Sampson v. Karnes

• Decision Date: 20 March 1992
• Docket Number: No. 20266,20266
• Citation: 415 S.E.2d 610,187 W.Va. 64
• Parties: Fred SAMPSON and Pat Sampson, Jim Wolfe and Lou Wolfe, Tony Alston, Bob Eads and Joan Eads, John Hager and Aileen Hager, R.S. Berger, and Phil Edwards, Plaintiffs Below, Appellees, v. Donald KARNES, Mayor of the City of Nitro, and Hack's Mobile Homes, Inc., a West Virginia Corporation, Defendants Below, Appellants.
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

Page 610

415 S.E.2d 610

187 W.Va. 64

Fred SAMPSON and Pat Sampson, Jim Wolfe and Lou Wolfe, Tony Alston, Bob Eads and Joan Eads, John Hager and Aileen Hager, R.S. Berger, and Phil Edwards, Plaintiffs Below, Appellees, v. Donald KARNES, Mayor of the City of Nitro, and Hack's Mobile Homes, Inc., a West Virginia Corporation Defendants Below, Appellants.

No. 20266.

Supreme Court of Appeals of

West Virginia.

Submitted Jan. 28, 1992.

Decided March 20, 1992.

Syllabus by the Court

1. "The enactment of a zoning ordinance of a municipality being a legislative function, all reasonable presumptions should be indulged in favor of its validity." Syllabus Point 3, G-M Realty v. City of Wheeling, 146 W.Va. 360, 120 S.E.2d 249 (1961).

2. "Where the complaining party has failed to show that a municipal ordinance, properly adopted, is arbitrary or unreasonable, this Court will not overrule city authorities in the exercise of their legislative function." Syllabus Point 4, Town of Stonewood v. Bell, 165 W.Va. 653, 270 S.E.2d 787 (1980).

Michael A. Braun, Smith & Braun, Charleston, for appellees.

Philip Gaujot, Charleston, for appellant, Donald Karnes, Mayor.

William A. Tantlinger, Charleston, for appellant, Hack's Mobile Homes, Inc.

PER CURIAM:

This is an appeal by Donald Karnes, the Mayor of the City of Nitro, West Virginia, and Hack's Mobile Homes, Inc., a West Virginia corporation, from an order entered by the Circuit Court of Kanawha County on October 29, 1990. That order enjoined Hack's Mobile Homes, Inc., from using a parcel of real estate located in the City of Nitro in such a manner as to violate the zoning ordinance of the City of Nitro. The apparent effect of the order is to enjoin Hack's from using the parcel for the operation of a mobile home sales lot. On appeal, the appellants claim that the parcel of real estate was, and is, properly and validly zoned for mobile-home-sales use, that Hack's should be allowed to operate a mobile home sales lot on it, and that the circuit court's ruling was erroneous. After reviewing the documents filed and the questions presented, this Court agrees with the appellants' assertions.

On March 17, 1959, the City of Nitro adopted a zoning ordinance and an accompanying zoning map. The ordinance provided that real estate located "along" state and federal highways was zoned "B-1", a designation that allowed use for a trailer sales lot. On the zoning map adopted in 1959, the parcel in issue in the present case, a parcel which runs contiguous to Route 25, a state highway, on the south and which extends northward to Hillside Drive on the north, was designated B-1. Hillside Drive was not, and is not, a state or federal highway. The parcel in 1959 was bisected by an alley which ran parallel to Route 25 and to Hillside Drive.

In the Fall of 1988, the City Council of the City of Nitro adopted an ordinance, designated Ordinance 88-9, which abandoned and discontinued as a public way the alley which bisected the parcel in question. Thereafter, in November, 1988, appellant Hack's Mobile Homes, Inc., purchased the property in question and opened a mobile home sales lot.

The appellees, who are residents and property owners along the north side of Hillside Drive, and who did not want a mobile home sales lot across the street from their homes, instituted this action to obtain a declaratory judgment that the property in question was not properly zoned for use as a mobile home sales lot and to obtain injunctive relief to prohibit the use of the property as such a lot. In their complaint they alleged that, in 1959, it was the recommendation of the Nitro Planning Commission that parcels located on the northerly and southerly sides of Hillside Drive be classified as residential, and that through "mistake or inadvertence," the property located on the southerly side of Hillside Drive was classified as "B-1". They further alleged that if Hack's Mobile Homes, Inc., was permitted to use the portion of the property adjoining Hillside Drive as a mobile home lot, they would suffer irreparable damage and harm in the devaluation of their property.

An answer was filed by the appellants, and following the filing of the answer, the appellees moved for summary judgment. A hearing was conducted on the motion for summary judgment on October 5, 1989, and subsequently the parties submitted memoranda on the questions presented. On October 29, 1990, the court granted the appellees the summary judgment which they sought.

In granting summary judgment, the court did not address the question of whether the portion of the property in question along Hillside Drive was by "mistake or inadvertence" zoned "B-1", as alleged by the appellees. Instead, the court noted that Hillside Drive was not a state or federal highway, that Route 25 was such a highway, and that under the City of Nitro's zoning ordinance, only properties located along a state or federal highway could be used for purposes such as a mobile home sales lot. The court found that in the Fall of 1988, by Ordinance 88-9, the City of Nitro had abandoned the alleyway which bisected the property in question. The court concluded that the closing of the alley did not affect or modify the zoning ordinance and that if the intention in closing the alley was to change the zoning ordinance, such was not done in compliance with the requirements. The court then enjoined the appellant Hack's Mobile Homes, Inc., from using the portion of the property in question abutting Hillside Drive as a mobile home sales lot and ordered the appellant Mayor of the City of Nitro and other appropriate officials to enforce the zoning ordinance in accordance with the court's order. Overall, the court apparently concluded the alley which bisected the parcel in question actually divided it into two portions for zoning purposes and that while the portion which was adjacent to Route 25 was properly zoned B-1, the portion north of the alley which was adjacent to Hillside Drive could not be zoned "B-1", even if the alley bisecting the parcel was legally abandoned.

In the present proceeding, the appellants claim that the circuit court erred in failing to hold that the parcel of property in issue, in its entirety, has always been available for use as a mobile home sales lot. They also, by implication, claim that the circuit court erred in enjoining the use of the property as a mobile home sales lot.

At the onset, this Court notes that it has rather consistently recognized that: "The enactment of a zoning ordinance of a municipality being a legislative function, all reasonable presumptions should be indulged in favor of its validity." Syllabus point 3, G-M Realty v. City of Wheeling, 146 W.Va. 360, 120 S.E.2d 249 (1961). See also, Town of Stonewood v. Bell, 165 W.Va. 653, 270 S.E.2d 787 (1980). The Court has also recognized that: "Where the complaining party has failed to show...