City of Roswell v. Heavy Machines Co. Inc.

• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: GREGORY
• Citation: City of Roswell v. Heavy Machines Co. Inc., 349 S.E.2d 743, 256 Ga. 472 (Ga. 1986)
• Decision Date: 13 November 1986
• Docket Number: No. 43817,43817
• Parties: CITY OF ROSWELL et al. v. HEAVY MACHINES CO. INC.

Page 743

349 S.E.2d 743

256 Ga. 472

CITY OF ROSWELL et al. v. HEAVY MACHINES CO. INC.

No. 43817.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Nov. 13, 1986.

Reconsideration Denied Dec. 2, 1986.

Michael E. Sullivan, Polatty & Sullivan, Roswell, for City of Roswell, Ga., et al.

Wendell K. Willard, Willard & Olsen, Tucker, for Heavy Machines Co. Inc.

GREGORY, Justice.

The City of Roswell appeals a decision by the Superior Court of Fulton County ordering the municipality to rezone property owned by Heavy Machines Co. We affirm.

Heavy Machines Co. bought a 28.6-acre tract of land in Roswell in 1982 for $982,000. An 8.9-acre section of the tract facing Crossville Road is zoned O-P, office-professional. An adjoining 19.7-acre tract facing Houze Street is zoned R-5, a medium density residential classification. The property is surrounded by a patchwork of zoning classifications ranging from heavy commercial and office-professional to residential.

On March 29, 1985, Heavy Machines Co. applied to the City of Roswell for rezoning of the entire tract to C-3, a heavy commercial zoning. After a hearing on the application, the city's planning commission recommended denial. Another hearing was held before the city council, which voted unanimously to deny the application.

Heavy Machines Co. then filed a complaint in equity in the Superior Court of Fulton County against the city council and several city officials seeking to have the court declare the existing zoning of its property unconstitutional.

At trial, Heavy Machines Co. called three expert witnesses. Real estate appraiser Michael Childree estimated the current value of the 8.9-acre portion of the tract zoned O-P to be $4,600,000 and the 19.7-acre portion to be $1,475,000. Childree estimated the value of the property if rezoned C-3 commercial would be $10 million, with the 19.7-acre portion alone worth $6,860,000.

Thomas Roberts, a zoning and land use consultant, testified extensively on the zoning and use of land surrounding the property in question. Roberts described Heavy Machine's property as an "island" of residentially zoned property "coming out all the way into what amounts to a very busy commercial section of Roswell." He concluded the current zoning was not reasonable or appropriate. Under cross-examination, Roberts stated his belief that commercial rezoning of the property should be accompanied by conditions on development of the property to ameliorate increased traffic problems. Civil engineer John Ross testified the property was currently undeveloped but could support commercial development in terms of water and sewer facilities, and drainage and internal road systems.

Don Altobelli, a traffic and transportation expert, testified for the city based on his traffic analysis of the area surrounding the proposed rezoning. Altobelli identified six intersections that would be influenced by commercial rezoning, and two that would suffer a significant adverse effect. Altobelli concluded the existing roads just barely handle existing traffic and could not handle the increases that would accompany commercial rezoning of the property in question. He predicted the number of traffic delays and traffic accidents in the area would increase.

There was...