successor in interest. We conclude that it is not.

Section 38-39-110, C.R.S. (1982 Repl.Vol. 16A), in effect at the time the lender foreclosed on Village Center, states in relevant part:

[ U]pon the expiration of the period of redemption allowed to the owner and to all subsequent lienors entitled to redeem, make and execute a deed to the holder of the certificate of purchase, or to the lienor last redeeming in case a redemption has been made by a lienor, to the land and tenements sold, which deed shall be in the manner and form provided by law or in compliance with the terms and conditions of the original trust deed. Upon the issuance and delivery of such deed, but not until then, title shall vest in the grantee and such title shall be free and clear of all liens and encumbrances recorded or filed subsequent to the recording or filing of the lien on which the sale referred to in this section was based, (emphasis added)

Cf. § 38-38-501, C.R.S. (1995 Cum.Supp.) (substantially similar statute now in effect).

In First Interstate Bank v. Tanktech, Inc., 864 P.2d 116, 119 (Colo.1993), our su[788]

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937 P.2d 785, 20 Brief Times Rptr. 925, 1996 Colo. App. LEXIS 187, 1996 WL 316999, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/town-of-grand-lake-v-lanzi-coloctapp-1996.