Case Title: Young v. BOARD OF COUNTY COM'RS OF COUNTY OF LARIMER

Citation: 362 P.2d 874

Docket Number: 

State: colorado

Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Date: 1961-06-12T00:00:00Z

Document:
362 P.2d 874 (1961) Harry B. YOUNG, Petitioner, Plaintiff In Error, v. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF the COUNTY OF LARIMER, State of Colorado; Robert H. Watts, Ernest Fischer, and A. Waiter Lawson, as members thereof, Respondents, Dr. J. W. Byers, Dr. Raymond T. Burdick, Dr. Harold W. Steinhoff, Dr. N. L. Beebe, and George W. Scott, for themselves individually and for all others of a class similarly situated, Intervenors, Defendants in Error. No. 19003. Supreme Court of Colorado. En Banc. June 12, 1961. Alden T. Hill, Ralph H. Coyte, Fort Collins, for plaintiff in error. Ralph B. Harden and John E. Kochenburger, Fort Collins, for defendant in error Board of County Comrs. of Larimer County. William H. Allen, William C. Stover, Eugene E. Mitchell, Fort Collins, for defendants in error-intervenors. DAY, Justice. We will refer to the plaintiff in error by name and to the defendants in error as the Commissioners. Young made application to the Commissioners for a license to sell intoxicating liquor "by the package" at a location three blocks north of the city limits of Fort Collins. On denial of his application, Young sought review in the district court, which affirmed the action of the Commissioners. By this writ of error he seeks reversal of the judgment and the decision of the Commissioners. The case is one of a series involving several applicants whose applications were denied by the Commissioners in closely connected hearings. Other actions recently in this court reviewing determinations of the same Board of County Commissioners, and involving similar but by no means identical questions, are: Hauf Brau v. Board of County Commissioners, 145 Colo. ___, 359 P.2d 659, and Erin Enterprises, Inc. v. Board of County Commissioners, 145 Colo. ___, 359 P.2d 663, decided February 27, 1961; Ladd v. Board, Colo, 361 P.2d 627. The differences and similarity in the cases are as follows: In the Hauf Brau case the proposed outlet was one mile east of Fort Collins, and in the Erin case about two miles east of Fort Collins. In both cases denial of the license was upheld. In the Ladd case the location was two miles north of Fort Collins, and in the circumstances disclosed, denial of the license was reversed. In the instant case, although the Young outlet at the time of the hearing before the Commissioners was three blocks north of the city limits of Fort Collins, it was noted in oral argument before this court that since the filing of the application the intervening three blocks had been annexed to the city of Fort Collins so that the proposed Young outlet, though still not within the annexed portion, is contiguous to the city limits of Fort Collins. The petitions for the issuance of the Young license and the petitions and remonstrances against the license are almost identical *875 to those presented in the Erin and Hauf Brau cases. The petitions favoring the license contain the following language: "The undersigned respectfully request that the license application of Harry B. Young be granted." In the Hauf Brau case we find the following language apropos to this application: One additional question is presented by this case which deserves comment. Young protests the consideration by the Commissioners of approximately 1,700 signatures of residents of the city of Fort Collins. Fort Collins by local option election determined that that city remain "dry" and that no intoxicating beverages may be sold within the city limits. Admittedly the signatures were those who by conviction are opposed to the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages in any form. As to these petitioners the County Commissioners entered the following findings: On the question of the neighborhood involved, we believe that the findings of the Commissioners are amply supported by the record. It appears that petitions obtained by Young contained the names of persons residing in Fort Collins although obtained *876 at an establishment operated by Young in Wellington, Colorado, fourteen miles north of Fort Collins. Young testified at the hearing that his trade comes from Fort Collins and thus explained the presence of the signatures of Fort Collins residents. As to his contention that the Fort Collins remonstrances should not be considered as "inhabitants of the neighborhood" and not expressing "the desires of the inhabitants of the neighborhood," we quote from Van DeVegt v. Board of Commissioners, 98 Colo. 161, 55 P.2d 703, 707, where the court said: Following the principle previously enunciated in the Van DeVegt case, it was said in Board of County Commissioners In and For Fremont County v. Salardino, 138 Colo. 66, 329 P.2d 629, 632: In its finding the trial court observed: Upon a careful review of the record before us, we find ourselves in complete agreement with this finding of the trial court. The judgment is therefore affirmed. DOYLE, J., does not participate.