Yorkavitz v. Board of Tp. Trustees of Columbia Tp., 34936
| Decision Date | 08 May 1957 |
| Docket Number | No. 34936,34936 |
| Citation | 2 O.O.2d 255,142 N.E.2d 655,166 Ohio St. 349 |
| Parties | , 2 O.O.2d 255 YORKAVITZ et al., Appellants, v. BOARD OF TOWNSHIP TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP et al., Appellees. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. The zoning power of township trustees, described in Chapter 519, Revised Code, is solely a police power delegated to township trustees by the General Assembly.
2. Where the General Assembly delegates to township trustees police power to adopt zoning regulations for the unincorporated territory in their respective townships, and where the General Assembly, by the enactment of general laws prior to such delegation, declares a policy of promoting aviation and the establishment of airports, it is outside such police power delegated to the township trustees to enact zoning regulations prohibiting airports throughout the unincorporated territory of their respective townships by declaring that airports are nuisances per se, and such regulations are invalid.
Plaintiffs instituted this action in the Court of Common Pleas of Lorain County, praying for a declaratory judgment as to their rights, and that the township trustees of Columbia Township be enjoined from enforcing a certain provision of a zoning resolution adopted by the trustees pursuant to the authorization thereof found in Chapter 519, Revised Code.
The provision of the zoning resolution in question (subdivision 14, section five) is as follows:
'The following uses shall be deemed to constitute a nuisance and shall not be permitted in any 'R,' 'B,' or 'I' districts [the unincorporated territory of the entire township is divided into 'R' (residential), 'B' (business), or 'I' (industrial) districts for the purposes of the zoning resolution]:
'* * *
Plaintiffs allege that this provision of the resolution is invalid, and that they have the right to establish a commercial aviation field within the township.
Defendants answer that such aviation field will constitute a nuisance and will be a violation of the zoning resolution.
The Court of Common Pleas found this provision to be unconstitutional and enjoined the township trustees from enforcing it.
On appeal on questions of law and fact, the Court of Appeals for Lorain County found the provision in question to be constitutional and prohibited the plaintiffs from 'in any wise conducting an airport of any kind within the limits of Columbia Township.'
The cause is before this court on an appeal as of right and pursuant to the allowance of a motion to certify the record.
Geraldine Larkin, Toledo, for appellants.
Frank E. Stevens, Elyria, for appellees.
The sole issue presented by this appeal is whether a provision of a zoning resolution adopted by a Board of Township Trustees is valid, where it prohibits as a unisance the establishment, throughout the unincorporated territory of the township, of 'aviation fields, landing fields, either for private or public use, runways, airplane hangars, proving or instruction grounds.' This issue is determinable by a consideration of whether such a zoning regulation is within the scope of the police power delegated to township trustees by Chapter 519, Revised Code, entitled 'Township Zoning.'
Subdivision 14, section five of the zoning resolution, adopted by the Board of Township Trustees of Columbia Township, Lorain County, reads as follows:
'The following uses shall be deemed to constitute a nuisance and shall not be permitted in any 'R,' 'B,' or 'I' districts:
'* * *
It is apparent from the language used in this subdivision of the zoning resolution that the township trustees of Columbia Township have declared, or 'deemed,' airports to be public nuisances per se and for that reason alone have banned them from the unincorporated territory of Columbia Township. Whether such action was within the scope of their delegated power concerns solely a matter of law, i.e., whether the provision of the zoning resolution here under consideration is valid on its face, and an almost summary investigation of the statutes affords a solution to the problem.
At the outset it must be noted that the townships of Ohio have no inherent or constitutionally granted police power, the power upon which zoning legislation is based. Whatever police or zoning power townships of Ohio have is that delegated by the General Assembly, and it follows that such power is limited to that which is expressly delegated to them by statute.
The statutes in question (now Sections 519.01 through 519.99, and especially Section 519.02, Revised Code), enacted by the General Assembly in 1947, expressly give township trustees the power to regulate by resolution certain incidents of activity in the unincorporated territory of their respective townships, including the 'uses of land for trade, industry, residence, recreation, or other purposes.'
There are many...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Apple Grp., Ltd. v. Granger Twp. Bd. of Zoning Appeals
...the General Assembly. Torok v. Jones, 5 Ohio St.3d 31, 32, 448 N.E.2d 819 (1983), citing Yorkavitz v. Columbia Twp. Bd. of Trustees, 166 Ohio St. 349, 142 N.E.2d 655 (1957).{¶ 7} R.C. Chapter 519 sets forth the method by which townships may regulate land use. R.C. 519.02(A) grants authority......
-
Schlagheck v. Winterfeld
...to delegation of legislative power); McCloud v. Woodmansee, 165 Ohio St. 271, 274, 135 N.E.2d 316; Yorkavitz v. Bd. of Tp. Trustees of Columbia Tp., 166 Ohio St. 349, 142 N.E.2d 655; Curtiss v. City of Cleveland, 166 Ohio St. 509, 144 N.E.2d 177; Clifton Hills Realty Co. v. City of Cincinna......
-
Stile v. Copley Tp., Ohio
...property derives exclusively from state law, specifically, Ohio Revised Code Chapter 519. Yorkavitz v. Bd. of Township Trustees of Columbia Township, 166 Ohio St. 349, 351, 142 N.E.2d 655 (1957). Under Ohio Rev. Code § 519.12, a township has no authority to enact substantive zoning changes ......
-
Ketchel v. Bainbridge Tp.
...power, townships have only the zoning power delegated to them by the General Assembly. Yorkavitz v. Bd. of Trustees of Columbia Twp. (1957), 166 Ohio St. 349, 351, 2 O.O.2d 255, 256, 142 N.E.2d 655, 656. The General Assembly has delegated this power to township trustees through R.C. 519.02,......
-
Evaluating the Use of Mandatory Edge-of-Field Buffers as a Land Use Tool to Combat Harmful Algal Blooms.
...(314.) Id. [section][section] 303.21(B) (West 2019), 519.21(B), (B)(1) (West Supp. 2022). (315.) See Yorkavitz v. Bd. of Twp. Trs., 142 N.E.2d 655, 656 (Ohio 1957) ("[T]ownships of Ohio have no inherent or constitutionally granted police power, the power upon which zoning legislation is bas......