15192 Thirteen Mile Road, Inc. v. City of Warren, Civ. A. No. 83-CV-9030 PH
| Decision Date | 30 December 1985 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 83-CV-9030 PH,83-CV-9071 PH,83-CV-9078 PH and 84-CV-9798 PH.,81-CV-30053 PH |
| Citation | 626 F. Supp. 803 |
| Parties | 15192 THIRTEEN MILE ROAD, INC., Plaintiff, v. CITY OF WARREN, A Michigan Municipal Corporation, Defendant. CHRISTY SALES AND SERVICE, INC., Plaintiff, v. CITY OF WARREN, A Michigan Municipal Corporation, George Bruggeman, Director of Building and Safety for the City of Warren, and Ted Bates in his capacity as Mayor of the City of Warren, jointly and severally, Defendants. 4061 EAST EIGHT MILE ROAD, INC., a Michigan Corporation, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF WARREN, a Michigan Corporation, Defendant. 15184 THIRTEEN MILE ROAD, INC., Plaintiff, v. CITY OF WARREN, Defendant. DETROIT NOVELTY AND TOY, INC., A Michigan Corporation, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF WARREN and Michael S. Servitto, Jr., individually and in his official capacity as Director of Public Service Department, City of Warren, jointly and severally, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan |
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Gregory Fisher Lord, Southfield, Mich., for Christy Sales.
James I. DeGrazia, Plunkett, Cooney, Rutt, Watters, Stanczyk & Pedersen, P.C., Detroit, Mich., Janice Hildenbrand, Ulanoff, Ross & Wesley, P.C., Southfield, Mich., for City of Warren, et al.
Stephen M. Taylor, Southfield, Mich., for all plaintiffs.
David Dalenberg, Warren, Mich., for City of Warren.
The above-captioned cases each raise the same constitutional challenges to the validity of Warren Zoning Ordinance, Section 14.02(C) hereinafter Ordinance 14.02(C). Having conducted two hearings for preliminary injunction and having taken testimony for nearly four weeks in this case on the merits, the Court hereby issues its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a).
The plaintiffs in this case1 filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging the constitutionality of Warren Zoning Ordinance 14.02(C). Ordinance 14.02(C) regulates the ability of adult businesses to locate within the City of Warren. The Court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3).
The City of Warren, Michigan is located in Southeastern Michigan. Warren is a contiguous municipal neighbor of Detroit and is largely a residential community for families of moderate incomes. The City is 36 square miles in size2 and is divided into 36 one square mile sections, the boundaries of which are defined by various major roads that traverse the City. Each section is comprised of approximately 5000 residents and each is intended to support an elementary school.
Warren was incorporated in 1957 and has had a comprehensive zoning ordinance since 1960. Through its zoning ordinance, Warren has attempted to realize its planning goal of ordered future growth by regulating land use within the community.3 The principal concern of Warren in regulating land use is the preservation of residential life. Accordingly, Warren has attempted to maintain the quality of life in its neighborhoods by locating incompatible land uses in a manner so as to minimize their impact on residential life.
As part of its comprehensive zoning plan, the City of Warren regulates the ability of adult businesses to locate within the City by virtue of Ordinance 14.02(C).4 The ordinance requires: 1) that adult businesses be located on a major thoroughfare, as designated in the Master Thoroughfare Plan; 2) that the proposal site be no closer than 500 feet to the property line of an area zoned residential or an existing residential use; and 3) that the proposed site be no closer than 1000 feet to the property line of another adult business, or to the property line of any church or school. Any of the spatial criteria may be waived upon approval of 51 percent of the surrounding landowners.
In addition to being required to satisfy the spatial requirements of Ordinance 14.02(C), adult uses must locate in one of four zoning districts in Warren.5 An adult use may locate in a general business district (C-2), in a wholesale and intensive business district (C-3), and in industrial zones (M-1 and M-2). To locate in any of these four zoning districts, an adult use must obtain the special use approval of both the City Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. The application for a special use approval must be accompanied by a site plan application.6 A special use may be permitted only if it satisfies the standards
set forth in Section 22.14 and Section 22.16 of the Warren Zoning Ordinance. Finally, any business wishing to locate in the City Center District, an area zoned C-2 which surrounds a local government complex, must obtain the approval of the City Council.7
The history or Ordinance 14.02(C) dates to 1972 when the first adult business located in Warren. At that time, Warren sought to amend its zoning ordinance in order to bring adult uses within its scope. Following consultation between the City Planning Commission and the City Attorney's Office, a proposed ordinance regulating adult uses was prepared and submitted to the City Council for a public hearing on April 16, 1973. During the April 16, 1973 hearing, the City Council tabled the proposed amendments until its next scheduled meeting on May 21, 1973.
The proposed amendments were again considered during the May 21, 1973 meeting of the City Council. The City Council, however, again postponed acting on the amendments in order to await the outcome of the litigation in Young v. American Mini-Theatres, Inc., 427 U.S. 50, 96 S.Ct. 2440, 49 L.Ed.2d 310 (1976). Following announcement of the Supreme Court's decision in Young in 1978, the proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance resurfaced. On May 9, 1978, the Warren City Council voted to adopt Ordinance No. 30-559, an amendment to Section 14.02. This amendment modified Section 14.02 by requiring adult uses to satisfy the spatial limitations described earlier and by requiring adult uses to obtain the consent of 51 percent of the surrounding landowners before a "special use" approval could be granted. A second amendment to Section 14.02, Ordinance No. 30-366, was approved by the City Council on August 22, 1978. Ordinance No. 30-566 enacted only minor modifications.
On December 27, 1978, the Warren City Council approved a third amendment to Section 14.02, Ordinance No. 30-573. This ordinance rescinded the earlier provisions requiring adult use to obtain the approval of 51 percent of the surrounding landowners before locating on a proposed site. Ordinance No. 30-573 instead allowed the spatial requirements of Section 14.02(C) to be waived upon consent of 51 percent of the surrounding landowners. Section 14.02(C) was amended for the last time with the enactment of Ordinance No. 30-657. This amendment was not addressed specifically to adult uses and effected relatively minor changes in the ordinance. In part, Ordinance No. 30-657 acted to bring amusement centers within the purview of the Warren Zoning Ordinance. It is the cumulation of these amendments which the Court is asked to pass judgment on and which the Court shall collectively refer to as Ordinance 14.02(C).
A principal factual dispute in this case concerned the purpose which the City of Warren sought to achieve in enacting Ordinance 14.02(C). The plaintiffs strenuously argued that Warren sought to achieve no legitimate purpose in enacting Ordinance 14.02(C) and claimed that the ordinance serves only to restrict access to protected speech. The defendants argued that, by enacting Ordinance 14.02(C), Warren was acting to protect its neighborhoods and prevent the spread of urban blight.
Notably, none of the amendments to Section 14.02(C) contains any findings of fact or statements of purpose. Moreover, the City Council conducted only limited public hearing in connection with the amendments that now comprise Ordinance 14.02(C). Moreover, defendants submitted no evidence showing that the City Council, as a whole, ever considered any testimony or documents detailing the benefits of the dispersal type of zoning that was adopted. Looking almost exclusively to these facts, the plaintiffs argue that Ordinance 14.02(C) had no legitimate purpose when enacted and now acts only to suppress protected speech. Nevertheless, the plaintiffs have failed to consider many relevant facts and indicia of legislative intent which the Court finds revealing.
Having sifted carefully through the evidence before it, the Court believes that evidence of the purpose sought to be achieved through the enactment of Ordinance 14.02(C) can be found in three places. It can be found in the Warren City Council's actions and reliance upon Detroit's experience in passing the ordinance at issue in Young v. American Mini-Theatres, Inc., 427 U.S. 50, 96 S.Ct. 2440, 49 L.Ed.2d 310 (1976). Evidence of the purpose of Ordinance 14.02(C) can also be found in the testimony of Mr. John Daley, the principal draftsman of Ordinance 14.02(C), and in the testimony of various members of the Warren City Council. Finally, such evidence can be discerned from the requirements of the ordinance itself. The intent of the City of Warren in enacting Ordinance 14.02(C) is not, as plaintiffs argue, conclusively established by the absence of an expression of legislative intent in the Ordinance. Intent is not a one-dimensional characteristic.
As with any legislative history, determining the precise purpose sought to be achieved by the enactment of Ordinance 14.02(C) is difficult. Nevertheless, the Court believes that a careful review of the record in this case compels a finding that Warren was acting to protect residential life within its community. Although this purpose may not...
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