Eckhardt v. City of Des Plaines
| Decision Date | 21 May 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. 34652,34652 |
| Citation | 150 N.E.2d 621,13 Ill.2d 562 |
| Parties | Alvina W. ECKHARDT, Appellee, v. CITY OF DES PLAINES, Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Marshall S. Howard, Chicago, for appellant.
Samuel T. Lawton, Jr., Chicago, for appellee.
This is an appeal by the city of Des Plaines from a declaratory judgment of the circuit court of Cook County holding the city's zoning ordinance void as to the property of the plaintiff, Alvina W. Eckhardt. Since the ordinance prohibits the granting of variations, this case does not fall within the rule set out in Bright v. City of Evanston, 10 Ill.2d 178, 139 N.E.2d 270.
The property in question is located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Des Plaines Avenue, a heavily traveled four-lane pavement, and River Street. It is about the center of a neighborhood extending from Mill Street on the south to approximately Perry Street extended to the north, and is improved with a two-story frame residence and a small stucco residence to the rear. Plaintiff purchased the premises in August, 1954, and has occupied them with her family as a residence since October 5, 1954. She now seeks to operate an old ladies' home or nursing home thereon.
It is contended by plaintiff that the zoning ordinance imposes a restrictive classification upon her property without substantial relation to the public health, safety, comfort, morals and welfare; that the ordinance in relegating nursing-home use to business or commercial districts is void as an unreasonable classification; and that such ordinance is in violation of her constitutional rights and violates the Revised Cities and Villages Act, Ill.Rev.Stat.1957, c. 24, § 1-1 et seq.
The east side of the section of Des Plaines Avenue heretofore referred to and the area to the east is zoned residential, while the west side of Des Plaines Avenue and the area to the west is zoned commercial. Both sides of Des Plaines Avenue and all of the property to the east are largely occupied by single family dwellings about 40 years old. The only commercial establishments in the immediate area (other than those on Pearson Street) are a gas station on the east side of Des Plaines Avenue and two gas stations and an automobile garage and sales agency on the west side thereof. The one gas station on the east side, however, is south of Mill Street, and of those businesses on the west side, only one gas station is north of Mill Street extended. The record discloses some multi-family occupancy along Des Plaines Avenue.
The position taken by the plaintiff is that her property is characterized by the commercial zoning and uses near it, the heavy traffic in front of it, and the multiplefamily use of the area of which it is a component part. She produced considerable evidence as to the commercial use of property abutting on Pearson Street which bisects Des Plaines Avenue at an angle from the southwest about a block north of the subject property, with a small triangular park separating the two streets at the apex opposite plaintiff's property. Such evidence is not impressive since that street is zoned for commercial use. It is noteworthy that even though the west side of Des Plaines Avenue is also zoned commercial, the majority of the...
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Matloob v. Village of Cahokia
...the property with knowledge of the pre-existing zoning classification, which has a bearing on his claim. Eckhardt v. City of Des Plaines (1958), 13 Ill.2d 562, 150 N.E.2d 621. The plaintiff's second argument is that a mobile home park has been permitted directly across Jerome Lane from his ......
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Urann v. Village of Hinsdale
...Hinsdale Avenue are not of new construction, that fact does not exclude them from the protection of zoning laws. (Eckhardt v. City of Des Plaines, 13 Ill.2d 562, 150 N.E.2d 621.) The railroad tracks and the industrial area to the north do not in themselves fix the character of plaintiffs' p......
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Kuiken v. Cook County
...with knowledge of the pre-existing zoning classification and we feel that this has a bearing on their claim. (Eckhardt v. City of Des Plaines, 13 Ill.2d 562, 150 N.E.2d 621.) However, this fact in itself does not preclude a purchaser from attacking the validity of an existing zoning ordinan......
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Grobman v. City of Des Plaines
...and he is in a different position than an owner who purchased prior to the restriction on the property. Eckhardt v. City of Des Plaines, 13 Ill.2d 562, 150 N.E.2d 621; People ex rel. Alco Deree Co. v. City of Chicago, 2 Ill.2d 350, 359--360, 118 N.E.2d For the reasons given, the judgment of......