Opinion ID: 1685276
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: does the zoning ordinance of a municipality governing off-street parking apply to public schools?

Text: The chancellor ruled that the Indianola City zoning ordinance was inapplicable to the construction of schools and facilities incidental thereto because the Indianola Municipal Separate School District is a governmental body with full authority to locate and construct schools and is not governed by local zoning regulation. Reliance was placed by the chancellor upon our decision in City of Jackson v. Mississippi State Building Commission, 350 So.2d 63 (Miss. 1977), in which we held that a municipal building code does not apply to the State Building Commission because the Commission possesses plenary sovereign power to construct buildings for state use unfettered by municipal regulation. In Yates v. Mayor and Commissioners of City of Jackson, 244 So.2d 724 (Miss. 1971), we upheld a restriction in a municipal ordinance requiring provision for adequate off-street parking for property zoned for apartments and multiple family dwellings. We said: It is generally recognized that zoning ordinances can, and should, provide for off-street parking to prevent street congestion. Under modern-day conditions any plan for the development of land must reckon with the parking problem, especially is this true in heavily populated areas. Off-street parking regulation comes within the delegation of zoning power to the city, and the city has the power to make reasonable regulations to prevent street congestion in the development of land. Id. at 726. In the case sub judice, the proposed new plan includes 53 permanent parking spaces with 40 additional temporary spaces off Battle Street. The Indianola off-street parking ordinance would require between 375 and 500 parking spaces to accommodate a capacity crowd of 1500-2000 at the proposed gymnatorium. The School District did not conform its off-street parking plans to the requirements of the ordinance, did not specify the required number of parking spaces in its application for a building permit, as required by the ordinance, and finally did not follow the proper procedure for obtaining a variance from the off-street parking requirement, which includes public notice and hearing to obtain the views of the affected residents. Indianola Zoning Ordinance § 707.2 (1979). City of Jackson v. State Building Commission, supra, correctly states the law as to the State Building Commission, but the school in question is not being built by the Commission. The municipal school district does not enjoy the plenary power in the construction of schools that was granted to the Building Commission. While the school district is empowered to locate and cause to be constructed school buildings to meet the needs of the district, Mississippi Code Annotated § 37-7-315 (1972), it must obtain the approval of the location, plans and specifications from the Educational Finance Commission to receive state and local funds for the construction of those facilities. Miss. Code Ann. § 37-47-15 (1972). The school district is an arm of the sovereign with authority in site selection and planning, subject to the approval of the Educational Finance Commission. By the same token, the City of Indianola is also an arm of the sovereign with the right and duty to govern non-educational matters, including public safety. The condition and safety of the Indianola public streets, including Battle Street, is in the sovereign domain not of the municipal school district, but the city of Indianola. We have previously upheld the application of municipal traffic ordinances in situations where other governmental authorities otherwise exercise plenary power. In City of Ellisville v. State Highway Commission, 186 Miss. 473, 191 So. 274 (1939), we ruled that a municipal parking ordinance controls a street that is part of a state highway. Since the regulation of traffic is an ordinary police power generally exercised by municipalities, we concluded that any legislative intent to take it away and confer it upon some other authority, such as the State Highway Commission, must be clearly expressed. Id. at 488, 191 So. at 277. The Indianola ordinance requiring Gentry High School to provide off-street parking proportional to its auditorium capacity is an otherwise valid exercise of the police power concerning traffic. Yates v. Mayor, etc. of Jackson, supra. The school district is not exempted from this requirement in the absence of a clear legislative intent to transfer that authority to the school district. Ellisville v. State Highway Commission, supra. The statutory grant of authority to the school district found in § 37-7-315 is plenary as to the location and construction of schools. This authority must yield, however, to the extent necessary to insure free flowing traffic. We hold, therefore, that Indianola zoning requirements for off-street parking apply to the school district and, specifically, the Gentry High School gymnasium addition. See School District of Philadelphia v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 417 Pa. 277, 207 A.2d 864 (1965), (school district not immune from off-street parking ordinance). The school district argues that the city granted a variance by virtue of the approval by the city planning board of the plans for the new gymnatorium. However, the city's own zoning ordinance requires public notice and hearing in order to validly grant a variance, a requirement that was not fulfilled. In Kynerd v. City of Meridian, 366 So.2d 1088 (Miss. 1979), we held that a city may not ignore, but must abide by, its own ordinance in granting an exception to a zoning requirement. The same is true where a variance is sought. Thus the Gentry High School addition is in violation of the Indianola off-street parking ordinance. The question becomes whether this non-compliance with the off-street parking ordinance is a public nuisance which the appellants, as abutting land-owners, are entitled to enjoin. While it is generally acknowledged that the violation of a municipal ordinance does not constitute a public nuisance, the continuing violation of a valid ordinance may constitute a nuisance. Paramount Richards Theatres, Inc., et al. v. City of Hattiesburg, 210 Miss. 271, 49 So.2d 574 (1950); 66 C.J.S. Nuisances § 9(b) pp. 749-50. A private individual cannot ordinarily maintain an action with respect to the enforcement of a zoning regulation, except where the use constitutes a nuisance per se or the individual has suffered or is threatened with special damage, i.e., injury or threat of injury of a special or peculiar nature amounting to a private wrong affecting his personal or property rights. Brooks v. City of Jackson, 211 Miss. 246, 51 So.2d 274 (1951); 101-A C.J.S. Zoning and Land Planning, § 344(b), pp. 1023-24. The settled rule in this state is that an obstruction of an established highway is a public nuisance, and that a private person cannot maintain an action to abate an obstruction of a highway, unless such person has sustained some special damage or injury distinct or different in kind from that suffered by the public at large. Panhandle Oil Co. v. Trigg, 148 Miss. 306, 114 So. 625 (1927). An abutting owner is specially damaged when the obstruction not only prevents passage through the street, a general public interest, but also bars ingress and egress to his property. City of Jackson v. Welch, 136 Miss. 223, 101 So. 361 (1924). In other words, where an individual shows damage peculiar to himself as a result of obstructions otherwise constituting a public nuisance, he may maintain an action to enjoin said obstruction. Shoemaker v. Coleman, 94 Miss. 619, 47 So. 649 (1909); Coleman v. Holden, 88 Miss. 798, 41 So. 374 (1906). The chancellor's findings of fact acknowledged that Battle Street was regularly beset with traffic problems during the athletic, school and social events at Gentry High School. The traffic congestion and parking problems have blocked Battle Street residents from access by car to or from their homes. Emergency vehicles, including fire, ambulance and police, face serious difficulty in serving either the school or the residents of Battle Street. Although the city and school have acknowledged the problem and have attempted to remedy it, the large graduation crowd, resulting in parking 4-deep on Battle Street, could not be stemmed. We conclude under the foregoing authorities that appellants have alleged the existence of a public nuisance in the form of obstruction of Battle Street by traffic. This condition is directly traceable to the school district's non-compliance with the Indianola off-street parking ordinance. While it is true that ordinarily a private individual may not maintain a suit to enforce a zoning ordinance, nor may he enjoin what is in essence a public nuisance, where, as here, the condition obstructs an abutting landowner's right of ingress and egress, an injunction will lie. Under the established law, we are required to reverse the chancellor and issue an injunction barring the school district from proceeding with the construction of the Gentry High School gymnatorium unless and until it complies with the Indianola off-street parking ordinance. REVERSED AND RENDERED. PATTERSON, C.J., WALKER and ROY NOBLE LEE, P.JJ., and HAWKINS, PRATHER and ANDERSON, JJ., concur. DAN M. LEE and ROBERTSON, JJ., not participating.