Windsor v. Lane Development Co.

158 N.E.2d 391, 109 Ohio App. 131, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 169, 10 Ohio Op. 2d 356, 1958 Ohio App. LEXIS 638
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 8, 1958
Docket5860
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 158 N.E.2d 391 (Windsor v. Lane Development Co.) 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
Windsor v. Lane Development Co., 158 N.E.2d 391, 109 Ohio App. 131, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 169, 10 Ohio Op. 2d 356, 1958 Ohio App. LEXIS 638 (Ohio Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

OPINION

By GUERNSEY, J.

Prior to June 28, 1950, defendant, The Lane Development Company, a corporation and appellant herein, owned the center portion of a fourteen acre tract of land which is bounded on the north by Lane Ave., and in conjunction with the owners of the balance of the tract had developed same as a modern shopping center, complete with store buildings, parking areas, and with drives which provided ingress and *171 egress at several points on Lane Avenue. Prior to said date and prior to April 17, 1924, the fourteen acres were bounded on the west, south and east by the corporate limits of the City of Upper Arlington, but lay outside of the corporation. On April 17, 1924, there was recorded in the office of the Recorder of Franklin County, a duly dedicated and accepted plat of the University Addition to the City of Upper Arlington. Included within the bounds of the plat was a duly dedicated street named Berkshire Road, which, in this area, constitutes the first street south of and parallel to Lane Avenue. On the north side of and abutting Berkshire Road was platted a single row of lots, each of approximately the same frontage and depth, interrupted at a point about half, way from east to west by a tract of land designated “Reserve B” of the same depth as the lots. Reserve B, however, has a frontage on Berkshire Road of fifty feet, whereas the platted lots each have a frontage of at least sixty feet. Reserve B is located so as to constitute a northerly extension of Harford Road, if extended, the said Road, as platted and as existing, being fifty feet in width and perpendicular to, and terminating at its intersection with Berkshire Road. The northerly boundary of five of the lots was common with the corporation line and a portion of the south boundary of the fourteen acre tract. A tract of land designated “Reserve D” was platted between the balance of the south boundary of the fourteen acre tract and the north boundary of fifteen other lots and Reserve B. The only descriptive language on the plat pertaining to the two reserves was that “the ‘reserves’ are for such use as shall be hereafter determined.”

On September 14, 1927, a zoning ordinance was adopted by the then Village of Upper Arlington which, among other things, classified “any and all parts of the said Village, and all lots and lands lying therein,” not otherwise classified, as “Class I or Single House Districts.” It is stipulated that this ordinance, as amended constitutes the zoning ordinance of the City of Upper Arlington effective at the time of this action.

On June 28, 1950, defendant acquired title to the land included in Reserve B together with that portion of the land included in Reserve D lying directly north of and contiguous to the north boundary of Reserve B and south of and contiguous to the south boundary of the fourteen acre tract, Reserve B measuring fifty feet, east and west, by 138.5 feet, north and south, and the portion of Reserve D measuring fifty feet, east and west, by 66.24 feet, north and south. The President of defendant corporation testified (R. 62) that the corporation bought Reserve B and the portion of Reserve D “to provide ingress and egress and a better safety position from a traffic standpoint” “from any place to Lane Shopping Center.”

Although the date is not in evidence, after the shopping center was constructed and its use established, the fourteen acre tract of land, together with other land, was annexed to the City of Upper Arlington, and under the terms of the zoning ordinance became zoned, by virtue of such annexation, as a “Class I of Single Family House District,” and its use for commercial purposes has continued as a non-conforming use.

After annexation, on July 5, 1957, defendant applied for and received *172 from the City Building Inspector a permit to cut the curb, with no length of cut specified, in front of Reserve B along the north edge of the paved constructed portion of Berkshire Road. Defendant then cut the curb and constructed a paved driveway, approximately thirty-seven feet wide, extending from the north edge of the paved portion of Berkshire Road to the paved parking and driveway area of the shopping center located on the fourteen acre tract. Defendant has at no time dedicated said driveway as a public street and has retained ownership and control of same to date. Following completion of the driveway vehicles, in increasing numbers, used the driveway as a means of ingress and egress to and from that part of the fourteen acre tract owned by defendant, and, it is stipulated, at least a portion of said use of the driveway “was for the purpose of conducting business with the merchants located in the Lane Shopping Center.”

Plaintiffs, owners of property neighboring or adjacent to Reserves B and D, filed a suit in the Common Pleas Court to permanently enjoin the defendant from “using Reserve ‘B’ and Reserve ‘D’ as a driveway or street.” It is undisputed in evidence that the continued use of the driveway as a means of ingress to and egress from the Lane Shopping Center will cause plaintiffs damage by reducing the market value of their respective properties, the greatest reduction occurring to those properties adjacent to the driveway and the reduction decreasing as the distance to the affected property increases.

The lower court permanently enjoined the defendant from “using the wide driveway or street on Reserves ‘B’ and ‘D’ of the University Addition of the City of Upper Arlington for purposes of trade, so long as Ordinance 219 as now enacted, remains in full force and effect.” From said judgment an appeal on questions of law and fact was taken to this Court and the cause was heard de novo.

It appears that the zoning ordinance of Upper Arlington, including all amendments thereto, is voluminous but the parties have agreed in the pleadings to part thereof and have stipulated as to other portions. We will not consider any part of the ordinance which does not thus appear in the record.

Defendant makes various contentions for the refusal of injunctive relief, each of which we will consider and dispose of.

1. Defendant first contends that the zoning ordinance violates Sections 1 and 16, Article 1, Ohio Constitution, because “it prohibits all driveways and many other necessary and reasonable uses” and thereby is an unreasonable exercise of the police power having no relation to the public welfare.

To the extent pertinent Sections 4 and 5 of the zoning. ordinance provide:

“Section 4. No building or other structure or premises shall be erected, altered or used in any district for any kind or class of trade, industry, residence or other purpose other than such as are specifically permitted in such district ...”
“Section 5. In Class I Districts single family dwelling houses only (with necessary proper and approved out buildings and fences) shall be permitted ...”

*173 It is readily apparent from a reading of Section 5 that a private garage for a family is permitted to be constructed and used as an out building to a single family dwelling house in a Class I residential district. Its use necessarily encompasses the construction and use of a driveway for access thereto.

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Bluebook (online)
158 N.E.2d 391, 109 Ohio App. 131, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 169, 10 Ohio Op. 2d 356, 1958 Ohio App. LEXIS 638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/windsor-v-lane-development-co-ohioctapp-1958.