1350 Lake Shore Associates v. Healey

• Decision Date: 21 December 2006
• Docket Number: No. 102093.,102093.
• Parties: 1350 LAKE SHORE ASSOCIATES, an Illinois Limited Partnership, Appellant, v. Lori T. HEALEY, Commissioner, Department of Planning and Development of the City of Chicago, et al., Appellees (Edward T. Joyce et al., Intervenors-Appellees).
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

861 N.E.2d 944

223 Ill.2d 607

308 Ill.Dec. 379

1350 LAKE SHORE ASSOCIATES, an Illinois Limited Partnership, Appellant, v. Lori T. HEALEY, Commissioner, Department of Planning and Development of the City of Chicago, et al., Appellees (Edward T. Joyce et al., Intervenors-Appellees).

No. 102093.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

December 21, 2006.

Thomas F. Geselbracht and Kenneth L. Schmetterer of DLA Piper Rudnick Gary Cary US, L.L.P., Chicago, for appellant.

Mara S. Georges, Corporation Counsel, Chicago (Benna Ruth Solomon, Myriam Zreczny Kasper and Kerrie Maloney Laytin, of counsel), for appellees.

Reuben L. Hedlund, Sarah J. Deneen and Jack Joseph of Hedlund & Hanley, L.L.C., Chicago, for intervenors-appellees.

OPINION

Justice GARMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion:

Plaintiff, 1350 Lake Shore Associates (LSA), owns property located at 1320-30 North Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. In 1978, the Chicago city council approved an amendment to the Chicago zoning ordinance establishing Residential Planned Development 196 (RPD 196) for the property. When LSA sought to develop the property in 1997 by constructing a 40-story apartment building containing 196 dwelling units, it encountered resistance from a neighborhood group opposed to the construction of high-rise buildings in the area surrounding LSA's property. On December 10, 1997, Charles Bernardini, then alderman of the 43rd Ward, in which the property is located, introduced a down-zoning ordinance in the city council to change the property's zoning from RPD 196 to R6 General Residence District. Under the latter zoning classification, LSA's proposed building was not a permitted use. The ordinance was approved by the city council in April 1998 and it became effective the following month. This case has been in litigation since 1998, when LSA filed a complaint for mandamus, seeking to require city officials to issue a zoning certificate and building permit under the RPD 196 zoning classification. The dispute has spawned three appellate court decisions. In the instant appeal, the appellate court affirmed the Cook County circuit court's conclusion that LSA did not gain a vested right to build under the former RPD 196 zoning. 363 Ill.App.3d 806, 299 Ill.Dec. 535, 842 N.E.2d 274. We granted LSA's petition for leave to appeal. 210 Ill.2d R. 315.

BACKGROUND

In 1996, LSA authorized its agent, Draper & Kramer (Draper), to look into the possibility of developing the property under the RPD 196 zoning classification. In early 1997, LSA authorized Draper to proceed with the project. Draper hired Jack Guthman, an attorney specializing in zoning law, to represent LSA in connection with the project, and an architectural firm to develop the plans. Draper also hired a surveyor, an urban planner, an elevator consultant, and an artist to create a rendering based upon the architect's plans. In April or May 1997, Guthman and representatives of Draper met with Bernardini. They discussed the proposed project and Bernardini was shown the preliminary building designs. Bernardini requested that the number of parking spaces be increased and that some changes be made to the building's facade. While Bernardini testified that he did not mention down zoning the property at this meeting, he informed Guthman and the Draper representatives that the project would be controversial due to its size and density and that if they wanted his support, they should meet with neighborhood representatives and reach an agreement. Pursuant to Bernardini's suggestion, Draper instructed the architect to revise the building's plans to add more parking spaces and change the design of the building's facade.

The timing of the next meeting between Guthman and Bernardini was the subject of dispute. LSA claimed that it took place on August 1, 1997, while defendants argued that it took place shortly after the first meeting. Bernardini testified that he and Guthman talked periodically after the first meeting and that shortly after that meeting, Bernardini told Guthman that he was receiving complaints from neighbors about the project, that he had been asked to down zone the property, and that down zoning was a consideration if LSA and the neighbors could not reach a compromise.

In October 1997, Draper representatives met with Bernardini and showed him the revised plans for the building. Bernardini again urged them to show the plans to community representatives. On October 22, 1997, at a chance meeting with Guthman, Bernardini again urged the need for compromise. In early November 1997, Draper's president met with members of the Near North Preservation Coalition (NNPC), a neighborhood group opposed to the building project. No agreement was reached and on November 17, 1997, the group met with Bernardini and requested that he introduce a down-zoning ordinance. Upon learning of Bernardini's plan to introduce the ordinance, Guthman requested that Bernardini delay introducing the ordinance, stating that he believed real progress was being made by Draper and NNPC. Bernardini agreed to wait until the next city council meeting. When no agreement had been reached by that time, Bernardini introduced the down-zoning ordinance on December 10, 1997. The architect submitted a Part II Submittal for the project to the City's department of planning and development (Department). Despite meetings between Draper and NNPC on several occasions thereafter, no compromise was reached. On April 29, 1998, the city council approved the down-zoning ordinance. The Department did not issue a Part II approval letter. Issuance of this approval was a prerequisite to the issuance of a zoning certificate and building permit.

In August 1998, LSA filed a complaint for mandamus against the City and the commissioner of the Department to require the commissioner to issue a Part II approval. Subsequently, certain individuals who lived within 250 feet of LSA's property were allowed to intervene. Following a trial, the circuit court ruled in favor of defendants and the intervenors, finding that the Part II approval letter need not be issued because a down-zoning ordinance was pending before the city council. On appeal, the appellate court concluded that the circuit court's reliance on the pending-ordinance doctrine was erroneous and it remanded with directions to issue a writ of mandamus requiring that a Part II approval letter be issued. 1350 Lake Shore Associates v. Hill, 326 Ill. App.3d 788, 260 Ill.Dec. 577, 761 N.E.2d 760 (2001).

On remand, the intervenors filed a motion for declaratory judgment seeking a declaration that LSA was not entitled to a zoning certificate or a building permit. LSA filed an amended complaint, seeking to require the City's zoning administrator to issue a zoning certificate and asking that the City be enjoined from interfering with LSA's rights under RPD 196. Although the circuit court ordered that a Part II approval letter be issued, it held, based on the evidence submitted at the earlier trial, that LSA did not have a vested right to the issuance of a zoning certificate or building permit. The circuit court found that expenditures incurred by LSA in connection with the project were not made in good-faith reliance on the RPD 196 zoning classification, but were made in an effort to reach a compromise. LSA again appealed.

The appellate court found that LSA's vested-rights claim required additional fact-finding and remanded to the circuit court with directions to make specific findings as to (1) the date on which LSA knew or should have known that it was probable Bernardini would introduce a down-zoning ordinance; (2) the total amount of expenses incurred by LSA in connection with the project as of that date; and (3) whether those expenses were sufficiently substantial to give LSA a vested right to the issuance of a zoning certificate and building permit under the RPD 196 zoning classification. 1350 Lake Shore Associates v. Mazur-Berg, 339 Ill.App.3d 618, 274 Ill. Dec. 264, 791 N.E.2d 60 (2003).

On remand, the circuit court made the following findings: (1) LSA knew it was probable that Bernardini would introduce a down-zoning ordinance on any date after the meeting in April or May 1997 involving Guthman, the Draper representatives, and Bernardini; (2) as of that date, LSA had incurred expenditures in the amount of $18,900.16 in connection with the project; and (3) the expenses were insufficiently substantial to give rise to a vested right in LSA to the issuance of a zoning certificate and a building permit for its project. LSA once again appealed.

The appellate court affirmed the circuit court's judgment, finding that LSA was not entitled to an order enjoining the City from applying the existing zoning ordinance, which would prevent LSA from developing the property under the RPD 196 zoning, and concluding that the intervenors were entitled to a declaratory judgment that LSA was not entitled to a zoning certificate or building permit under RPD 196. 363 Ill.App.3d at 823, 299 Ill. Dec. 535, 842 N.E.2d 274.

ANALYSIS

I

Mandamus is an extraordinary remedy appropriate to enforce the performance of official duties by a public officer where no exercise of discretion is involved. People ex rel. Birkett v. Jorgensen, 216 Ill.2d 358, 362, 297 Ill.Dec. 289, 837 N.E.2d 69 (2005), quoting Madden v. Cronson, 114 Ill.2d 504, 514, 103 Ill.Dec. 729, 501 N.E.2d 1267 (1986). There must be a clear right to the relief requested, a clear duty in the public officer to act, and a clear authority in the officer to comply with the writ. Noyola v. Board of Education of City of Chicago, 179 Ill.2d 121, 133, 227 Ill.Dec. 744, 688 N.E.2d 81 (1997). A decision to grant or deny mandamus will not be reversed on appeal unless it is against the manifest weight of the evidence. Pioneer Trust & Savings Bank v. County of Cook, 71 Ill.2d 510, 516-17, 17 Ill.Dec. 831, 377 N.E.2d 21 (1978). We review conclusions of law de novo. See Eychaner v. Gross, ...