City of Miami Beach v. Hogan

• Court: Florida Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: MATHEWS; HOBSON, C. J., and TERRELL
• Citation: City of Miami Beach v. Hogan, 63 So.2d 493 (Fla. 1953)
• Decision Date: 27 January 1953
• Parties: CITY OF MIAMI BEACH v. HOGAN.

Page 493

63 So.2d 493

CITY OF MIAMI BEACH v. HOGAN.

Supreme Court of Florida, en Banc.

Jan. 27, 1953.

Rehearing Denied March 26, 1953.

Ben Shepard, Miami, for petitioner.

Hoffman, Kemper & Johnson, Miami, for respondent.

MATHEWS, Justice.

The City of Miami Beach filed a petition on April 4, 1952 to condemn the property in question for park purposes, pursuant to resolution theretofore adopted declaring it to be necessary to acquire the property for park purposes.

On the 29th of April, 1952 the respondent, who was the owner of a portion of the property, filed a bill of complaint attacking the reasonableness of the zoning ordinance as being unconstitutional and invalid as applied to her property and praying the court to enjoin the city from interfering with the use of the property for hotel purposes, and she also prayed for an order staying the proceedings in the condemnation suit until final determination of the issues in the equity suit.

On the 23rd of July she filed an amendment to the bill of complaint alleging that she had petitioned the city council to change she zoning on her property so that the property might be used for multiple family apartments and hotels. In the amendment she alleges the city council, by unanimous vote, had denied her petition.

The city filed a motion to dismiss. Thereafter the court denied the motion to dismiss and entered an order staying the prosecution of the condemnation proceedings until the final disposition of the equity case. The petition for certiorari is to review the above-mentioned order.

The grounds of the motion to dismiss were the failure of the bill of complaint to state a claim upon which equitable relief could be granted and that the bill of complaint, as amended, affirmatively showed that the plaintiff had not exhausted her administrative remedies.

The respondent relies upon the case of City of Miami Beach v. First Trust Company, Fla., 45 So.2d 681, which is sometimes referred to as the 'Firestone Case.' In that case the lower court granted the relief prayed for by the property owner and the case was affirmed on rehearing with a divided court. The 'Firestone Case' has some features similar to those in the case at bar. However, in the 'Firestone Case' the condemnation suit was not filed until approximately six months after the re-zoning suit had been instituted and the owners of the property had applied for relief to the Zoning Board for adjustment before they instituted suit. These facts do not appear in the case at bar.

The Zoning Ordinance was adopted December 3, 1930, pursuant to Chapter 9837, Special Acts of 1923. This was the general and comprehensive zoning ordinance. At the time of its adoption the population of the City of Miami Beach was about 6,000. No one could visualize the rapid progress, development and growth of Miami Beach, and no doubt if those who adopted the zoning ordinance could have prophesied the future growth of Miami Beach, the zoning restrictions would have been tighter and more provision would have been made for parks, playgrounds and access to the ocean.

Prior to the opinion in the case of the City of Miami Beach v. First Trust Company, supra, decided July 5, 1949, and the rehearing opinion handed down March 10, 1950, this court had adhered to the doctrine that a regularly enacted ordinance will be presumed to be valid until the contrary is shown and a party who seeks to overthrow such an ordinance has the burden of establishing its invalidity. State ex rel. Taylor v. City of Jacksonville, 101 Fla. 1241, 133 So. 114.

With reference to zoning ordinances the court had announced the doctrine that in case an ordinance dealing with the property zoned is the subject of dispute, the court will not substitute its judgment for that of the municipality but will sustain the legislative intent of the ordinance if the matter is 'fairly debatable.' City of Miami Beach v. Ocean & Inland Company, 147 Fla. 480...