Case Title: Fisher v. City of Minot

Citation: 188 N.W.2d 745

Docket Number: 

State: north-dakota

Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

Date: 1971-06-23T00:00:00Z

Document:
188 N.W.2d 745 (1971) H. H. FISHER and Bert H. Van de Streek, on behalf of themselves and all other taxpayers of the City of Minot, State of North Dakota, Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. The CITY OF MINOT, a municipal corporation, Defendant and Respondent. Civ. No. 8709. Supreme Court of North Dakota. June 23, 1971. *747 Pringle & Herigstad, Minot, for the plaintiffs and appellants. Bosard, McCutcheon, Kerian & Schmidt, Minot, for the defendant and respondent. PAULSON, Judge. This is an appeal from a taxpayers' class action requesting the district court to enjoin the City of Minot from proceeding with the construction of a municipal parking lot in downtown Minot, and to dissolve the special improvement district which was established to fund the construction of such lot. Two other suits were brought against the City of Minot for the same purposes and were consolidated with the instant case for trial. The action came on before the court without a jury on February 22, 1971, and at the close of the plaintiffs' case the court granted the motion of the City of Minot to dismiss the action. Appellants H. H. Fisher and Bert H. Van de Streek appealed from the judgment dismissing the action and demanded a trial de novo of the entire case in this court. This case arose out of the decision of the City of Minot to construct a large surface parking lot in its downtown area which would cover one-half of a city block. For a considerable period of time prior to the City of Minot's decision to construct this parking lot, numerous newspaper articles and local radio and television programs relating to merchants and downtown property owners who sought additional parking were published and broadcast. The City of Minot is operated under a city council-city manager form of government, with fourteen aldermen, a city manager, and a mayor. The sequence of events pertaining to the action taken by the City of Minot is as follows: On June 1, 1970, the City of Minot adopted a resolution creating Parking Improvement District No. 4. On September 30, 1970, the Minot City Engineer, Burt Peckham, submitted to the Minot city council in writing the figures based upon the engineers' and appraisers' estimates of the costs of such parking district. *748 On October 5, 1970, the Minot city council passed a resolution approving the plans, specifications, and estimates of costs of the project. On this same date, a resolution was also passed declaring the necessity of Parking Improvement District No. 4. On October 7 and on October 14, 1970, the resolution of necessity was published in the Minot Daily News, the official newspaper, declaring the necessity of Parking Improvement District No. 4. The minutes of the city council meeting of November 9, 1970, reveal that the area represented by protests against the improvement proposed for Parking Improvement District No. 4 was only 31.1 per cent of the total assessable square footage in the improvement district. Also, on November 9, 1970, a resolution was passed by the city council which stated that the City of Minot had heard the protesting property owners and had determined that there was an insufficiency of protest with reference to Parking Improvement District No. 4. There are three issues raised on this appeal: The relevant constitutional and statutory provisions are as follows: Fisher and Van de Streek primarily rely on the estimated cost of the project and the location of the parking lot in raising the issue as to whether or not the City of Minot had acted in these proceedings in an arbitrary or unreasonable or capricious manner. The estimated cost of the project is $1,287,000, or $8,043.75 per parking space, assuming a maximum of 160 parking spaces in the project. Fisher and Van de Streek introduced into evidence a study on municipal parking projects which revealed that a parking lot should be within 300 feet of an automobile driver's destination in order to attract his maximum patronage, and they further contend that proposed Parking Improvement District No. 4 extends such district for many city blocks beyond the 300 feet recommended for maximum efficiency, as set forth in the study designated as Plaintiffs' Exhibit 2 (parking project study). In rebuttal, the City of Minot urges that Fisher and Van de Streek have failed in the proof of their allegation that the city council of Minot was arbitrary, unreasonable, or capriciousboth as to its procedures and as to its actions with reference to Parking Improvement District No. 4. The City of Minot argues that the downtown merchants and property owners of Minot had been contacting the city council for additional downtown parking, that the parking problem in the downtown area of Minot was a matter of public knowledge, and that extensive publicity had been given to the fact that the downtown property owners and merchants were seeking additional parking facilities. Fisher and Van de Streek concede that the City of Minot has complied with the procedural steps required by the applicable sections of Chapter 40-22, N.D.C.C. The trial court included in its findings that the City of Minot had followed the correct statutory procedure: in the establishment of Parking Improvement District No. 4; in the preparation of plans, specifications, and estimates of costs for such parking district; in the adoption of such plans, specifications, and estimates of costs by the city council; in the adoption of the resolution of necessity and in the publication of such resolution; in the public hearing on protests in connection with such parking district; and in the determination by the city council that such protests as were registered were insufficient. The trial court also found that the actions of the city council in the course of establishing Parking Improvement District No. 4 were not arbitrary, unreasonable, or capricious, nor did such actions constitute an abuse of discretion on the part of the city council; and that, to the stage of the proceedings that the City of Minot has presently reached in the establishment of Parking Improvement District No. 4, the Minot city council has exercised its legislative power as a municipal corporation and this legislative power has been properly used by the city council of the City of Minot. This court has repeatedly held that where an appellant demands a trial de novo and a retrial of the entire case in an appeal from an action tried to the court without a jury, the findings of the trial court will be given appreciable weight by the Supreme Court, especially where such judgment is based upon the testimony of witnesses who appeared in person before the trial court. Koistinen v. Farmers Union Oil Company of Rolla, 179 N.W.2d 327 (N.D.1970); Renner v. Murray, 136 N.W.2d 794 (N.D.1965); Goheen v. Gauvey, 122 N.W.2d 204 (N.D.1963); Strobel v. *751 Strobel, 102 N.W.2d 4 (N.D.1960). A review of the record reveals that the evidence amply supports the findings of the trial court that the City of Minot did not act in an arbitrary, unreasonable, or capricious manner in the proceedings thus far completed with reference to Parking Improvement District No. 4. Fisher and Van de Streek have contended that those statutes in Chapter 40-22, N. D.C.C., under which the City of Minot proceeded, are unconstitutional and void, in that such statutes deny Fisher and Van de Streek due process of law, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and of § 13 of the Constitution of the State of North Dakota. There is no question among the party litigants that the City of Minot, in proceeding under the applicable sections of Chapter 40-22, N.D.C.C., was acting in compliance with these sections which were enacted by the North Dakota Legislature to enable a city to create special improvement districts, including parking lot improvement projects. The United States Supreme Court affirmed the opinion of the North Dakota Supreme Court in Webster v. City of Fargo, 181 U.S. 394, 21 S. Ct. 623, 45 L. Ed. 912, 916 affirming 9 N.D. 208, 82 N.W. 732, 56 L.R.A. 156 (1900). In Webster v. City of Fargo, supra 181 U.S. at 395, 21 S. Ct. at 624, the United States Supreme Court held: The legislature, in exercise of its general powers, may direct, subject to constitutional restrictions, that the cost of local improvements be assessed upon property benefited, and this power may be delegated to municipalities. Ellison v. City of LaMoure, 30 N.D. 43, 151 N.W. 988 (1915). See Murphy v. City of Bismarck, 109 N.W.2d 635 (N.D.1961); Stark v. City of Jamestown, 76 N.D. 422, 37 N.W.2d 516 (1949); State ex rel. Shaw v. Frazier, 39 N.D. 430, 167 N.W. 510 (1918). Fisher and Van de Streek admit that notice was given by publication of the resolution of necessity, but they assert that such notice was insufficient, and that personal service should have been employed, especially where both Fisher and Van de Streek were residents of the City of Minot. Fisher and Van de Streek contend that the following cases hold that under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, notice by publication is not sufficient to terminate legal rights when the name and address of the individual to whom said notice is directed are readily available to the party sending the notice, and the notice should have been sent to those entitled to receive notice: Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 70 S. Ct. 652, 94 L. Ed. 865 (1950); Walker v. City of Hutchinson, 352 U.S. 112, 77 S. Ct. 200, 1 L. Ed. 2d 178 (1956); Schroeder v. City of New York, 371 U.S. 208, 83 S. Ct. 279, 9 L. Ed. 2d 255 (1962). In the instant case, at this stage of the proceedings for the establishment of Parking Improvement District No. 4, the resolution of necessity was published pursuant to § 40-22-15, N.D.C.C., and the personal rights or the property rights of Fisher and Van de Streek have not been in any way jeopardized, nor have they been deprived of any constitutional rights. This court, in syllabus paragraph 9, in State ex rel. City of Minot v. Gronna, 79 N.D. 673, 59 N.W.2d 514, 515, 519 (1953), held: The Supreme Court of Nebraska in Jones v. Village of Farnam, 174 Neb. 704, 119 N.W.2d 157, 158 (1963), in syllabus paragraph 4, held: We adopt the reasoning of the Nebraska court and therefore conclude that Fisher and Van de Streek were not deprived of any constitutional rights by the City of Minot when it gave notice to the property owners in the assessment district by publication of the resolution of necessity pursuant to the terms and provisions of § 40-22-15, N.D.C.C. The City of Minot contends that Fisher and Van de Streek's challenge to the validity of the proceedings is premature because it was made prior to the completion of a list of the benefits and assessments of the project by the special assessment commission and before confirmation by the City of Minot and certification to the city auditor's office. This court held, in syllabus paragraphs 3 and 14 of Murphy v. City of Bismarck, supra 109 N.W.2d at 635: In the instant case, Fisher and Van de Streek have failed in their burden of proof to show that they have been prejudiced in the proceedings thus far completed by the City of Minot because the only notice required by § 40-22-15, N.D.C.C., is the publication of the resolution of necessity. Mr. Fisher further buttressed the position of the City of Minot by the following testimony: Furthermore, the City of Minot, in setting up the special improvement district, has not reached the point where it is actually levying assessments against particular property. Thus, in accordance with our decision in Murphy v. City of Bismarck, *753 supra, we hold in the instant case that Chapter 40-22 is constitutional. In raising the issue of whether or not § 40-22-18, N.D.C.C., is in violation of the "one man, one vote" principle enunciated by the United States Supreme Court decision, Fisher and Van de Streek were able to establish that, of the 270 property owners in the geographic area comprising Parking Improvement District No. 4, there were only 95 protesting property owners. Thus, the number of protesters was not only less than a majority of the property owners, but represented less than the majority of the area of the property within the parking district, as required by § 40-22-18, N.D.C.C. Therefore, since the number of protesters is less than a majority, Fisher and Van de Streek have failed in their burden of proof to bring themselves within the doctrine of the "one man, one vote" rule and have accordingly failed to demonstrate that they have suffered harm as a result of § 40-22-18, N.D.C.C., because, even if the "one man, one vote" standard should prevail, the number of protesters is insufficient to bar the completion of the improvement project. It is our opinion that we cannot further extend the doctrine of "one man, one vote", as enunciated in Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 82 S. Ct. 691, 7 L. Ed. 2d 663 (1962), to cover the instant case. Wallegham v. Thompson, 185 N.W.2d 649 (1971). Fisher and Van de Streek urge that the trial court erred in refusing to admit into evidence Plaintiffs' Exhibits 7, 8, and 9 over the objections of the City of Minot, which exhibits are projections of the tax burden which would be incurred by the individual downtown businesses if the Parking Improvement District No. 4 project is completed. The basis for the objections by the City of Minot to such exhibits was that the tax projections were not prepared by the City of Minot and therefore were of no probative value. Whether it was error is immaterial in this case, in light of what we have said in this opinion. For the reasons stated in the opinion, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. STRUTZ, C. J., and KNUDSON, TEIGEN and ERICKSTAD, JJ., concur.