Village of Western Springs v. Bernhagen

• Decision Date: 10 June 1927
• Docket Number: No. 18146.,18146.
• Citation: 326 Ill. 100,156 N.E. 753
• Parties: VILLAGE OF WESTERN SPRINGS v. BERNHAGEN.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

326 Ill. 100

156 N.E. 753

VILLAGE OF WESTERN SPRINGS

v.BERNHAGEN.

No. 18146.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April 20, 1927.

Rehearing Denied June 10, 1927.

Bill for an injunction by the Village or Western Springs against Julius Bernhagen. From a decree granting an injunction, defendant appeals.

Affirmed.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Cook County; Ira Ryner, Judge.

Henry F. Antes, of Chicago, for appellant.

Russell B. James, of Chicago, for appellee.

THOMPSON, J.

This appeal is from a decree of the circuit court of Cook county granting the prayer of a bill for injunction filed by appellee, the village of Western Springs, against appellant, Julius Bernhagen, restraining him from operating a station for the sale of gasoline and lubricating oils at the southwest corner of Ogden avenue and Central avenue, in Western Springs.

Western Springs is a suburban residential community, with a population of about 1,800, located 15 miles west of Chicago, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. It has no manufacturing institutions, and its business district is limited to a small area along the railroad, which runs east and west through the village, about equidistant from the northern and southern limits. Ogden avenue, which is about a mile and a half north of the railroad, is the northern limit of the village. July 9, 1923, a zoning ordinance was adopted, which placed substantially all the territory in the village, except that within a block of the railroad, in the A residential district, which is restricted principally to single-family dwellings. When this ordinance was adopted, there was located on Ogden avenue, at the east line of the village, a filling station, and the two lots on which it was located were zoned as a local business district. Shortly before the ordinance was adopted, appellant purchased the lot in question and erected thereon a six-room stucco bungalow and private garage. Thereafter he filed a petition with the board of appeals, asking that it modify the provisions of the ordinance relating to the use of his property, and this request was denied. Notwithstanding the provisions of the ordinance forbidding the establishmentof a business on his lot, he placed thereon in the month of August, 1925, a gasoline storage tank and two gasoline pumps, and began selling gasoline and lubricating oil to automobilists.

The only question preserved for review and presented by appellant is the reasonableness of the ordinance. Route No. 18 of the state system of highways passes along Ogden avenue. This is the principal thoroughfare between Chicago and Aurora, and the traffic on it is heavy. North of the avenue is a forest preserve, and during the summer months, particularly on Sundays and holidays, large crowds gather in this preserve. Picnics are held at Salt creek, about half a mile north of Ogden avenue. Wolf road extends north into the preserve. Appellant's property is situated more than three blocks west of this road. A strip of land 80 rods wide along the south side of the preserve is open, cultivated land, and from this strip north the land is wooded. Excepting the filling station and lunch stand at the eastern limits of the village, a refreshment stand near Wolf road, and another near the western limits of the village in the forest preserve, and three temporary real estate offices, there are no business houses along Ogden avenue in Western Springs. In the villages to the east and to the west of Western Springs there are business houses along the avenue. Since the zoning ordinance became effective, there have been erected five inexpensive bungalows...