Light Co. v. Houghton
Decision Date | 19 May 1967 |
Docket Number | No. 20385,No. 2,20385,2 |
Citation | 10 Ind.Dec. 458,226 N.E.2d 341,141 Ind.App. 93 |
Parties | The LIGHT COMPANY, Inc., Appellant, v. James HOUGHTON, Gene Barany, and City of South Bend Board of Zoning Appeals, Appellees |
Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Roland Obenchain, Jr., and Douglas D. Seely, Jr., South Bend, for appellant.
Joseph T. Helling, Daniel R. Morgan, South Bend, for appellees.
This cause was appealed to us from a St. Joseph Superior Court. The case originated before the South Bend Board of Zoning Appeals where the appellant, Herman Light, d/b/a. The Light Company, Inc., sought a use variance relating to certain real estate. This land was zoned 'A-residential' on August 14, 1964, but by action of the Board of Zoning Appeals, it also enjoyed a permissive use as a golf course. On the 27th day of August, 1964, the appellant, by its president, requested permission from the Board of Zoning Appeals to continue the operation of a home appliance business upon the subject property. The Board of Zoning Appeals, by unanimous vote, granted the appellant's request for a use variance to operate the appliance store. This variance was granted for a three year period.
Upon the granting of the above variance, the appellees Houghton and Barany petitioned the trial court for a writ of certiorari to be issued to the Board of Zoning Appeals pursuant to Burns' Indiana Statutes, § 53--785. After issuance of the order to show cause, the trial court found that the Board of Zoning Appeals erred in granting a variance to The Light Company, Inc. for lands owned by it for the purpose of selling and servicing appliances on its premises for a period of three years.
The trial court based its decision upon the fact that no evidence was presented upon which a finding of unnecessary hardship could be based.
The pertinent statute defining the powers and duties of boards of zoning appeals, § 53--778, Burns' 1951 Replacement, reads as follows:
'The board of zoning appeals shall:
The appellant's petition for a variance for the commercial use here involved was based upon the following grounds:
(1) To keep present personnel employed during the winter months.
(2) To earn enough money to keep up the payments on the mortgage until the golf course reached a self-sustaining basis.
The record contains evidence that the personnel involved could not be employed by The Light Company, Inc. at some other location if the variance were denied. We feel that the loss of such employment, however regrettable to the employees, is not a hardship which arises out of the application of the zoning ordinance.
There is further evidence that complete and successful operation of the golf course could not be attained because of difficulties in the installation of the sprinkler system; and because of this fact, the appellant is in financial difficulty.
The law is clear and definite in its declaration that financial or economic considerations cannot govern the granting of a variance. Nor can economic opportunity or loss enter into the determination of the existence of unnecessary hardship. Metsenbaum, Law of Zoning, Vol. 1, p. 769; 101 C.J.S. Zoning § 293, p. 1077; 168 A.L.R. 30.
Because a variance is relief granted from a literal and exact enforcement of a zoning ordinance, thereby permitting use of property in a manner otherwise forbidden by the terms of such ordinance or regulation, it should be strictly construed and granted only in cases of extreme hardship where the statutory requirements are present. Board of Zoning Appeals v. American Fletcher Nat. B. & T. Co. (1965), Ind.App. 205 N.E.2d 322; Kessler-Allisonville C.L. v. Marion County Bd. of Z.A. (1965), Ind.App. 209 N.E.2d 43; 101 C.J.S. Zoning § 271, p. 1037.
This cause does not involve an unnecessary hardship, and thus the trial...
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Hazel v. Metropolitan Development Commission of Marion County
...permits the use of property in a manner otherwise forbidden by the ordinance, it must be strictly construed. Light Co., Inc. v. Houghton (1967), 141 Ind.App. 93, 226 N.E.2d 341. A mere notation therefore upon a plat plan concerning 'possible future' use is not enough to support Hazels' cont......
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Miller v. Board of Zoning Appeals of City of Rochester, Fulton County
...pumping facilities and related buildings) and the nature of zoning in adjoining areas. Miller relies upon Light Co., Inc. v. Houghton (1967), 141 Ind.App. 93, 226 N.E.2d 341 and similar cases to urge that economic considerations cannot control the granting or denial of variances. We do not ......
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Metropolitan Bd. of Zoning Appeals of Marion County (Division II) v. Gateway Corp.
...contends that economic hardship is not the type of hardship contemplated by the statute, citing The Light Co., Inc. v. Houghton et al. (1967), 141 Ind.App. 93, 226 N.E.2d 341, 10 Ind.Dec. 458. The Court stated 'The law is clear and definite in its declaration that financial or economic cons......
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Kurn v. York
...proper, the Court concludes that the Applicants' burden of proving an unnecessary hardship remained the same. See Light Co. v. Houghton, 226 N.E.2d 341, 344 (Ind. App. 1967) (rejecting a temporary, three-year limitation, holding "[t]emporary expediency in itself cannot be the reason for dis......