Opinion ID: 1265640
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Inspection of Property by the District Court Judge

Text: The district judge inspected the subject property without notice to the parties and after having heard the arguments of counsel. In reviewing the court's findings, the only statement that resulted from the inspection was the judge's observation that the property was immediately adjacent to an area designated for single-family use and that a casual observer would conclude that the property was part of the single-family use area. However, the district judge correctly found that the Hawkins House was within the NN Plan and then went on to determine whether the Plan permitted the variance granted. A court's consideration of matters outside the record, obtained by independent investigation, generally constitutes error. See, e.g., Westergard v. Barnes, 105 Nev. 830, 784 P.2d 944 (1989); People v. Hummert, 132 Ill.App.2d 340, 270 N.E.2d 496 (1971); People v. Wallenberg, 24 Ill.2d 350, 181 N.E.2d 143 (1962). Although we do not encourage judges to make independent inspections of real property in question without notice to the parties, the court's decision in this case was based on a review and interpretation of the NN Plan and the independent inspection does not seem to have impacted his analysis in any way. Therefore, we conclude that any error that might have occurred in inspecting the property in this case was harmless.