Opinion ID: 2221286
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Effect of County Zoning Ordinance.

Text: Plaintiffs contend that the trustees acted illegally in condemning the tract because the proposed use would violate the Adams County zoning ordinance. They point out that a township hall is not a use permitted within the agricultural district in which the tract lies. They also contend that the one-acre size of the tract violates the ordinance requirement that all lots contain at least four acres. Plaintiffs ask us to decide this case by resolving what they perceive to be a serious conflict between the township's power to condemn and the county's power to zone. The trial court, however, did not find it necessary to decide such a large issue and neither do we. In its carefully articulated decision, the trial court first placed on plaintiffs the burden to prove that the trustees had exceeded their authority, then found that they had not. The trial court found legal support for this approach in Mann v. City of Marshalltown, 265 N.W.2d 307 (Iowa 1978). The facts in that case were similar to those here, and Mann contains a clear statement of the core issue on which that case was decided and this case should be decided. In Mann, as here, private landowners contended that a governmental body improperly undertook to condemn property for a public use when that use would conflict with a county zoning ordinance. There, the city's proposed use of the land for airport expansion did not conform with the uses permitted by a county zoning plan. Id. at 308. The landowners there, like plaintiffs here, contended that the condemnor had the burden to prove it could satisfy zoning requirements before it could lawfully take their property. In Mann, however, this court squarely placed on the plaintiff landowners the burden of proof on the issue: Upon trial it should be plaintiffs' burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant cannot reasonably expect to achieve its public purpose. Id. at 315. Moreover, this court in Mann, quoting with approval from Falkner v. Northern States Power Co., 75 Wis.2d 116, 129, 248 N.W.2d 885, 893 (1977), adopted a stern test which landowners challenging a condemnor's authority must satisfy: There will always be some possibility that a planned improvement will not be completed and put to the use intended. The test cannot be whether it is possible, whether it is conceivable that the project would fail. The test must be whether there is a reasonable assurance that the intended use will come to pass. Mann v. City of Marshalltown, 265 N.W.2d at 315. Accord Sellors v. Town of Concord, 329 Mass. 259, 262-63, 107 N.E.2d 784, 785-86 (1952); Seward County Board of Supervisors v. City of Seward, 196 Neb. 266, 270-71, 242 N.W.2d 849, 852 (1976). Here, the trial court found that plaintiffs had not met their burden to satisfy this tough but appropriate test, and the record supports its finding. The trial court aptly pointed out that zoning ordinances are sometimes amended to accommodate a proposed nonconforming use and that variances from zoning regulations may sometimes be granted. See Montgomery v. Bremer County Board of Supervisors, 299 N.W.2d 687, 695-97 (Iowa 1980) (upholding amendment to county zoning ordinance to permit hog-slaughtering plant in area formerly an agricultural zone); Buchholz v. Board of Adjustment, 199 N.W.2d 73, 74-75 (Iowa 1972) (explaining difference between variances and special use permits). Plaintiffs had the burden of proof but offered no evidence that the trustees would be denied permission to use the tract for a township hall if they were to seek a variance or apply for an amendment to the ordinance. It is certainly noteworthy that the zoning ordinance already expressly permits in agricultural districts the following principal uses: Any building or structure occupied or used for nursery, elementary, junior high or high schools, public libraries, and similar public cultural uses located not less than 20 feet from any side lot line. (Emphasis added.) The trial court could certainly infer from the evidence in this case that zoning authorities would probably not deny the trustees permission to use this former school house and public voting place as a township hall. Such permission might be granted either by interpretation of the quoted public cultural use clause, amendment to the ordinance, or by variance granted to the trustees. Substantial evidence in this record and the principles set forth in Mann support the trial court's decision to annul the writ of certiorari which it had originally issued. AFFIRMED.