Title: Irish Partnership v. Rommel

State: rhode-island

Issuer: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Document:

518 A.2d 356 (1986) The IRISH PARTNERSHIP v. Herbert F. ROMMEL et al. No. 84-567-M.P. Supreme Court of Rhode Island. December 16, 1986. *357 Neil P. Galvin, Palumbo Galvin & Boyle, Middleton, for plaintiff. Maryjo Carr, Asst. City. Sol., for City of Newport. SHEA, Justice. This case is before the court on a writ of certiorari issued to review a Superior Court judgment that affirmed the action of the Zoning Board of Review of the City of Newport. The Superior Court denied the appeal of the plaintiff for relief from the decision of the Newport Zoning Board of Review, affirming the rejection by the Newport zoning officer of the plaintiff's request for approval of its plan to rebuild a twelve-unit apartment house that had been destroyed by fire in 1974. For the reasons given in this opinion, we vacate the judgment of the Superior Court and remand the case for further proceedings. The property involved is located at 124 Van Zandt Avenue in the city of Newport. At that location there had once been two apartment buildings, which were referred to as twin buildings. Each building contained twelve apartment units. At that time, these apartments were nonconforming uses that were permitted by a special exception to the zoning ordinance then in effect. In August of 1974 one of the apartment buildings suffered very substantial fire damage. In fact, after the fire only the foundation remained usable. The general partner in the Irish Partnership, Thomas Malloy, who was a witness before the board, testified that he spoke with the owner at that time and urged him not to demolish the foundation when the burned building was being removed. He urged the owner to leave the foundation in the ground, to be available for rebuilding. The request was apparently acceded to, evidenced by the fact that the owner or one of the subsequent owners filled in the foundation and grassed over the site. According to Mr. Malloy, the owner at the time of the fire went into bankruptcy and the mortgage holder on the property acquired title. The Irish Partnership was unsuccessful in its attempts to acquire the property from the new owner, who sold it to a third party. That party intended to rebuild this apartment but eventually conveyed the property to plaintiff in 1978. Malloy also testified that plaintiff's plans to rebuild when it acquired title were deferred until September 1983 because of high interest rates. This plaintiff is the fourth in a succession of owners following the fire. In response to the request for permission to rebuild, the Newport zoning officer stated that In 1977 the Zoning Ordinance of Newport was amended. Section 1276.09 of the amended ordinance provides: In addition § 1276.07 provides: At the conclusion of the hearing, attorneys for plaintiff and for the city presented arguments to the board. Each presented a somewhat different argument concerning the precise issue before the board. Following this presentation, two votes were taken. The first vote was on the question of whether the building was in existence on July 1, 1979. All members voted that it was not. This vote was followed by some discussion about whether the vote decided the matter before the board. The chairman then "cancelled the motion" and called for a second vote on the proposition of whether to "sustain the appeal." All five board members voted in the negative. Then two members of the board spoke about aspects of the petition that they considered important, but these statements did not set forth any findings of fact by the board. This court has stated on many occasions that a municipal board, when acting in a quasi-judicial capacity, must set forth in its decision findings of fact and reasons for the action taken. Zammarelli v. Beattie, 459 A.2d 951, 953 (R.I. 1983); Tillinghast v. Town of Glocester, 456 A.2d 781, 783 (R.I. 1983); Sambo's of Rhode Island, Inc. v. McCanna, 431 A.2d 1192, 1193 (R.I. 1981); Holmes v. Dowling, 413 A.2d 95, 98 (R.I. 1980); May-Day Realty Corp. v. Board of Appeals of Pawtucket, 107 R.I. 235, 238-39, 367 A.2d 400, 402 (1970); DiIorio v. Zoning Board of Review of East Providence, 105 R.I. 357, 363, 252 A.2d 350, 354 (1969). In fact, this court in Hooper v. Goldstein, 104 R.I. 32, 241 A.2d 809 (1968) stated that the In Zammarelli the court reaffirmed its adherence to this often-stated principle, quoting from May-Day Realty Corp., 107 R.I. at 239, 267 A.2d at 403, where we held: We have also held that when the board fails to state findings of fact, the court will not search the record for supporting evidence or decide for itself what is proper in the circumstances. Hooper, 104 R.I. at 44, 241 A.2d at 815. The record of the hearing and particularly the decision of the zoning board of review are lacking sufficient facts that would facilitate our judicial review. The deficiency of the record in this case presents the same problems of review as are found in numerous cases before this court whose records were also judged inadequate. For these reasons the judgment of the Superior Court is reversed, the papers of the case are remanded to the Superior Court with our decision endorsed thereon and with directions that the matter be returned to the Zoning Board of Review of the City of Newport for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. FAY, C.J., and KELLEHER, WEISBERGER and MURRAY, JJ., concur.