Vogelgesang v. METRO. BD. OF ZON. APP., D. NO. 1

300 N.E.2d 101
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 15, 1973
Docket1271A271
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 300 N.E.2d 101 (Vogelgesang v. METRO. BD. OF ZON. APP., D. NO. 1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vogelgesang v. METRO. BD. OF ZON. APP., D. NO. 1, 300 N.E.2d 101 (Ind. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

300 N.E.2d 101 (1973)

F. Ross VOGELGESANG, Administrator of the Division of Planning and Zoning, et al., Appellants,
v.
THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, Division No. 1, et al., Appellees.

No. 1271A271.

Court of Appeals of Indiana, Second District.

August 15, 1973.
Rehearing Denied September 18, 1973.

*102 Nelson G. Grills, Gary R. Landau, Corp. Counsel, Arthur H. Northrup, Deputy Corp. Counsel, Indianapolis, for appellants.

John Moss and Mercer Mance, Indianapolis, for appellees.

WHITE, Judge.

This case is a sequel to O'Banion v. State ex rel. Shively (1969), 146 Ind. App. 223, 253 N.E.2d 739, 20 Ind.Dec. 21, in which the Appellate Court affirmed a judgment enjoining operation of a liquor store at the northwest corner of the intersection of Clifton Street and West Thirty-Fourth Street in the city of Indianapolis. The injunction had been issued because (among other reasons) the proprietors had not obtained proper authority from the Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals as required by the Indianapolis Permissive Use Ordinance 64-1954.

*103 The case at bar began when, thereafter, appellee Kelly, the liquor store operator, with the written consent of Mr. and Mrs. O'Banion, owners of the store building, (appellants in the prior case) applied to the Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals for authority to operate the store. The Board held a hearing and granted the authority over the remonstrance of the Northwest Civic Association and nearby property owners, some of whom had been relators in the prior case. Those remonstrators and Mr. Vogelgesang, Administrator of the Planning and Zoning Division, obtained judicial review of the Board's decision by certiorari in the Superior Court of Marion County, Room Four. That court upheld the Board's grant of authority. The Administrator and remonstrators have appealed the court's judgment, contending, in substance, that the evidence before the Board, and the Board's findings, were not sufficient to sustain its decision.

Trial Rule 52(A), IC 1971, 34-5-1-1, provides in pertinent part:

"The court shall make special findings of fact without request
"(1) ...
"(2) in any review of actions of an administrative agency ...
"(3)... .
"... the court on appeal shall not set aside the findings or judgment unless clearly erroneous."

Trial Rules 52(B) and 59(E)(4) provide for the correction of erroneous, incomplete, and inadequate findings on motion to correct errors and for correction of judgments "inconsistent with the special findings of fact required by this rule". (TR. 52(B)(4).)

The trial court made findings of fact (to which appellants made no specific objection in their motion to correct errors) in which it recited the filing of the "petition ... for a variance or permissive use", the owners consent, the notice, hearing, and unanimous vote "to grant these respondents' petition for a variance". And, further:

"4.
"Evidence was introduced and presented to the Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals, Division No. 1, by and on behalf of the respondents, Henry S. Kelly and Milton O'Banion, in support of their petition for the grant of the variance or permissive use sought by their petition, which evidence was sufficient to sustain the finding of said board and the granting by said board of said respondents petition for a variance for the operation of a Package Liquor Store in the existing building in question, which building and land thereon situated was at the time of the request for said variance classified under the Marion County Comprehensive Master Plan as Class U-3."

Findings 5 and 6 recited the filing of the petition for certiorari and issuance of the writ. The last finding was No. 7 which recited:

"7.
"That the Court further finds that there is nothing in the record to show that the Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals, Division No. 1, in granting said variance or permissive use to the respondents, Henry S. Kelly and Milton O'Banion, to show that said Board acted arbitrarily, capriciously, fraudulently or illegally."

It is to be noted that the court below did not find that the board's findings were sufficient to sustain or justify its grant of either a variance or a "permissive use" (i.e., exception). Instead, it found that the evidence before the board "was sufficient to sustain the finding of said board and the granting by said board of respondents petition for a variance".

Upon the facts it found, the court reached these conclusions of law:

*104 "CONCLUSION OF LAW
"1.
"The finding of the administrative agency in this case should not be disturbed where it appears that said agency did not act arbitrarily capriciously, fraudulently, or illegally.
"2.
"That the granting of the variance or permissive use by the Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals Division No. 1, was not illegal, capricious, fraudulent or arbitrary, and the decision of the Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals, Division No. 1 is wholly affirmed, and the petition for a variance or permissive use is granted, and judgment is entered accordingly."

At the outset we must address ourselves to the confusion relating to whether the authority applied for and granted is a "variance" or an "exception" (which the parties have referred to as a "permissive use"). The confusion arises out of the fact that in the so-called Permissive Use Ordinance 64-1954 (see O'Banion v. State, supra, 146 Ind. App. at 225, 253 N.E.2d 739) which is still applicable to the Zone U-3 location here involved,[1] use of land for operation of a liquor store is a conditional permitted use, the condition being stated in the ordinance as follows:

"In a class U-3, or business district, a building . .. may, however, be . . used ... for any of the following enumerated uses when on a lot determined by the board of zoning appeals, after public notice and hearing, to be so located that such ... use will, in the judgment of said board, substantially serve the public convenience and welfare, and will not substantially or permanently injure the appropriate use of the neighboring property."[2]

One of the "uses" which is enumerated immediately following this ordinance provision is

"stores where beer, wine or liquors are sold in package".

*105 The statute which governed the granting of variances when this case was before the board, Ind. Ann. Stat. § 53-969 (Burns 1971 Supp.), IC 1971, XX-X-X-XX, Ind. Acts 1955, Ch. 283, § 69, as last amended by Ind. Acts 1969, Ch. 299, § 8[3] required the zoning board, before it could grant a variance, to determine that:

"1. The grant will not be injurious to the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the community.
"2. The use or value of the area adjacent to the property included in the variance will not be affected in a substantially adverse manner.
"3.

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Related

Vogelgesang v. Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals
300 N.E.2d 101 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1973)

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Bluebook (online)
300 N.E.2d 101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vogelgesang-v-metro-bd-of-zon-app-d-no-1-indctapp-1973.