Garrett v. City of Littleton

• Decision Date: 31 January 1972
• Docket Number: No. 24883,24883
• Parties: Rex T. GARRETT and Martha Ann Garrett, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. The CITY OF LITTLETON, a Municipal Corporation, et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Page 370

493 P.2d 370

177 Colo. 167

Rex T. GARRETT and Martha Ann Garrett, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. The CITY OF LITTLETON, a Municipal Corporation, et al Defendants-Appellants.

No. 24883.

Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc.

Jan. 31, 1972.

Richard N. Graham, Englewood, for plaintiffs-appellees.

Alan L. Sternberg, Littleton, for defendants-appellants.

PRINGLE, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Arapahoe County District Court reversing a decision of the Littleton City Council which denied a rezoning application by two Littleton landowners. Rex. T. and Martha Ann Garrett were the plaintiffs in the trial court. The City of Littleton and the Littleton City Council were defendants in the trial court, and are appealing here a judgment of the district court adverse to them.

The essential facts of this case are uncontroverted. The Garretts own two undeveloped lots which front on South Broadway Street in Littleton. South Broadway is a major city street which runs north and south. This land is presently zoned R--2, which permits single family residences. South and west of the Garretts' property the land is zoned R--4 and R--5 and this property is being developed for multiple family dwellings. The land immediately north of the Garrett property is zoned B--1 and east across South Broadway the land is zoned B--2.

In 1970, the Garretts petitioned the Littleton City Council to rezone the two lots from R--2 to B--1. At a hearing before the City Council, the Garretts stated that the neighborhood around their land had changed from a residential to commercial use since the land was purchased in 1959, and that, therefore, the R--2 zoning classification was now impractical and confiscatory. As evidence of this the Garretts produced photographs of nearby retail commercial establishments, a traffic count, and two letters from local savings and loan associations stating that financing for residential construction on the Garretts' property would be impossible due to the high traffic and surrounding business developments. In support of their request to rezone the lots to a B--1 category, the Garretts testified that they had been in contact with the owner of a flower shop who had agreed to move onto their property and open a florist shop there if the City Council rezoned the land B--1. There was before the City Council a recommendation of the Planning Commission recommending a denial of the request for a B--1 zone on the grounds it was not compatible with adjacent R--2 zoning and would constitute strip zoning.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the City Council denied the application for rezoning. The council listed three reasons for its decision: (1) There had not been a change in the general character of the neighborhood; (2) a B--1 classification for the property would adversely affect the adjacent homes to the south and west; and, (3) there had been no error in the original R--2 zone.

The Garretts thereupon appealed the matter to the Arapahoe County District Court. After hearing arguments from the Garretts and the Littleton City Council, the court decided that 'the City Council's position in denying Plaintiff's rezoning (is) untenable.' Finding that the evidence supported a conclusion that the property was not capable of being developed for single-family R--2 use and was capable of being developed for commercial B--1 use, the court ordered the City Council to rezone the Garretts' property as B--1.

The court, in its findings, remarked that no application had been made for R--4 or R--5 zoning, and if such had been made it might have been granted.

The City of Littleton and Littleton City Council appeal from this judgment and decision of the district court. They contend that the court erred in ordering the City Council to rezone the property B--1. We agree and reverse the judgment of the district court.

Of crucial importance in this case is the fact that the Littleton Zoning Code has several available categories of zoning districts between R--2, the Garretts' present zone, and B--1, the requested zone. These intermediary zones are as follows: R--3 allows single family dwellings and any other use permitted in an R--2 district. R--4 allows two-family and multiple-family dwellings and any use permitted in R--3. R--5 allows colleges, boardinghouses, private medical centers, religious institutions, and and use permitted in R--4.

In their arguments before the City Council and the district court, the Garretts failed to offer any evidence showing that their property could not be used for any of the purposes permitted by any of these zones between R--2 and B--1. All their evidence and testimony was introduced for the purpose of showing first that their property could not be developed in the present R--2 category, and second, that it was capable of being developed in a B--1 zone. The Garretts' failure to also demonstrate that zone categories R--3, R--4 and R--5 do not afford any reasonable use of the property compels us to reverse the district court judgment ordering the Littleton City Council to rezone the land B--1. As we have pointed out, the trial court's decision is based solely on the ground that the land cannot be used for a single-family use and can be used for B--1. Such a finding is not in itself sufficient upon which the court could order the Council to rezone the land to B--1.

We have held that in order to obtain rezoning to permit a use which the applicant seeks, he must prove that it is not possible to use and develop the property for any other use enumerated in the existing zoning. Wright v. City of Littleton, Colo., 483 P.2d 953; Baum v. City and County of Denver, 147 Colo. 104, 363 P.2d 688. Similarly, if one seeks a lower classification of zoning than the zone presently existing, he must prove that it is not possible to use and develop the land for any uses permitted in zones which are in between the zone sought and the presently existing zone.

We have repeatedly held that the establishment of various use zones is strictly within the province of the legislative branch of the government. Littleton v. Quelland, 153 Colo. 515, 387 P.2d 29; Frankel v. City and County of Denver, 147 Colo. 373, 363 P.2d 1063; Nelson v. Farr, 143 Colo. 423, 354 P.2d 163. The reason for this rule is obvious. Courts are not equipped to make the decisions necessary to determine whether and how to zone particular parcels of land and cannot therefore sit as a 'super-zoning commission.' Baum v. City and County of Denver, supra; Robinson v. City of Bloomfield Hills, 350 Mich. 425, 86 N.W.2d 166. By ordering the City Council to rezone the Garretts' property to a B--1 classification when there were several potentially applicable zones between B--1 and R--2, there was implicit in the court decision a determination that these other possible zones also deprived the Garretts of their property without due process of law. This kind of determination is a clear example of a judicial body substituting its judgment...