Opinion ID: 1937209
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Action by the Town

Text: In Inhabitants of the Town of Boothbay Harbor [3] v. Joseph M. Russell, Jr., docket number CV-77-124, we quickly dispose of the landowner's principal contention, that the deck was not such a structure as is proscribed by the town shoreland zoning ordinance. The deck  a platform 24 by 27 feet in size, enclosed by a wooden railing, constructed of $1,000 worth of lumber and other materials, and anchored to the land by concrete  obviously comes within the intendment of the ordinance that prohibits, with limited exceptions not here pertinent, all structures within 75 feet of the normal high water mark. To hold that a substantial deck, permanently affixed to the land and costing about $2,500 to construct, is not a structure would fly in the face of the common everyday meaning of the term. Everything that can be gleaned from the declared purposes of shoreland zoning  e. g., to control building sites, placement of structures and land uses; and conserve shore cover . . . and natural beauty, 12 M.R.S.A. § 4811 (1974)  overwhelmingly confirms that the ordinance draftsmen intended the term structure to carry its customary meaning. After careful scrutiny of the whole record before us, we find nothing even remotely raising a genuine issue as to any invalidity or impropriety in the adoption of the ordinance on the part of any of the town or state officials involved. The legislature's authorization and direction to municipalities to establish shoreland zoning ordinances pursuant to 12 M.R.S.A. §§ 4811-14 (1974; Supp.1979) is not essentially different from general zoning authorized for many years by 30 M.R.S.A. §§ 4961 et seq. and 1917 (1978) and their predecessors, and there is nothing unconstitutional in its delegation of those legislative powers to local legislative bodies. Landowner Russell's claim to the contrary is not supported by our cases (upon which he exclusively relies) that find an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority to administrative agencies. See, e. g., Waterville Hotel Corp. v. Board of Zoning Appeals, Me., 241 A.2d 50 (1968). We next consider the appropriateness of the entry of an injunctive order on the motion for summary judgment. Because of the very special circumstances present in the instant case, in which, after the landowner was afforded a full opportunity to present affidavits and legal arguments, there existed no genuine issue as to any material fact bearing either on the underlying violation or on the equities to be taken into account by the justice in deciding whether to issue an injunction, we affirm the action taken here. This holding must not be taken as our approval of the statement in City of Lewiston v. Grant, 120 Me. 194, 201, 113 A. 181, 185 (1921), in which the Law Court said, in regard to an order to tear down a building erected contrary to an ordinance, which the statute declared to be a nuisance, the Legislature has made a declaration to which no latitude of discretion on the part of the court is allowed. Rather, we agree with what was much more recently said in Natale v. Kennebunkport Board of Zoning Appeals, Me., 363 A.2d 1372, 1377 n. 9 (1976): One having a cause of action against another is not thereby automatically entitled to an injunction as a matter of right, since an evaluation of all of the facts material to an appropriate balancing of the equities might show that resort to the remedy of injunction might be unduly harsh in all the circumstances. (Emphasis in original) In the case at bar, accepting the above as the binding law, the question is whether, after it is established from the pleadings and affidavits that a violation has occurred and other circumstances appear, such as the willful construction of the deck without a permit, there remains any genuine issue of fact  as distinguished from arguments  bearing upon how discretion should be exercised. None appeared from the ample record that was before the Superior Court justice, and counsel in his argument before this court tendered nothing to refute that conclusion. While it may generally be the case that the granting of equitable relief on summary judgment is a rare occurrence, under the special circumstances of this case there was nothing improper about the issuance of the order to remove the deck. [4] Questions are raised concerning the $1,000 fine imposed by the Superior Court for the benefit of the town. It is suggested that, in light of (i) 17-A M.R.S.A. § 4-A(4) (1979), denominating as a civil violation any conduct proscribed by statute or ordinance that is not punishable by imprisonment, (ii) 17-A M.R.S.A. § 4(3), providing for enforcement of civil violations, and (iii) District Court Civil Rule 80H, providing procedures applicable to such enforcement proceedings, the Superior Court had no jurisdiction to impose the fine requested in the town's complaint. The Maine Criminal Code, 17-A M.R.S.A., purports neither to confer exclusive jurisdiction of civil violations on the District Court nor to divest the Superior Court of such jurisdiction, which it continued to exercise by virtue of its general grant of jurisdiction in civil actions, 4 M.R.S.A. § 105 (1979), even after the Code became effective on May 1, 1976. There is nothing in the applicable statutes relative to civil violations comparable to 29 M.R.S.A. § 2302 (1978), which gives the District Court exclusive jurisdiction over traffic infractions. Section 4(3) of the Code has always provided that civil violations are enforceable by the Attorney General, his representative or any other appropriate public official in a civil action to recover what may be designated a fine, penalty or other sanction. . .. Nothing in the rule changes occurring since the Code's enactment throws any doubt on the jurisdiction of both the Superior Court and the District Court to entertain such civil actions. To implement section 4(3) of the Code, the Supreme Judicial Court in its rulemaking function promulgated M.R. Civ.P. 80H, effective November 15, 1976, to provide a summary civil procedure in the Superior Court for the enforcement of civil violations designated as such in a statute. See 2 Field, McKusick & Wroth, Maine Civil Practice 117-21 (Supp.1977). A similar rule was made applicable in the District Court. Id. at 210-11. Effective on October 24, 1977, coincident with the effective date of an amendment of sections 4(3) and 4-A(4) of the Code to encompass civil violations under ordinances, the court promulgated a detailed D.C.Civ.R. 80H, prescribing special rules for District Court proceedings on civil violations as so broadened in definition. Id. at 265-72. At the same time, the Supreme Judicial Court abrogated M.R.Civ.P. 80H, because it is conceived that as a practical matter there will be no occasion to invoke Superior Court jurisdiction in civil violation proceedings. (Emphasis added) Id. at 265. Of course, the Supreme Judicial court by abrogating the Superior Court Rule 80H could not limit the continuing jurisdiction of the Superior Court. See M.R.Civ.P. 82. Although that abrogation had the effect that summary proceedings are no longer available in the Superior Court, it did nothing to alter the availability in that forum of plenary proceedings under the usual civil rules applicable in any civil action. The Advisory Committee's Note commenting upon the abrogation of Rule 80H states: Abrogation of the present rule means that there is now no procedure available for bringing summary proceedings upon civil violations in the Superior Court. Abrogation should not be understood, however, as reflecting any determination of the question whether there may be Superior Court jurisdiction of civil actions upon civil violations, either in plenary proceedings under the Rules of Civil Procedure or in summary proceedings if the Supreme Judicial Court should again provide for such proceedings by special rule. 2 Field, McKusick & Wroth, supra at 265. The provision in the zoning ordinance [5] that all fines shall inure to the Town of Boothbay Harbor is entirely permissible under the enabling legislation, 30 M.R.S.A. ch. 201-A, §§ 1911 et seq. (1978), [6] which implements the home rule powers granted municipalities by the Maine Constitution, art. VIII, pt. 2, § 1 (Supp.1979), and under 12 M.R.S.A. § 4812 (1974), which specifically authorizes shoreland zoning pursuant to presently existing enabling legislation. The home rule power is at least as broad as the police power under 30 M.R.S.A. § 2151 (1978), which for many years has authorized municipalities to impose by ordinance fines recoverable for their own benefit. Joinder in a single enforcement proceeding of the town's civil action to collect the fine and its claim for injunctive relief was appropriate under M.R.Civ.P. 18. Furthermore, notwithstanding the provision that civil violations are enforceable by the Attorney General, his representative or any other appropriate public official, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 4(3), the town, as the public body to which the fine inured, could also properly sue in its own name to recover it. The quoted provision in section 4(3), which by its terms applies only to civil violations so designated by statute, is, when applied to ordinance violations, [7] at most directory and nonexclusive and cannot be construed as prohibiting a suit by the very public body for whose benefit the fine is recoverable.