Goux v. St. Tammany Parish Gov't
| Decision Date | 24 October 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. 2013 CA 1387.,2013 CA 1387. |
| Citation | 156 So.3d 714 |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
| Parties | Ronald A. GOUX v. ST. TAMMANY PARISH GOVERNMENT. |
156 So.3d 714
Ronald A. GOUX
v.
ST. TAMMANY PARISH GOVERNMENT.
No. 2013 CA 1387.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.
Oct. 24, 2014.
Jeremy D. Goux, and Paul J. Mayronne, Covington, LA, for Plaintiffs–Appellants, Ronald A. Goux, Quatreg 2112, LLC. and Girt Industries, L.L.C.
Alex J. Peragine, Covington, LA, for Intervenors–Appellees, Aurelia Marek, Richard Marek, James McNary, Mary Bielman, George Harvey, Deborah Harvey, William Weil, Darlene Olano, Richard Olano, Jeff LaCour, Jacquelyn LaCour, Ronald Tweedel, Linda Tweedel, Andrew Moran, and Citizens For Balanced Development, a Louisiana Nonprofit Corporation.
Michael Sevante, Mandeville, LA, for Defendant–Appellee, St. Tammany Parish Government.
Before WHIPPLE, C.J., GUIDRY, PETTIGREW, McDONALD, and McCLENDON, JJ.
PETTIGREW, J.
This matter is before us on appeal by plaintiffs from a judgment of the trial court, overruling their exception raising the objection of no right of action and denying plaintiffs' request for mandamus relief, with regard to an alleged mapping error on the St. Tammany Parish zoning map. For the following reasons, we reverse, in part, the trial court judgment, and grant mandamus in favor of plaintiffs as discussed in more detail below.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
In 2007, the St. Tammany Parish Council (“Council”) began a comprehensive rezoning
of all unincorporated areas of St. Tammany Parish. For this purpose, the Council established a Special Zoning Commission (“Zoning Commission”) to make recommendations to the Council on all such properties. The Council held various public meetings in and around St. Tammany Parish to get input and hear requests from landowners and residents regarding zoning. At all times pertinent hereto, Ronald A. Goux owned approximately 36.6 acres of land in St. Tammany Parish, with said property being situated in the Southwest corner of the intersection of U.S. Interstate 12 and Louisiana Highway 21, with frontage along Brewster Road (“the 36.6 acres”).
On December 15, 2008, Mr. Goux, through his counsel, issued a written request to St. Tammany Parish Government (“the Parish”) to have the 36.6 acres zoned HC–3. Attached to this letter was a survey map of Mr. Goux's property, including a legal description of said property.1 At the January 13, 2009 Zoning Commission meeting, Mr. Goux's counsel asserted that the 36.6 acres was bordered by U.S. Interstate 12 to the North; property, historically zoned C–2 Highway Commercial, to the East, Brewster Road to the South; and a church, proposed to be rezoned PF–1, to the West. He further argued that similarly situated large parcels of land on the Northwest, Northeast, and Southeast quadrants of the intersection of U.S. Interstate 12 and Louisiana Highway 21 had all historically been zoned C–2 Highway Commercial and were proposed to be rezoned to HC–3 as part of the Parish's comprehensive rezoning process.
According to the record, the Zoning Commission recommended that the 36.6 acres be rezoned HC–3 pursuant to the comprehensive rezoning plan, subject to a portion of the 36.6 acres measuring 75' in depth from South to North running the entire length of the property, parallel to Brewster Road, from East to West, being rezoned A–3. This matter was then placed on the agenda for the Council's February meeting, but tabled.2 However, the ordinance to adopt the recommendations of the Zoning Commission and comprehensively rezone the Southwest Study Area, which includes the 36.6 acres, was introduced as Ordinance Calendar No. 4029 on March 5, 2009, and then reintroduced multiple times thereafter with amendments. At the June 4, 2009 Council meeting, numerous changes were made to the Southwest Study Zone map, including the rezoning of the 75' strip of Mr. Goux's property that had previously been zoned A–3 to HC–3.3 This, presumably, resulted in the entirety of Mr. Goux's 36.6 acres being zoned HC–3.
On September 3, 2009, Ordinance Calendar No. 4029, as amended, appeared on the
Council's agenda. The ordinance was adopted by the Council and became Ordinance C.S. No. 09–2116.4 The pertinent portions of Ordinance C.S. No. 09–2116 provided as follows:
THE PARISH OF ST. TAMMANY HEREBY ORDAINS that the Unified Development Code, Volume 1 is hereby amended to include the Zoning Map recommended by the St. Tammany Parish Zoning Commission on February 10, 2009, as amended. (See Attached Map) The attached map being the Zoning Base Map for the South West Study Area.
BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that, upon the effective date of this ordinance, all land uses within the area bounded by Highway 59 on the east, Lake Pontchartrain on the south, the Tangipahoa Parish Line on the west, and the Tchefuncta River to Highway 190 to Highway 36 on the north shall be regulated in accordance with the Unified Development Code and this map.
REPEAL: All Ordinances or parts of Ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
Subsequent to the passage of the amended ordinance on September 3, 2009, Parish staff erred when translating the action taken by the Council to the Parish Zoning map. In particular, the westernmost 10 acres of Mr. Goux's property (“the 10 acres”) was erroneously identified on the Parish zoning map as being zoned CB–1.5
In 2012, Mr. Goux discovered this error by the Parish and brought it to the attention of Sidney Fontenot, the Director of Planning and Permits for the Parish, requesting that it be corrected. After investigating the matter, Mr. Fontenot acknowledged the error and indicated that he believed that in order to correct it, the matter would need to be presented to the Zoning Commission and ultimately the Council. Thereafter, the Parish placed a proposal on the Zoning Commission's agenda to have the 10 acres rezoned from CB–1 to HC–3.6
The Parish's rezoning proposal was first considered by the Zoning Commission at its November 7, 2012 meeting, at which time the matter was tabled. At its December 4, 2012 meeting, the Zoning Commission heard from counsel for Mr. Goux, as well as numerous residents who lived in neighborhoods around the Brewster Road area. Counsel for Mr. Goux argued that the entirety of the property had already been zoned HC–3 and that the map simply needed to be corrected. The residents all opposed the HC–3 zoning, arguing that the error in the map had misled the public into believing there would be a buffer between the HC–3 property and the numerous neighborhoods adjoining the property. The Zoning Commission's legal counsel, Terry Hand, advised the commission members that he had researched the matter and believed that the mapping error was a technical change that could be corrected by going through the process of putting it before the Zoning Commission and ultimately the Council. Mr. Hand added further that he had found three prior cases in which the Zoning Commission was presented with similar situations and had corrected the errors before it in each of those cases. Some of the commission members commented that they did not care about precedent, noting that citizens of the Parish had purchased property based on the assumption that there would be a buffer between the neighborhoods and the commercial acreage on Brewster Road. Other commission members indicated that the mapping error was made to the detriment of the people who live in the area of Brewster Road because they did not have the opportunity to have their voices heard. After considering the pleas from the public, and in direct opposition to its own legal counsel's advice, the Zoning Commission denied a motion to approve the change in zoning for the 10 acres from CB–1 to HC–3. Although constant in his position that the rezoning process instituted by the Parish was erroneous, Mr. Goux appealed the Zoning Commission's decision to the Council to protect his rights. His appeal was set to be heard in January 2013, but was tabled by the Council upon advice by Mr. Goux that a mandamus action on the matter would be filed.
On February 1, 2013, Mr. Goux, along with Quatreg 2112, LLC, and Girt Industries, LLC (collectively “Goux”), filed a petition for writ of mandamus, requesting that the trial court order the Parish to correct its mapping error so that the Parish zoning map accurately reflects the entire 36.6 acres, including the 10 acres, as being zoned HC–3, pursuant to Ordinance C.S. No. 09–2116. Goux further requested that the trial court direct the Parish to withdraw and dismiss its erroneous rezoning request relative to the 10 acres. On February 7, 2013, interveners7 filed a petition, arguing that mandamus was an extraordinary remedy and that Goux had other remedies available.
The Parish filed an answer to Goux's petition for writ of mandamus on February 8, 2013, admitting, among other things, that pursuant to Ordinance C.S. No. 09–2116, the entirety of the 36.6 acres had been zoned HC–3 and that the 10 acres of Mr. Goux's property had been erroneously identified on the Parish zoning map because “Parish staff erred when performing its ministerial duty of translating the action taken...
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