Opinion ID: 2177703
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: land use issues

Text: A. General Considerations. Three different sets of land use laws apply to the Hurt Home property and are at issue in this appeal: zoning, certificate of occupancy, and historic preservation. We briefly summarize each. The Hurt Home, which has been operated as a home for blind adults since at least 1939, is located in a residential district zoned R-1. Under existing zoning regulations, a [c]ommunity-based residential facility for more than eight persons is not permitted without the approval of the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA). 11 DCMR §§ 201, 217, 218, as amended by Notice of Final Rulemaking, Case No. 84-10, 36 D.C.Reg. 1509, 1511-14 (1989). A community-based residential facility is one designed for persons who have a common need for treatment, rehabilitation, assistance, or supervision in their daily living (including a [c]ommunity residence facility, [6] a [h]ealth care facility, [7] and a [y]outh residential care home. [8] 11 DCMR § 199.9, at 1-13 to -14 (1987)). The District does not contend that the proposed center is beyond this definition. The current certificate of occupancy for the Hurt Home limits its permitted use to a community residence facility for up to fifteen residents. [9] Existing regulations provide that no person shall use any structure, land, or part of any structure or land for any purpose other than a one-family dwelling until a certificate of occupancy has been issued. Id. § 3203.1. Finally, the Old Georgetown Act provides that the Mayor may not issue a permit for the construction, alteration, reconstruction, or razing of any building within the Old Georgetown District [10] without first referring the plans to the National Commission of Fine Arts. See D.C.Code § 5-1102 (1988). B. The Trial Court's Decision. Relying on the general rule that a municipality exercising a governmental function is not bound by its own zoning laws and regulations unless the legislature has manifested a contrary intent, the trial judge held that the District need not secure a zoning variance or apply to have the area rezoned. He rejected the Georgetown residents' argument that the District government was covered by the zoning laws by the negative implication of D.C.Code § 1-2004(c) (1987), which extends the federal government's exemption from local zoning laws, see id. § 5-432, to the District of Columbia government with regard to buildings erected in the central area [11] of the District. Noting that the certificate of occupancy requirement is one of the means through which the District enforces its zoning laws and regulations, the judge went on to hold that the District was also exempt from the certificate of occupancy law. Finally, observing that the enforcement mechanism of the Old Georgetown Act is the issuance of a building permit, and that the requirement of a building permit is in the very same section of the zoning laws as the requirement of obtaining a certificate of occupancy, the judge held that the District's exemption from its own zoning requirements protected it from the reach of the Old Georgetown Act. [12] The Georgetown residents take sharp issue with Judge Weisberg's holding that as of the time of his decision, the zoning laws of this jurisdiction did not apply to the District of Columbia. With at least equal asperity, [13] the District insists that the judge was right. Substantially for the reasons stated by the trial judge, we think that the District was previously exempt. A recent change in the law, however, may have rendered academic an issue over which the parties crossed swords so fiercely and for so long. C. The New Legislation. (1) The Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act The Council for the District of Columbia declared in 1989 that as of May 23, 1990, the government shall be subject to zoning. Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989 (CPAA), D.C.Law 8-129, 37 D.C.Reg. 55, 235 (1990) (now codified at D.C.Code § 1-250 (1990 Supp.)). According these words their ordinary meaning, see People's Drug Stores, Inc. v. District of Columbia, 470 A.2d 751, 753 (D.C.1983) (en banc), we must hold that although the District government was previously exempt from zoning laws applicable to private parties, it is exempt no longer. The CPAA does not define the term zoning. 11 DCMR § 100.5 (1987) provides, however, that [t]he regulations set forth in this title shall be known and may be cited by the short form title as the Zoning Regulations of the District of Columbia. These regulations restrict the size of buildings and their surrounding property, govern population density and land use in general, and divide the District of Columbia into zoning districts. Id. § 100.4. They explicitly cover zoning variances and special exceptions, id. §§ 3107, 3108, as amended by Notice of Final Rulemaking, Case No. 84-10, 36 D.C.Reg. 1509, 1522 (1989), applications or petitions for zoning amendments, id. ch. 30, as amended by Notice of Final Rulemaking, Case No. 86-3, 36 D.C.Reg. 7629, 7629-31 (1989), and the issuance of certificates of occupancy, see id. § 3203, as amended by Notice of Final Rulemaking, Case No. 87-2, 36 D.C.Reg. 7827, 7827-28 (1989), and Notice of Final Rulemaking, Case No. 87-2, 36 D.C.Reg. 653, 654-55 (1989). We conclude that it is these Zoning Regulations to which the District has been subject since May 23, 1990. The provisions of these regulations, which we have cited at pages 1151-1152, supra, establish beyond peradventure that if the CPAA applies to this case, the District may not use the Hurt Home as it proposes to use it without securing a new certificate of occupancy and without either receiving authority to do so from the Board of Zoning Adjustment or obtaining the rezoning of the area by the Zoning Commission. Indeed, we do not understand the District to maintain the contrary. The remaining question, therefore, is whether the CPAA applies. (2) The applicable case law The District treats this issue as though it involved the retroactive application of the CPAA. This characterization is, at best, an oversimplification. The use of the Hurt Home as a facility for emotionally disturbed youngsters had not occurred as of May 23, 1990. The operation of the CPAA vis-a-vis such proposed utilization of the facility is thus entirely prospective. For the reasons discussed below, see pages 1153-1155 & 1156-1157 n. 19, infra, this does not end the inquiry. Any reasonable assessment of the record surely constrains us, however, from treating the case as one of retroactive legislation. Applicable principles of zoning law provide no clear-cut answer to the question of coverage. That the District acquired the site prior to May 23, 1990 is not dispositive. [T]he mere purchase of land does not create a right to rely on existing zoning. Vienna Council v. Kohler, 218 Va. 966, 244 S.E.2d 542, 548 (1978). The Georgetown residents acknowledge that an existing non-conforming use will ordinarily be permitted to continue until it can be eliminated without depriving the user of a vested right, but this protection applies only if the nonconforming use is an existing one. See D.C.Code § 5-423 (1988). As the court explained in Massachusetts Ave. Heights Citizens Ass'n v. Embassy Corp., 139 U.S. App.D.C. 355, 357 n. 1, 433 F.2d 513, 515 n. 1 (1970), a nonconforming use consists of the  continued use of a structure for a purpose lawful under zoning at the time of the initiation of that use but not so under subsequently adopted changes in zoning. (Emphasis added). A mere intention to use is not enough to establish a nonconforming use. Harris Used Car Co. v. Anne Arundel County, 257 Md. 412, 417, 263 A.2d 520, 523 (1970); see also 82 AM. JUR.2d Zoning and Planning § 186 (1976 & Supp.1990) and authorities there cited. Familiar equitable principles, however, provide some protection to those who have substantially changed their position in reliance on existing zoning regulations. See, e.g. Steuart Petroleum Co. v. Board of County Comm'rs, 276 Md. 435, 347 A.2d 854 (1975). As the court stated in Steuart Petroleum, (quoting 2 A. RATHKOPF, THE LAW OF ZONING AND PLANNING, ch. 57-6, 57-7 (3d ed. 1972)), [t]he majority rule, which can be synthesized from the multitudinous decisions in this area, may be stated as follows: A landowner will be held to have acquired a vested right to continue the construction of a building or structure and to initiate and continue a use despite a restriction contained in an ordinance where, prior to the effective date of the ordinance, in reliance upon a permit theretofore validly issued,[ [14] ] he has, in good faith, made a substantial change of position in relation to the land, made substantial expenditures, or has incurred substantial obligations. 276 Md. at 442, 347 A.2d at 859. Cf. Rafferty v. District of Columbia Zoning Comm'n, 583 A.2d 169, 174-76 (D.C.1990) (estoppel and laches); Annotation: Zoning: Building in Course of Construction as Establishing Valid Nonconforming Use or Vested Right to Complete Construction for Intended Use, 89 A.L.R.3d 1051, 1058 (1979 & Supp.1990), and authorities there collected. A different but related problem is presented here by the Georgetown residents' reliance on the enactment, since the trial judge's decision, of a statute which substantially altered the applicable law. Analysis of the jurisprudence pertinent to this sequence of events must begin with the Supreme Court's landmark decision almost two centuries ago in United States v. The Schooner Peggy, 1 Cranch (5 U.S.) 103, 2 L.Ed. 49 (1801). As Chief Justice John Marshall wrote for the Court in that case, 1 Cranch (5 U.S.) at 110, [i]t is in the general true that the province of an appellate court is only to enquire whether a judgment when rendered was erroneous or not. But if subsequent to the judgment and before the decision of the appellate court, a law intervenes and positively changes the rule which governs, the law must be obeyed, or its obligation denied. If the law be constitutional,... I know of no court which can contest its obligation ... In such a case the court must decide according to existing law, and if it be necessary to set aside a judgment, rightful when rendered, but which cannot be affirmed but in violation of law, the judgment must be set aside. Accord, Bell v. Maryland, 378 U.S. 226, 231 & n. 2, 84 S.Ct. 1814, 1817 & n. 2, 12 L.Ed.2d 822 (1964). More recently, the Supreme court has stated that an appellate court must apply the law in effect at the time it renders its decision, unless doing so would result in manifest injustice or there is statutory direction or legislative history to the contrary. Bradley v. School Board, 416 U.S. 696, 711, 94 S.Ct. 2006, 2016, 40 L.Ed.2d 476 (1974). Our decisions are to the same effect. Tenants of 2301 E Street, N.W. v. District of Columbia Rental Hous. Comm'n, 580 A.2d 622, 628 (D.C. 1990); Capitol Hill Restoration Soc'y v. District of Columbia Zoning Comm'n, 380 A.2d 174, 177 n. 1 (D.C.1977). In light of these authorities, we conclude that, whether our focus is on the applicable principles of zoning law [15] or on The Schooner Peggy and its progeny, the crucial inquiry is largely the same. The CPAA presumptively applies to the proposed use of the Hurt Home unless the District can demonstrate that equitable principles require a contrary result. (3) The status of the project as of May 23, 1990 After the CPAA became effective on May 23, 1990, we asked the parties to submit a stipulation, if possible, regarding the status of the project as of that date, as well as briefs on the question of the applicability of the new statute to this case. The parties entered into a partial stipulation as indicated in the margin [16] and separately provided additional information by affidavit and exhibits. Specifically, the District filed the affidavit of Michael J. English, Chief Administrative Officer of the District of Columbia Commission on Mental Health Services (CMHS), who has had oversight on behalf of the CMHS of the progress toward the conversion of the Hurt Home to its proposed use. Mr. English's affidavit contains a Hurt Home chronology, significant parts of which are set out in the margin, [17] of developments since the formation in January 1988 of the Hurt Home Advisory Board, a group of Georgetown citizens supportive of the project. The question now presented is whether the facts revealed by the stipulation and the affidavits are sufficient to show that manifest injustice would result from the application of the CPAA to the present controversy. We appreciate the need for dispatch in resolving this case. Indeed, our request for a stipulation and accompanying submissions was made in the hope that a remand might be avoided. Nevertheless, appellate courts are not equipped for fact-finding, and we conclude that it is not possible fairly to assess the existence or non-existence of manifest injustice, see Bradley, supra, 416 U.S. at 711, 94 S.Ct. at 2016, on the basis of the present paper record. It is readily apparent that the contemplated use of the Hurt Home has long been a part of the District's plans and that significant amounts of money and effort have been expended to the end of bringing these plans to fruition. According to Mr. English, the District had spent 5.7 million dollars on the project at the time of his affidavit, of which 2.9 million were for purchase of the Hurt Home and 2.8 million for architectural, engineering, design and renovation work. The materials before us, however, also reveal that, as of May 23, 1990, a great deal more remained to be done. It is not merely a matter of occupancy not yet having begun. Mr. English's affidavit discloses that a contract costing in excess of a million dollars was awarded to Len Parker, Inc., the contractor who was ultimately selected to do the construction work, after the effective date of the CPAA. Representatives of the District arguably knew or should have known by that time, if not earlier, [18] that their projected plans for the Hurt Home would be in conflict with the zoning classification of the site. If the trier of fact were to find that the District, armed with such knowledge, attempted without adequate justification to present the court and the community with a fait accompli, this would severely undercut the District's claim of manifest injustice. [19] We think that the trial court is the proper forum for the initial resolution of issues resulting from the enactment of the CPAA. A trial judge is in a far better position than an appellate tribunal to determine whether a party acted in good faith, whether there was reliance in fact on prior law, and, if so, whether such reliance was reasonable. Moreover, in evaluating the District's actions in contemplation of the change in law and thereafter, a record must be made as to what would have occurred if the District had not awarded the contract to Len Parker, Inc. after the effective date of the statute. If the District acted reasonably and in good faith in this regard, [20] and if subjecting the District to the Zoning Regulations would bring about a major financial loss to the taxpayers or other serious private or public harm, [21] then this might arguably constitute the kind of manifest injustice contemplated by the case law. If, on the other hand the trial judge were to find that the District acted as it did so as to substitute a fait accompli for judicial resolution of the controversy, the thwarting of such a design, although potentially disadvantageous to the prospective residents of the Hurt Home, would not constitute injustice, manifest or otherwise. [22] We therefore remand the case to the trial court with respect to the zoning issues with directions that it determine, after an evidentiary hearing, whether application of the CPAA to the present case would be manifestly unjust.