City of Auburn v. Desgrosseilliers

• Decision Date: 16 July 1990
• Citation: 578 A.2d 712
• Parties: CITY OF AUBURN v. Harvey DESGROSSEILLIERS and Rachel Desgrosseilliers.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 712

578 A.2d 712

CITY OF AUBURN v. Harvey DESGROSSEILLIERS and Rachel Desgrosseilliers.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued May 31, 1990.

Decided July 16, 1990.

Curtis Webber (orally), Linnell, Choate & Webber, Auburn, for City of Auburn.

Robert S. Hark (orally), Isaacson & Raymond, Lewiston, for Harvey and Rachel Desgrosseilliers.

Before McKUSICK, C.J., and ROBERTS, WATHEN, GLASSMAN and COLLINS, JJ.

COLLINS, Justice.

In an enforcement proceeding initiated by the City of Auburn, the District Court (Lewiston, Scales, A.R.J.) entered a judgment finding that Harvey and Rachel Desgrosseilliers had violated Auburn's zoning ordinance by operating a commercial landscaping service and a retail tree and plant nursery business in a General Business zoning district. On the Desgrosseilliers' appeal from the District Court's judgment, the Superior Court (Androscoggin County, Alexander, J.) determined that the City was equitably estopped from bringing this enforcement procedure against the Desgrosseilliers. The Superior Court therefore vacated the District Court's judgment. The City of Auburn now brings this timely appeal from the Superior Court's judgment.

I.

The Desgrosseilliers presently operate a multi-business operation in Auburn consisting of a gift shop, a photographic studio, a landscaping business, and a retail plant and tree nursery. In June, 1985, the Desgrosseilliers met with James McPhee, a city official, ¹ to discuss their intention to begin this multi-business operation. McPhee told the Desgrosseilliers that if they wished to be able to operate these businesses under the Auburn zoning ordinance they needed to change the zoning district in which the Desgrosseilliers' proposed business site was located from an Urban Residence zoning district to a General Business zoning district. McPhee helped the Desgrosseilliers draw up a petition form to change the zoning district. On cross examination at trial, McPhee admitted that his "interpretation has consistently been since 1983 that neither landscaping services nor a retail sales nursery" were permitted in a General Business zoning district. Nevertheless, McPhee admitted that he neither presented this problem to the Desgrosseilliers nor raised it before either the Auburn Planning Board or the City Council.

The Desgrosseilliers presented their petition to change the zoning district to the Auburn Planning Board and the Auburn City Council, each time disclosing the fact that they intended to operate both a landscaping service and a plant and tree nursery in the zoning district being considered. Neither the Planning Board nor the City Council raised the issue whether the Desgrosseilliers would or would not be able to engage in their desired activities in the proposed General Business zoning district. The proposed change in zoning was recommended by the Planning Board and adopted by the City Council and became effective on October 29, 1985.

The Desgrosseilliers began conducting their multi-business operation in September, 1985, and have invested substantial sums of money in their businesses since then. In November, 1985, the City issued two sign permits to the Desgrosseilliers, each of which states that the permit was issued to "6 Corners Nursery Garden Center," and one of which states that the sign will read "6 Corners Nursery/Tree Care/Garden Center."

Rachel Desgrosseilliers testified that she and her husband had no idea that there might be problems operating their businesses in the General Business zone until 1987, when McPhee's mother told them that their land uses were unlawful. Rachel Desgrosseillier met with McPhee immediately thereafter, and was told by McPhee, "Well, you are unlawful.... Well, you always have been.... Because you were never really approved." Rachel Desgrosseillier testified that in 1987 she and her husband repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, attempted to get a comprehensible explanation from McPhee why their business activities were unlawful.

The City of Auburn took no action until December of 1988, when it served a Land Use Citation and Complaint against the Desgrosseilliers, claiming that the Desgrosseilliers had violated the Auburn zoning ordinance, chapter 29, sections 3.1(A) and 3.62. The City sought to enjoin the Desgrosseilliers from continuing these violations, and sought civil penalties and attorney fees, under 30 M.R.S.A. § 4966 (Supp.1987). ² In March, 1989, after trial, the District Court found that the Desgrosseilliers' nursery and landscaping businesses were operating in violation of the Auburn ordinance, that neither business was a lawful nonconforming use, and that the City was not estopped from prosecuting this case. The court enjoined the Desgrosseilliers from continuing their commercial nursery and commercial landscaping activities, ordered abatement of the commercial nursery stock planted on the premises within eight months, and fined the Desgrosseilliers $500 plus a $50 surcharge. The court found that imposing the City's attorney fees on the Desgrosseilliers would be unjust in the circumstances of this case.

On the Desgrosseilliers' appeal, the Superior Court vacated the District Court's judgment. The Superior Court stated that "in the very special fact circumstances of this case and with the unique factfindings of the District Court, the City of Auburn is barred by the doctrine of equitable estoppel from seeking injunction against or penalties from the defendants" as a result of the operation of their nursery and landscaping businesses. This appeal followed.

II.

In this case, the Superior Court acted as an intermediate appellate court reviewing the proceedings of the District Court. On this appeal from the Superior Court's judgment, we likewise examine the proceedings in the District Court. Dunning v. Dunning 495 A.2d 821, 823 n. 1 (Me.1985); City of Portland v. Gemini Concerts, Inc., 481 A.2d 180, 181 (Me.1984); Williams v. Williams, 444 A.2d 977, 978-79 (Me.1982).

The principal question that the parties have argued before us is whether the District Court, on the facts that it found, was compelled to apply the doctrine of equitable estoppel in this case. In Shackforth & Gooch, Inc. v. Town of Kennebunk, 486 A.2d 102 (Me.1984), we discussed the elements of equitable estoppel:

Proper application of the doctrine of equitable estoppel rests on the factual determination that "the declaration or acts relied upon must have induced the party seeking to enforce the estoppel to do what resulted to his detriment, and what he would not otherwise have done." Martin v. Prudential Insurance Co., 389 A.2d 28, 31 (Me.1978) (quoting Allum v. Perry, 68 Me. 232, 234 (1878)). One who has induced another to believe what is untrue may not later assert the truth. Roberts v. Maine Bonding & Casualty Co., 404 A.2d 238, 241 (Me.1979). Furthermore, the reliance upon which estoppel is claimed must have been reasonable. Id.

Shackforth, 486 A.2d at 105-06.

At common law, it was held that "equitable estoppel could never be applied against any governmental official or agency acting in the discharge of any governmental function." Maine School Administrative District No. 15 v. Raynolds, 413 A.2d 523, 533 (Me.1980). However, in Raynolds we squarely rejected the common law's inflexible approach:

The law of Maine is, rather, that depending on the totality of the particular circumstances involved, which will include the nature of the particular governmental official or agency acting and of the particular governmental function being discharged as precipitating particular considerations of public policy, equitable estoppel may be applied to activities of a governmental official or agency in the discharge of governmental functions.

Id. ³ We therefore direct our attention to the particular circumstances surrounding the Desgrosseilliers' claim of estoppel in the present case.

The District Court found that when the Desgrosseilliers initially met with McPhee and described to him exactly what business activities they wished to commence, McPhee advised them to seek a zoning district change from Urban Residence to General Business, helped them draft a proposal to change the zoning district, and "did not warn them that a nursery or a landscaping business was forbidden in the General Business Zone." The court determined that the Desgrosseilliers "were reasonably given to understand that in the General Business Zone they could carry on all of their intended operations." The court further found...