Hawkins v. Town of Foster, s. 93-524-A
| Decision Date | 06 March 1998 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 93-524-A,s. 93-524-A |
| Citation | 708 A.2d 178 |
| Parties | John HAWKINS et al v. TOWN OF FOSTER. TOWN OF FOSTER v. John HAWKINS et al. ppeal, 95-584-Appeal. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
James E. Kelleher, John C. Revens, Warwick, for Plaintiffs.
Nicholas Gorham, North Scituate, for Defendants.
Before WEISBERGER, C.J., and LEDERBERG, FLANDERS and GOLDBERG, JJ.
These consolidated cases arose out of John and Bertha Hawkins's (Hawkinses) operation of a camping facility in the Town of Foster, Rhode Island (Foster or town). At issue are the validity of the town's campground ordinance and the applicability of the town's zoning ordinances and its ordinances that license trailers and trailer parks. Basically, this litigation centers on whether the Hawkinses should be allowed to accommodate trailers on a year-round basis at their campground. For the following reasons, we sustain Foster's appeal in Hawkins v. Town of Foster, (No. 91-8339), and deny and dismiss the Hawkinses' appeal in Town of Foster v. Hawkins, (No. 93-5038). A brief summary of the facts and procedural history follows with additional details provided as needed in the discussion of the issues raised by these appeals.
The Hawkinses have been the owners and operators of the Whippoorwill Hill Family Campground (Whippoorwill) in Foster since 1968. Whippoorwill has approximately 150 campsites and is equipped to accommodate campers who bring in either tents or trailers. Approximately 140 of the sites at Whippoorwill are designed for trailers. In 1965 the town enacted "An Ordinance Regulating Privately Owned Camping Areas in the Town of Foster" (hereafter referred to as campground ordinance), requiring a license to be obtained in order to operate a private camping area within the town and mandating the closure of such campgrounds during the month of January. Prior to commencing their operations, the Hawkinses applied for and were granted a license under the campground ordinance. Because the town issued its campground licenses only on a yearly basis, the Hawkinses applied for and renewed their license each year from 1969 through 1992.
In 1991, the Hawkinses kept Whippoorwill open during the month of January, claiming that several campers had asked to use the campground during the winter months. The Hawkinses also explained that they expected that the presence of year-round campers would decrease the vandalism that had plagued Whippoorwill during its period of closure. Moreover, they hoped that the added revenue would help offset the burden of an increase in Foster's tax rate. In response to the campground's operation during the mandated closure period, the Hawkinses were fined $100. They paid the fine under protest. According to testimony offered at trial, Whippoorwill has approximately thirty sites that are equipped to provide camper trailers with water during the winter months when approximately five or six trailers remained.
In August of 1991, the town amended its campground ordinance to provide mandatory closure in both January and February and to increase the fine for violating the ordinance. The Hawkinses brought suit in the Superior Court on December 12, 1991, seeking to have the campground ordinance declared void as ultra vires. They also sought an injunction prohibiting the town from taking any action to prevent the operation of Whippoorwill as long as the campground was in compliance with the applicable rules and regulations of the State Department of Health. A justice of the Superior Court entered a temporary restraining order on January 2, 1992, barring the town from enforcing its campground ordinance.
The case was tried before another justice of the Superior Court in April 1993. Shortly before the commencement of trial on the Hawkinses' complaint, the town moved to amend its answer to include affirmative defenses, specifically, that the Hawkinses' operation of Whippoorwill violated the town's zoning ordinance as well as the ordinances regulating the licensing of trailers and trailer parks (hereafter referred to as trailer and trailer park ordinances). That motion was granted over the Hawkinses' objection. The trial justice, however, did not allow the town to present evidence on these affirmative defenses despite Foster's numerous offers of proof. The trial ended favorably for the Hawkinses with a judgment declaring the campground ordinance to be ultra vires and therefore void. The town appealed that order to this Court.
On September 10, 1993, after the entry of a final judgment in the first trial, the town filed a separate civil action against the Hawkinses, alleging that the presence of the trailers at Whippoorwill violated the town's zoning ordinance as well as its trailer and trailer park ordinances. The town also claimed that the Hawkinses' use of Whippoorwill as a year-round camping area constituted a public nuisance under G.L.1956 § 10-1-1. The Hawkinses moved to have this second case dismissed on the ground that the claims presented therein were compulsory counterclaims in the first case and, not having been raised as such by the town in the initial litigation, were irretrievably waived. On October 28, 1993, this Court granted the town's motion to remand the first case to the Superior Court so that the town could amend its answer to assert counterclaims pertaining to the town's zoning, trailer and trailer park ordinances. On February 15, 1994, a third justice of the Superior Court heard and denied the Hawkinses' motion to dismiss the second case. The parties apparently understood the justice to have ruled that, for the purposes of the initial litigation, the town's claims were permissive rather than compulsory counterclaims.
The Hawkinses then sought certiorari from this Court, asking us to halt the proceedings in the Superior Court and enjoin the town from enforcing its zoning, trailer, and trailer park ordinances on the grounds of res adjudicata and collateral estoppel. On July 29, 1994, this Court denied their petition and granted the town's motion that the Superior Court be allowed to retain jurisdiction of the first lawsuit until the town's counterclaims were "fully adjudicated."
The second trial was presided over by a fourth justice of the Superior Court. After several days of testimony and a view of the site at Whippoorwill, the trial justice ruled that the occupation of trailers as dwelling units at Whippoorwill did not violate the town's zoning ordinance, nor did it constitute a public nuisance. The justice did find, however, that the trailers at Whippoorwill violated Foster's trailer and trailer park ordinances.
The town appealed to this Court both the ruling that the campground ordinance was ultra vires and the finding in the second case that the year-round occupation of trailers at Whippoorwill did not violate the town's zoning ordinance. In addition, the town argued that the trial justice erred when he determined that the year-round presence of occupied trailers at Whippoorwill did not amount to a public nuisance. The Hawkinses, in turn, appealed both the finding that the trailers at Whippoorwill violated the town's trailer and trailer park ordinances, and the denial of their motion to dismiss the second case, insisting that the town's claims should have been presented as compulsory counterclaims in the first case. The Hawkinses additionally argued that the doctrine of equitable estoppel should prevent the town from effectively shutting down Whippoorwill by enforcing its trailer and trailer park ordinances.
It is well-established that cities and towns have limited power "to enact ordinances, except [by virtue of] those powers from time to time delegated to them by the Legislature." Bertrand v. Di Carlo, 111 R.I. 509, 511, 304 A.2d 658, 659 (1973). The town's authority to regulate the operation of Whippoorwill derives from such a delegation, as found in two public enabling laws enacted by the Legislature in the 1960s. The first reads in pertinent part:
Evidently, that delegation was found to be insufficient because a subsequent 1965 law provided:
'Trailer' means any portable structure, mobile home, so-called, or vehicle designed to be drawn by vehicles or self-propelled and occupied as a dwelling or used for sleeping purposes." P.L.1965, ch. 22. (Emphases added.)
On the basis of these two enabling acts, the town enacted several ordinances in the 1960s that purported to regulate campgrounds, trailers, and trailer parks. The validity and application of these ordinances constitute the crux of the...
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