American Wood Products Co. v. City of Minneapolis
| Decision Date | 08 September 1927 |
| Citation | 21 F.2d 440 |
| Parties | AMERICAN WOOD PRODUCTS CO. et al. v. CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota |
George T. Simpson, of Minneapolis, Minn., for complainants.
Neil M. Cronin and R. S. Wiggin, both of Minneapolis, Minn., for defendants.
The evidence was taken, the case argued and held under advisement, awaiting the decision of the United States Supreme Court in cases involving the validity of zoning ordinances generally, and was finally reargued and submitted on the 1st day of September, 1927.
The action is, in effect, a consolidation of four separate actions. The complainants are all residents of and property owners in the city of Minneapolis. Some forty-five years ago, there was constructed on the east bank of the Mississippi river by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company a branch line of railroad connecting what is known as the Milwaukee Short Line with the line of the Great Northern to the north. This branch line is entirely within the city limits of Minneapolis. At the time it was constructed, the part of the city through which it ran was almost entirely undeveloped and largely uninhabited. This line of track is known as the "East Side spur." During recent years, it has been heavily used because of the business routed over it from connecting lines of the Milwaukee and also because of the industries which have grown up beside it, particularly near its northern terminus.
The complainant American Wood Products Company located on the easterly side of this spur near its southern terminus in 1913 and established a wood-working factory. At the time of its location, an ordinance of the city of Minneapolis designated this property for industrial use. The complainant has substantial factory buildings upon its property, has built up a successful and growing business, and needs to expand its facilities. On April 7, 1924, the city of Minneapolis passed a zoning ordinance restricting the district within which this property is located for multiple dwellings. The effect of this ordinance was not to prohibit the existing use of the factory of the American Wood Products Company, but to prevent the use of any of its unimproved property for the purpose of building other factory buildings or additions to its present factory. The complainant applied to the building inspector of the city of Minneapolis for a permit to erect an addition to its factory, which was refused by him because of the ordinance. The highest and most valuable use to which the real estate owned by the complainant may be put is industrial use, because of the fact that it is situated on the spur track of the Milwaukee Road. For the same reason, it has little value as a site for multiple dwellings, and the effect of the designation made by the zoning ordinance is to greatly reduce the value of the complainant's property. The property contains some 32,000 square feet, or five city lots, and there is evidence which would justify the conclusion that it was worth about $12,800 for industrial purposes, and not to exceed $1,500 for multiple dwelling purposes, that the present buildings on the property are worth in the neighborhood of $22,000, and that these buildings are useful only for industrial purposes and cannot be used for any other.
The complainant T. Benson owns vacant trackage property upon this same spur, north of the property of the American Wood Products Company and on the same side of the track. He has applied for a permit for a building to be used as a factory. His application was denied because of the ordinance. His property is also substantially more valuable for industrial purposes than for multiple dwelling purposes, and the effect of the ordinance as to him is to seriously depreciate the value of his property. He has some eighteen lots, containing 90,000 square feet, and the evidence most favorable to him would justify a conclusion that it was worth some $36,000 for industrial purposes, and not over $5,400 for multiple dwelling purposes.
The property of the complainant Northwestern Feed Company also contains about 90,000 square feet, and has upon it a building used as a feed mill and for the storage of feed and grain, which cost about $30,000. It is trackage property also on the East Side spur, to the north of the property of the complainant T. Benson, and on the same side of the track. The evidence most favorable to the complainant would indicate the value of this property for industrial purposes to be $40,500, and possibly $3,600 for multiple dwelling purposes. The ordinance has the same effect upon it which it has upon the property of the American Wood Products Company. The complainant Northwestern Feed Company also has applied for a permit for a building to increase its facilities, which was refused because of the zoning ordinance, and the evidence indicates that, by reason of the fact that it has not been able to increase its plant, it was obliged to spend some $30,000 during the year 1925 for additional storage space in connection with its business. The evidence also shows that almost directly to the west and across the track is property of much the same class and character, which is zoned as "light industrial," and which is occupied and used by an oil company for the purpose of storing oil and gasoline.
The property of the complainant Lyle Culvert & Road Equipment Company is not directly on the tracks of the East Side spur, but is close to them, and there is a switch owned by it which connects it with the spur. It has upon it no substantial improvements, and is, in effect, vacant and unimproved land. Like the property of the other complainants, its most valuable use would be for industry, and it has a very substantially less value for other uses. It comprises eighteen lots, which this complainant values for industrial purposes at $50,000, and not to exceed $3,600 for multiple dwelling purposes. The side track into the property was built by the complainant at a cost of $4,000, in anticipation of industrial development. It also has applied to the building inspector of the city of Minneapolis for a permit to establish a factory upon its property, which also has been refused because of the zoning ordinance. The effect of the ordinance upon the value of its property is substantially the same as it is with respect to the property of the other complainants.
In my judgment, the value of the property of the various complainants for industrial purposes is from five to eight times as great as it would be for dwelling house purposes, because, while the tracks of the Milwaukee Railway Company are an advantage to industry, it is a well-known fact that people do not care to live on premises directly adjoining the heavily operated tracks of a railroad. The noise, the dirt, the danger to children, directly affect the value of such property for such a use.
The general situation of this property is a peculiar one. Slightly to the east lies the city limits of the city of St. Paul, and the use of property slightly to the east and in St. Paul is a heavy industrial use, and it is part of what is known as the Midway District. To the north, University avenue is an industrial street, and north of that and east of the spur, the territory is given up largely to industry. To the west of this property and between the spur and the Mississippi river, the property is mainly residential in character, and it is but a short distance from the River boulevard, which is devoted principally to handsome single residences. Between the spur and the city limits of the city of St. Paul, in the district where the complainants' properties are situated, the territory is also largely residential, and there has been no considerable development of industry.
The University of Minnesota is located in the city of Minneapolis on the east side of the Mississippi river, within a short distance of the district in which the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
City of St. Paul v. Chicago, St. P., M. & O. Ry. Co.
...enough to establish its invalidity. Goldblatt v. Town of Hempstead, supra at 594, 82 S.Ct. at 990,10 American Wood Products Co. v. City of Minneapolis, 21 F.2d 440, 444 (D.Minn.1927) (J. Sanborn), aff'd, 35 F.2d 657 (8th Cir. 1929); Kiges v. City of St. Paul, 62 N.W.2d at 369. Nor can it be......
-
Izaak Walton League of America v. St. Clair
...enough to establish its invalidity. Goldblatt v. Town of Hempstead, supra at 594, 82 S.Ct. at 990,10 American Wood Products Co. v. City of Minneapolis, 21 F.2d 440, 444 (D.Minn.1927) (J. Sanborn), aff'd, 35 F.2d 657 (8th Cir. 1929); Kiges v. City of St. Paul, 240 Minn. 522, 62 N.W.2d at 369......
-
Art Neon Co. v. City and County of Denver
...not enough to establish its invalidity. Goldblatt v. Town of Hempstead, supra at 594, 82 S.Ct. at 990, American Wood Products Co. v. City of Minneapolis, 21 F. 2d 440, 444 (D.Minn.1927) (J. Sanborn), aff'd, 35 F.2d 657 (8th Cir. 1929); Kiges v. City of St. Paul 240 Minn. 522, 62 N.W.2d 363 ......
-
Appeal Of Parker.
...is harsh and seriously depreciates the value of complainant's property is not enough to establish its invalidity. American Wood Products Co. v. Minneapolis, D.C., 21 F.2d 440; Hadacheck v. Sebastian, supra. There is no serious difference of opinion in respect of the validity of laws and reg......