Case Name: Phillip GRUBSTEIN, Appellant, v. URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY OF CITY OF TAMPA, Florida, a public body corporate and politic under the laws of the State of Florida, and City of Tampa, a Municipal Corporation under the laws of the State of Florida, Appellees
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1959-11-18
Citations: 115 So. 2d 745
Docket Number: 
Parties: Phillip GRUBSTEIN, Appellant, v. URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY OF CITY OF TAMPA, Florida, a public body corporate and politic under the laws of the State of Florida, and City of Tampa, a Municipal Corporation under the laws of the State of Florida, Appellees.
Judges: TERRELL, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 115
Pages: 745–759

Head Matter:
Phillip GRUBSTEIN, Appellant, v. URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY OF CITY OF TAMPA, Florida, a public body corporate and politic under the laws of the State of Florida, and City of Tampa, a Municipal Corporation under the laws of the State of Florida, Appellees.
Supreme Court of Florida.
Nov. 18, 1959.
John A. Chilldon, Tampa, for appellant.
Cody Fowler, George B. Foss, Jr., and Fowler, White, Gillen, Yancey & Humkey, Tampa, for appellee Urban Renewal Agency of City of Tampa.
Ralph A. Marsicano, Neil C. McMullen and H. Vincent Thornton, Tampa, for ap-pellee City of Tampa.

Opinion:
ROBERTS, Justice.
This is an appeal from a decree sustaining the constitutionality of Ch. 57-1904, Laws of Florida, Special Acts of 1957, and the propriety of the Maryland Avenue Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal Project proposed to be undertaken by the defendants-appellees, the City of Tampa and the Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Tampa, pursuant to the statutory authority conferred thereby.
Ch. 57-1904, supra (the "Urban Renewal Law" hereafter), is a Special Act applicable only to the City of Tampa, providing for the clearing and redevelopment of slum and blighted areas legislatively declared to exist in the City. It is similar to slum clearance and urban redevelopment legislation adopted in a great many states, either with or without specific constitutional authority, and held valid in all but one of them, South Carolina. See Edens v. City of Columbia, 1956, 228 S.C. 563, 91 S.E.2d 280; cases collected in the annotation in 44 A.L.R.2d pp. 1414 et seq. Formerly held invalid in Georgia, such legislation has now been specifically authorized by an amendment to the Georgia Constitution adopted in 1954. See Bailey v. Housing Authority of City of Bainbridge, 1959, 214 Ga. 790, 107 S.E.2d 812. It is somewhat similar, also, to Ch. 23077, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1945, providing for the clearing and redevelopment of "blighted areas" by housing authorities in cities of not less than 60,000 population, which Act was held unconstitutional by this court in Adams v. Housing Authority of City of Daytona Beach, Fla.1952, 60 So.2d 663.
Pursuant to the authority conferred by the Urban Renewal Law, supra, the City of Tampa has approved a plan for the clearance and redevelopment of a slum area within the City comprising some forty acres — the Maryland Avenue Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal Project. The redevelopment plan contemplates the replat-ting of the entire area and the laying out of an entirely new street plan, including the closing off of some existing streets. The area will be returned primarily to residential use, consistent with the residential areas adjoining the Project area to the North and West, and the remainder thereof will be devoted to neighborhood commercial uses necessary to serve the residents and to general commercial uses on two bordering main traffic arteries and light industrial uses along the bordering railroad right-of-way, already largely devoted to industrial uses.
The plaintiff owns property, alleged to be neither dilapidated nor run-down, within the Project area. In his suit to enjoin the defendants from proceeding with the Project, he attacked the Urban Renewal Law as violative of his right to acquire, possess and protect property, as an unauthorized taking of private property for private use, and as an unauthorized expenditure of public funds for private use and gain, contrary to the provisions of § 1 and 12, Declaration of .Rights, § 5 and 10 of Article 9, and § 29 of Article 16, of the Florida Constitution, F.S.A.
The able Chancellor heard the evidence on the issues made by the complaint and the defendants' answer thereto and entered a final decree upholding the validity of the Act and the propriety of the proposed Project plan as against the plaintiff's attack. His decree was based on the following findings of fact therein made:
"3. That the area in question is known as the Maryland Avenue Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal Project and covers an area of approximately 40 acres; that said area is made up of many small subdivisions, poorly planned and platted; that the great majority of buildings in this area are 50 to 70 years old and in a very dilapidated condition; that the great majority of residences are built to the property line with small and inadequate yards and the buildings are occupied by many families, oft-times a large family to each room in many houses; that said area is a slum or blighted area; that this slum area is a breeding place of disease and crime, and constitutes a menace to the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the City of Tampa and requires a disproportionate expenditure of public funds to preserve the public health and prevent crime, fire, accidents, and to supply public services to the residents of the area; that the tax income to the City, County and State is low and out of proportion to the amounts of public funds required to be expended in servicing the area; that nationally, where slums have been eradicated and the area redeveloped for the best purposes, the tax income accruing has been approximately seven times greater than when the area was a slum;
"4. That the police power of the City of Tampa is inadequate to accomplish the removal or elimination of the slum conditions found, and that the area is so far deteriorated as a slum or blighted section that mere conservation methods would not accomplish the elimination of slum conditions; and that the complete replat-ting and redevelopment of the land on an area-wide basis is the only feasible method of slum elimination in these circumstances;
"5. That private enterprise cannot accomplish the acquisition and redevelopment of the area in question to eliminate the blighted conditions therein, because of the diversity of ownerships and the inability of one or more private persons or organizations to obtain all parcels therein without the power of eminent domain; nor would such endeavor be profitable to private enterprise;
"6. That the proposed Maryland Avenue Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal Project will, if allowed to be carried through to its completion, fit into the City of Tampa's general plans of development, improve traffic and safety conditions in the area, eliminate the blighted area in question with its disease, crime, fire hazard, and other problems growing out of slum conditions, tie into the proposed system of limited access freeways through the City, reduce a disproportionate drain on the City's financial structure, provide an improved living and working environment within the City of Tampa, and will materially benefit, protect, and conserve the health, safety, morals and general welfare of all the citizens of the City;
"7. That the owners of property and interests therein within the area in question will be assured and protected despite the utilization of the power of eminent domain by the Urban Renewal Agency, because of the requirement that just compensation must be paid upon a taking of property by the Agency, following notice, hearing and the opportunity for a jury trial;
The foregoing findings of fact are abundantly supported by the evidence adduced before the Chancellor and, in fact, are not here controverted by the plaintiff-appellant. Nor does he question the authority of the City to exercise the power of eminent domain in the eradication of slums and the evils attendant thereon. He contends here only that (1) the redevelopment provisions of the Act, under which the Agency may sell or lease the property in the Project area, after it has been cleared of the slum conditions, to private interests for private use and development "is for a private rather than a public use or purpose, even though such property may be located within an area designated as a 'slum' ", and tints invalid under the constitutional provisions mentioned above and the decision of this court in the Adams case, supra, 60 So.2d 663; and (2) that, in any event, the inclusion in the Project area of the property owned by him, which is neither dilapidated nor run-down, is a violation of his organic rights, supra.
His second contention may be quickly disposed of. If the Project plan, as a whole, is valid, then the inclusion therein of sound structures or vacant land does not necessarily invalidate the Project. This is so because the purpose of the Urban Renewal Law is to transform an entire slum area into a wholesome section of the community; and to deny to the City the right to include within the area certain houses or buildings in good condition would, in some instances, defeat the over-all purpose of the statute and the Project. Thus, it is universally held that if an area as a whole is subject to clearance and rehabilitation, the condition of a single structure located therein is immaterial. See Hunter v. Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, 1953, 195 Va. 326, 78 S.E.2d 893, 901; Wilson v. City of Long Branch, 1958, 27 N.J. 360, 142 A.2d 837, 847; Randolph v. Wilmington Housing Authority, Del.1958, 139 A.2d 476, 484; Alanel Corp. v. Indianapolis Redevelopment Comm., Ind. 1958, 154 N.E.2d 515; State on Inf. of Dalton v. Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority of Kansas City, 1954, 364 Mo. 974, 270 S.W.2d 44; St. Peter's Roman Catholic Parish v. Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, 1958, 394 Pa. 194, 146 A.2d 724. No contention is made that the City was guilty of bad faith or arbitrary action in adopting the Project plan here in question and in including therein the plaintiff's property. Cf. Bahr Corp. v. O'Brion, 1959, 146 Conn. 237, 149 A.2d 691. The Chancellor found that "the complete replatting and redevelopment of the land on an area-wide basis is the only feasible method of slum elimination"; and, in these circumstances, the plaintiff's contention in this respect cannot be sustained.
The plaintiff's first contention is not so easily resolved. We have, however, reconsidered the Adams decision, supra, 60 So.2d 663, i elied upon by plaintiff, in the light of the record therein, and have concluded that, insofar as the provisions of the Urban Renewal Law relating to the clearance and redevelopment of slum areas, as therein defined, are concerned — and they are the only ones involved here, since the City's Project plan covers a slum area — the validity of the law may be upheld against the plaintiff's attack.
This is so because it is settled by the previous decisions of this court under the Housing Authorities Law, Ch. 17981, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1937 [Ch. 421, Fla. Stat., F.S.A.] that the power of eminent domain may be exercised in aid of the police power to clear slum areas and construct low-rental houses thereon, "thereby removing breeding places for crime and disease, and promoting the health, safety, morals, peace and general welfare of the people." Higbee v. Housing Authority of Jacksonville, 1940, 143 Fla. 560, 197 So. 479, 484. See also Marvin v. Housing Authority of Jacksonville, 1938, 133 Fla. 590, 183 So. 145, and Lott v. City of Orlando, 1940, 142 Fla. 338, 196 So. 313. The primary and fundamental purpose of the provisions of the Urban Renewal Law with which we are here concerned is exactly the same: the clearance of slum areas and the redevelopment thereof so as to avoid a recurrence of the slum condition and the evils attendant thereon, and to promote the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the citizens of the City of Tampa. In the one case the redevelopment is in the form of low-cost housing for low-income groups; in the other, it is in the form of private development. But the public purpose sought to be achieved is, in principle, identical.
Finding that the public purpose sought to be achieved by the Housing Law and the slum-clearance and redevelopment provisions of the Urban Renewal Law is, in principle, the same, we might well rest our •decision on the previous decisions of this court upholding the validity of the Housing Authorities Law, cited above, since in those decisions no distinction was made between "public purpose" and "public use" as justification for the exercise of the power of eminent domain in aid of and as accessory to the exercise of the police power for such purpose. But even if we assume, arguendo, that "public purpose" is not enough and that a "public use", as defined by this court, must also be shown in order to justify the exercise of the power of eminent domain in aid of the police power, we do not find such a distinction between the ultimate use of the property to be made under the two Acts as to require a finding that the Housing Authorities Law contemplates a "public use" of the condemned property and the Urban Renewal Law does not.
It is true that, under the Housing Law, ownership of the cleared slum area and the houses constructed thereon remains for a time in a public agency, the Housing Authority. But, as indicated in Lott v. City of Orlando, supra, 196 So. 313, 314, "the low cost houses, under the provisions of the [Housing Authorities] Act, may be sold and the ownership and possession fall into private hands; " And if a Housing Authority defaults on its financial obligations, the obligee may take possession of the housing project free from all the restrictions as to low-cost rentals and tenant selection imposed by the Housing Law. § 421.10, Fla.Stat., F.S.A. During the time that title and control of the housing project remains in the Housing Authority, the housing project itself is actually used by private persons — the low-income tenants for whose use the property was originally constructed. Under the Urban Renewal Law, a different type of redevelopment and use is permitted; and, instead of title being retained for an indefinite period in the Urban Renewal Agency as in the case of a Housing Authority, the title is immediately transferred to the purchaser for development according to the plans and specifications required under the Project plan.
In Demeter Land Co. v. Florida Public Service Co., 1930, 99 Fla. 954, 128 So. 402, 406, this court quoted with approval the following definition of "public use" :
"A use to be public must be fixed and definite. It must be one in which the public, as such, has an interest, and the terms and manner of its enjoyment must be within the control of the State, independent of the rights of the private owner of the property appropriated to the use. The use of property cannot be said to be public if it can be gainsaid, denied, or withdrawn by the owner. The public interest must dominate the private gain." Boyd v. C. C. Ritter Lumber Co., 119 Va. 348, 89 S.E. 273, 279, L.R.A.1917A, 94.
And in Wilton v. St. Johns County, 1929, 98 Fla. 26, 123 So. 527, 533, 65 A.L.R. 488, in holding that the establishment of a public drainage system is a "public use" for which the power of eminent domain may be exercised, this court said that the use may be "local or limited, and yet be a public use," and that "if the main object for which land is taken is a public use, it obviously matters not that incidental benefit will inure to private individuals."
Manifestly, incidental benefits will inure to private individuals or corporations under the Housing Authorities Law and the Urban Renewal Law. But in both, the use to be made of the condemned property is fixed and definite and control of such use is retained by the condemning authority; in both, slum clearance is the dominant or primary purpose of the enactment, and redevelopment of the cleared property is the subordinate purpose, linked to the primary purpose by the necessity of preventing the recurrence of the slum condition and of putting the property to some use. Thus, under both laws, the plan of slum clearance and redevelopment may be said to be for a "public use", under the definition quoted above. As stated in Randolph v. Wilmington Housing Authority, Del.1958, 139 A.2d 476, 483 :
"Control of the redevelopment designed to insure against a recurrence of the slums is provided for in furtherance of the primary purpose of the act, and to this limited extent public use of the Iwid is continued after its sale to private developers." (Emphasis supplied.)
See also Crommett v. City of Portland, 1954, 150 Me. 217, 107 A.2d 841, 852; Nashville Housing Authority v. City of Nashville, 1951, 192 Tenn. 103, 237 S.W.2d 946, 950; Foeller v. Housing Authority of Portland, 1953, 198 Or. 205, 256 P.2d 752.
There remains, then, the question of whether the decision of this court in the Adams case, supra, 60 So.2d 663, requires a different ruling. As noted above, we have concluded that it does not.
The definition of "slum" made in the Housing Authorities Act is substantially similar to the definition of "slum area" made in the Urban Renewal Law; and, as previously indicated, this opinion is limited to the validity of the provisions of that Law relating to the clearance and redevelopment of slum areas as defined therein. On the other hand, the statute involved and stricken down in the Adams case, Ch. 23077, Acts of 1945, authorized the clearance and redevelopment of "blighted areas", the definition of which included, among others, areas which by reason of "excessive land coverage, deleterious land use or obsolete layout, or any combination of these or other factors, are detrimental to the safety, health, morals, or welfare of the community."
It is not clear to us how the quoted factors, singly or in combination, could have any direct relation to the public health, safety or welfare. They seem to reflect the idea that an area could be condemned and taken from the owners merely because the condemning authority was of the opinion that the area was not being used in the most efficient or economical manner, or was improperly or inartistically laid out, and sold to another so that it could be developed more efficiently. And for all that appears in the record in the Adams case, it was solely to apply the area in question to what was thought to be a more efficient use that the Project plan, there considered was developed.
Reference to the record reveals that there was not one scintilla of evidence that the area was a breeding place for crime or disease; or that the condition of the area was such that it constituted a real hindrance to the redevelopment of the city and could not be eliminated or improved without resort to the power of eminent domain; or that the condition of the area menaced in any way the public health, safety, morals or welfare. The evidence adduced before the Chancellor was limited to a description of the condition of the 70 residences and four business structures in the area, the plan for relocation of the displaced residents, and the proposed redevelopment of the entire area for commercial and industrial purposes. This is in sharp contrast to the voluminous testimony adduced before the Chancellor in the instant case and reflected in his findings of fact, quoted above. It may, of course, be assumed that the Housing Authority of the City of Daytona Beach was of the opinion that the use of the area for those purposes would be more desirable in terms of eco nomic, architectural, or civic suitability; but we can see no justification for using the high prerogative power of eminent domain to seize one person's property to sell to another merely because, in the opinion of the condemning authority, another use would be more appropriate or desirable.
It can thus be seen that the real distinction between the statute and Project plan involved in the Adams case and those involved in the instant case lies in the purpose sought to be achieved thereby. There can be no doubt that the provisions of the Urban Renewal Law here in question have for their primary purpose the elimination of a slum condition, and prevention of the recurrence thereof, directly related and inimical to the public health, safety and welfare; and that the Project plan proposed to be carried out thereunder was designed to achieve such purposes. This is clearly shown by the findings of fact made by the Chancellor. Nor can it be doubted that these purposes and the use contemplated by the Urban Renewal provisions with which we are here concerned are a public purpose and use, under the Housing Authority and other decisions discussed above. But the statute involved in the Adams case authorized condemnation for, and — from all that is shown by the record— the Project plan developed thereunder was designed to accomplish, a purpose which might be beneficial to the public but which fell far short of being such a public purpose as to justify the exercise of the power of eminent domain. This court is committed to the rule that "public benefit" is not synonymous with "public purpose", when it comes to spending the taxpayers' money or taking his property by eminent domain, see State v. Town of North Miami, Fla. 1952, 59 So.2d 779; Lewis v. Peters, Fla. 1953, 66 So.2d 489, and that there must be some "reasonable" necessity for the exercise of the power of eminent domain, see Wilton v. St. Johns County, supra, 123 So. 527. It is abundantly clear that, while the public might be incidentally benefited by the Project plan proposed to be undertaken under the statute involved in the Adams case, it was not reasonably necessary to condemn the plaintiff's property in order to correct the substandard conditions existing in the area; and, in these circumstances, this court correctly held that the Project plan was invalid.
If the point had been raised — and if it could have been done consistently with the legislative intent — this court might have saved some portions of the Act stricken down in the Adams case, since it was necessary only to strike down the Project plan itself, for the reasons stated above. The point was not raised, however, and no useful purpose would be served by considering at this time the validity vel non of any portion of that Act. It suffices to say that in the Adams case the court was concerned with a sub-standard or "blighted" area, not shown to be reasonably necessary to take under the power of eminent domain to conserve the public health, safety, morals or general welfare; whereas, in the instant case we are concerned with the provisions of the Urban Renewal Law providing for the clearance and redevelopment of slum areas, and with a Project plan involving such an area, where a contrary finding was made. This being so, we do not consider the Adams decision as decisive here. Insofar, however, as the Adams decision may be in conflict with the opinions herein expressed, it is hereby modified to the extent of such conflict.
We repeat, for emphasis, that this decision is confined to the provisions of the Urban Renewal Law before us — those relating to slum clearance and redevelopment— and we express no opinion as to the validity of the provisions relating to the clearance and redevelopment of "blighted areas" as defined in the Urban Renewal Law.
For the reasons stated, the decree appealed from should be and it is hereby
Affirmed.
TERRELL, J., concurs.
HOBSON and THORNAL, JJ., concur with opinion.
THOMAS, C. J., and DREW and O'CONNELL, JJ., dissent.