Johnson v. City of Huntsville

• Decision Date: 06 March 1947
• Docket Number: 8 Div. 359.
• Citation: Johnson v. City of Huntsville, 249 Ala. 36, 29 So.2d 342 (Ala. 1947)
• Parties: JOHNSON v. CITY OF HUNTSVILLE.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

29 So.2d 342

249 Ala. 36

JOHNSON v. CITY OF HUNTSVILLE.

8 Div. 359.

Supreme Court of Alabama

March 6, 1947

Arthur D. Shores, of Birmingham, for appellant.

W J. Price, of Huntsville, for appellee.

BROWN Justice.

This appeal is by the complainant from a final decree of the circuit court, in equity, dismissing his bill filed against the City of Huntsville, a municipal corporation, to restrain and enjoin the defendant from enforcing Ordinance No. 66-E adopted and approved on the 22nd of November, 1945, zoning a segment in the City of Huntsville theretofore unzoned, and within the following boundaries:

'All that part of the City of Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama embraced within the following boundaries, viz: Beginning at a point on the north margin of Half Street, said point being the southeast corner of Lot three (3) Block two hundred and thirteen (213) according to Quigley's Map of the City of Huntsville; thence North 56-1/2 degrees east along the north margin of Half Street 281 feet to a point on the east margin of Franklin Street, said point being located on the west boundary of Lot Five (5) Block two hundred eight (208) according to the Jones Map of the City of Huntsville, thence south 33-1/2 degrees east along the east margin of Franklin Street 230 feet to the intersection of the east margin of Franklin Street and the North margin of Townsend Street, thence North 56-1/2 degrees east along the North margin of Townsend Street with the east margin of South Greene Street; thence South 33-1/2 degrees east 510 feet to a point at the city limits of the City of Huntsville, said point being the southwest corner of lot twenty-six (26) of the Cramer Addition to the City of Huntsville, according to Quigley's map of the City of Huntsville, thence along the city limits of the City of Huntsville, south 56-1/2 degrees west 870 feet to a point on the south boundary of the city limits 150 feet eastwardley from the intersection of Madison Street with the South boundary of the city limits; thence Northwardly 150 feet east from Madison Street and parallel with same 850 feet to the place of beginning, said area being now designated as a residential area.'

The above zoning ordinance embraced a part of two blocks situated between South Greene Street and Madison Street with Franklin Street running practically through the center of the zone, leaving free and unzoned a part of the territory abutting the easterly side of Madison Street.

The evidence illustrating the facts upon which complainant rests his right to relief is without dispute. The complainant is a resident of the City of Huntsville. At the time of the passage of said ordinance and prior thereto, complainant owned a vacant lot which he purchased on July 18, 1945, and received a deed therefor, situated on the southeast corner of Townsend and Franklin Streets in the City of Huntsville. He also had procured, what the evidence shows by a practice of many years in respect to such matters, building permit from the clerk of the City of Huntsville, Alabama, and had paid therefor the sum of $15. He had employed a contractor and had begun excavation for a building for use as a drycleaning plant and lundry; had procured necessary equipment and incurred other expenses running into several thousand dollars, when the city council took up consideration of the passage of said ordinance on the petition of white residents and property owners along Franklin Street in the white district. The property of the complainant was and is located in a district 'across the creek' from residences occupied by white residents, petitioning for the passage of the ordinance, and is occupied exclusively by negroes. One of the white petitioners against the building operations owns property in said area. Complainant presented to the council a petition signed by the negro residents protesting against preventing the complainant from proceeding with his building by incorporating his property in the residence zone.

The evidence further shows that on Madison Street equdistant from the objecting residence owners, the White Swan Laundry and Cleaning Plant is located and operated, the same being located a block immediately west of complainant's property. The evidence further shows that a 'gentleman' offered to reimburse the complainant for his lot, as we construe the evidence, offering to purchase his lot for the amount complainant paid therefor, not including expenses incurred in cleaning off the lot and in preparing for the construction of the building, which complainant refused to accept.

It is further shown without dispute, in fact admitted by the defendant's answer, that the City Code of Huntsville adopted in 1941 by the respondent municipal corporation, only embodied an ordinance defining 'a residence district' in which 'no store, plant, building, structure, improvement or place of business or industrial projects shall be erected, established or maintained,' except on certain properties in said defined area, expressly excepted from the ban of the ordinance.

Section 4 of Chapter 22 of the City Code prohibited junk yards, bone yards, etc., in a defined area, unless conducted within 'a suitable building.' The area outside those specifically defined and described was not embodied in a zone by ordinance or by-law, but the city code embodied building restrictions and fire prevention regulations. Ordinance 66-E, the enforcement of which the bill seeks to enjoin, merely added a small segment to the previously described residential district.

The defendant offered evidence going to show that prior to the passage of the ordinance embodied in Chapter 22, Section 1 of the Code of Ordinances, the city caused to be made by a competent civil engineer maps of the City of Huntsville showing the location of different business institutions and buildings and location of residences in the thickly populated districts and the mayor and city council after much consideration of the needs and wants of the City of Huntsville adopted said ordinance, constituting Section 1 of Title 22 of the Code of Ordinances of the ...