Opinion ID: 2065144
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Administrative or Quasi-Judicial Approach

Text: While in the instant case a unanimous Court of Appeals felt bound by existing precedent, 61 Mich App 435, 438, to uphold the chancellor's finding of invalidity and order of general injunctive relief, that Court expatiated on Justice LEVIN'S administrative approach to the review of zoning determinations set forth in Kropf, supra, 164 et seq. In obiter dictum, the Court of Appeals remarked: We would prefer to reverse without prejudice to an application to the legislative body of defendant seeking an administrative hearing with regard to the reasonableness of plaintiffs' proposed use. 61 Mich App 435, 440. We note that the position urged by the Court of Appeals in the instant case has twice been rejected by a majority of this Court: in Kirk, supra, and Kropf, supra . Although similar, Justice LEVIN'S opinion in this case adopts a somewhat modified version of the administrative approach urged by the Court of Appeals. Accordingly, having found defendant's R-1-C ordinance unconstitutionally confiscatory, Justice LEVIN is not disposed to affirm the trial court's order permitting construction in accordance with defendant's R-3 zoning classification. Rather, the Justice would direct that the matter be remanded exclusively to the appropriate administrative body to conduct a full trial-type administrative hearing and to render a decision supported by substantial evidence on the record developed at that hearing; such decisional authority, absent subsequent appeal, is wholly ceded to the administrative body without the necessity of the chancellor's review and approval. Contrary to the dictates of the traditional legislative approach, the LEVIN opinion offers plaintiffs the option of either (1) first seeking a court ruling on unconstitutionality followed by remand for an administrative hearing and determination unaided by impartial judicial scrutiny and equitable consideration with respect to a plaintiff's proposed use, or (2) first challenging a zoning classification in an administrative proceeding  whether the subject ordinance has been judicially determined constitutional or not  in the hope that such body will in effect grant a variance. In either case, the opinion continues, the administrative hearing is subject to judicial review, albeit not de novo as is presently the established law in this state. We disagree with both options. The first option impermissibly invades this Court's powers of de novo review and places a successful litigant in the precarious position of seeking to establish its proposed use before an adversely interested litigant (in this case the city) without the benefit of subsequent judicial consideration unless an appeal is effected on the ground that such decision is not supported by substantial evidence on the record. The second option impermissibly encroaches upon the presumption of legislative validity as well as time-honored notions of separation of powers. My Brother LEVIN firmly believes that such a system of administrative ad hoc zoning ordinance amendment procedures will promote the public welfare as well as relieve the burden on the courts. His opinion indicates that he is not alone in that laudable belief. We are of the opinion, however, that such a system as proposed by Justice LEVIN which permits every constitutionally valid zoning ordinance to be challenged by an affected property owner can only invite countless challenges, many of which must proceed to the courts for a dispositive adjudication. The net result of such a quasi-judicial scheme would most assuredly increase rather than relieve the burden on the courts; the burden on zoning bodies would likewise be unquestionably magnified. Further, and perhaps more significant, the authority of a zoning body's legislative action would likely be debased concomitantly to the extent that every affected property owner could challenge that authority, not on the basis of the value of the constitutionally valid zoning classification to the general public, but on the basis of that zoning determination's value to the individual property owner regardless of the general welfare. Such consequence would undoubtedly destroy both the necessity and desirability of representative legislative action as well as reduce land use determination to a type of what's-in-it-for-me or spot zoning scheme generally eschewed as not in the public interest. For the above reasons, we reject both options of Justice LEVIN'S administrative approach to the review and challenge of zoning determinations. At the same time, however, we find certain components of that approach instructive insofar as they could be applied on remand to defendant city council aided by the chancellor to determine the reasonableness of a landowner's proposed use in accordance with the dictates of equity. We generally accept the following statement of Justice LEVIN in Part IV D of his opinion as apposite in this regard: The judicial determination that the ordinance as applied to the Turkish parcel is unconstitutional should not mean that the Turkishes are necessarily entitled to use the property for multiple-family residences. The surrounding owners have an interest in how the Turkish property is developed, as does the city in providing for orderly development, consistent with its master plan, with adequate services and protection of aesthetic and environmental values. Accordingly, although the Turkishes' proposed use may appear to a court to be `reasonable', there may be other feasible means of developing single-family homes on the parcel if the city permits variances regarding street width and lot size or under other circumstances. The parcel might also be used, consistent with the present zoning, for schools, religious institutions, or some other use. Although uses consistent with present zoning may not be feasible, it may be that some use other than multiple residences is feasible and more compatible with competing interests.