Opinion ID: 1126936
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Charge Relating to Denial of Use of Property without Due Process

Text: Here again we have a charge of infringement upon the constitutional rights of appellant as protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, namely, the part declaring no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. This necessitates a consideration of when property, such as appellant's, is amenable to the sovereign's exercise of the police power. No better statement of the reason for zoning regulations has been made than that by Mr. Justice Sutherland in Euclid v. Ambler Co., 272 US 365, 386, 387, 47 S Ct 114, 71 L Ed 303, 54 ALR 1016 (1926), appropriately referred to in Synod of Ohio of the United Lutheran Church (39 NE2d, supra, 515) as the cornerstone of the modern law of use zoning: Building zone laws are of modern origin. They began in this country about twenty-five years ago. Until recent years, urban life was comparatively simple; but with the great increase and concentration of population, problems have developed, and constantly are developing, which require, and will continue to require, additional restrictions in respect of the use and occupation of private lands in urban communities. Regulations, the wisdom, necessity and validity of which, as applied to existing conditions, are so apparent that they are now uniformly sustained, a century ago, or even half a century ago, probably would have been rejected as arbitrary and oppressive. Such regulations are sustained, under the complex conditions of our day, for reasons analogous to those which justify traffic regulations, which, before the advent of automobiles and rapid transit street railways, would have been condemned as fatally arbitrary and unreasonable. And in this there is no inconsistency, for while the meaning of constitutional guaranties never varies, the scope of their application must expand or contract to meet the new and different conditions which are constantly coming within the field of their operation. In a changing world, it is impossible that it should be otherwise. But although a degree of elasticity is thus imparted, not to the meaning, but to the application of constitutional principles, statutes and ordinances, which, after giving due weight to the new conditions, are found clearly not to conform to the Constitution, of course, must fall. (Emphasis ours.) The relative newness of zoning ordinances and the necessity that the scope of their application must expand or contract to meet the new and different conditions which are constantly coming within the field of their operation pointed out by Mr. Justice Sutherland in Euclid, supra, has been approved and followed by this court: Shaffner v. City of Salem, 201 Or 45, 51 268 P2d 599, and in Page v. City of Portland, 178 Or 632, 638, 165 P2d 280, where we said: Zoning, however, is not static. It changes with changed conditions and the complexities of a modern age. If the rule were otherwise, there could be no progress. A regulation concerning the use of property might be considered reasonable today whereas, under different conditions, would be deemed so arbitrary and unreasonable as to amount to confiscation. 16. The foregoing conclusions recognizing the impact of changing conditions upon the application of zoning ordinances and the need for flexibility require that we give close heed to the particular and controlling circumstance present in each earlier case cited and relied upon by the appellant. It does not follow that conditions which impelled and justified certain conclusions respecting the allowance of applications five, ten, fifteen or more years ago, would result in the same holdings, if made today, concerning the same locations in the light of currently changed conditions. This is especially true in the earlier cases where and when traffic conditions, traffic congestion and its incident dangers and annoyances were dispatched as having no validity as a reason for denying applying churches the right to build in residential areas. Such are the impacts resulting from our rapidly changing economy, community concepts, increasing populations. All of these newer conditions are intensified, in large measure, by a drift of people from rural to urban communities, with the migrations of great numbers from one established geographical area to others far distant, leaving some towns and villages much smaller and enlarging the size of others, and leaving all with new governmental and social problems to meet, particularly in the area of transportation. Beginning with 1940, Oregon has in a lesser, yet very noticeable way, felt the effect of such residential changes by migrations, as well as by normal population growth. The federal census shows a population growth in the state of Oregon of approximately 40% from 1940 to 1950, whereas the increase in the city of Milwaukie for the same period was 180% [3] . This knowledge gives emphasis to the oft-repeated judicial observation, that every zoning case must be evaluated in terms of the particular circumstances then and there attendant. 17. The Milwaukie zoning ordinance is an exercise of the police power. Page v. City of Portland (178 Or, supra, at 637); Holt v. City of Salem, 192 Or 200, 207, 234 P2d 564; and cases there cited, and in principle, is a valid exercise of that power. Village of Euclid v. Ambler (272 US 365, supra). Obviously, it cannot be logically argued that a church building or its uses would adversely affect the health of the community. Nor can sound reasons for denying use permits to churches be predicated upon protection of public morals. We therefore limit our inquiry primarily to the effect of the legislation and Council's action upon what may be classified as the general welfare of the citizens involved, or, as sometimes stated, the public welfare. 18. The term public    convenience, as found in Section 3, supra, of the ordinance, is not used in a colloquial manner as being synonymous with handy. The word convenience as there employed refers to what is fitting or suited to the public need. West Hartford Methodist Church v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 143 Conn 263, 268, 121 A2d 640 (1956). The term public welfare baffles attempt to give it precise definition because of its constantly expanding concepts. Sometimes it has been said to include public convenience, comfort, peace and order, prosperity, and similar concepts. Opinion of the Justices to the Senate, 333 Mass 773, 128 NE2d 557, 561 (1955). The breadth of its inclusive character has been recently attested in Berman v. Parker, 348 US 26, 75 S Ct 98, 99 L Ed 27 (1954), where, at p 33, Mr. Justice Douglas says:    The concept of the public welfare is broad and inclusive. See Day-Brite Lighting, Inc. v. Missouri, 342 US 421, 424. The values it represents are spiritual as well as physical, aesthetic as well as monetary. It is within the power of the legislature to determine that the community should be beautiful as well as healthy, spacious as well as clean, well-balanced as well as carefully patrolled. In the present case, the Congress and its authorized agencies have made determinations that take into account a wide variety of values. It is not for us to reappraise them   . 19. So, too, it is not the function of this court to reappraise the minimum requirements for public welfare as declared by Section 3 of the ordinance before us. Notwithstanding that a zoning ordinance is truly an instrument designed in the public welfare, and thus superior to private property rights, it must also be reasonable, and not arbitrary in reach or administration, and must confer on the public a benefit commensurate with its burden on private property. West Hartford Methodist Church v. Zoning Board (143 Conn, supra, at p 268); Berger v. City of Salem, 131 Or 674, 679, 284 P 273; Holt v. City of Salem (192 Or, supra, at p 206). 20. As an exercise of the police power, the courts will review such zoning ordinances to determine whether they are a proper employment of that power, i.e., whether they are reasonable or arbitrary and have a substantial relation to the public health, comfort, morals or welfare. Page v. City of Portland (178 Or, supra, at p 637); Holt v. City of Salem (192 Or, supra, at p 206); 62 CJS, supra, 557, § 228 (1). The courts will not, however, interfere unless the action was clearly unreasonable and arbitrary and had no substantial relation to the legitimate objects sought to be gained, and will not review it if the question is fairly debatable. Holt v. City of Salem, supra, at p 207; Shaffner v. City of Salem (201 Or, supra, at p 51); Page v. City of Portland, supra, at p 640. We must depend solely on the evidence adduced by the appellant at the trial. Such reasons, as the testimony discloses, can be gleaned only from the testimony of Councilman Klein. From his statements we gather that among the persuasive factors dictating the Council's denial were traffic hazards, later referred to as traffic congestion, conditions of automobile noises, fumes and lights, particularly resulting from the parking and starting of cars at nighttime in the range of nearby residences. The witness Klein also stated that the Council took into consideration the effect on the values of the property in the immediate neighborhood, but we read this depreciation as an incident to increased traffic hazards and congestion and not because of the mere presence of a church in the zoned area. Appellant's brief speaks of these reasons as if limited only to the factors of congestion of traffic and annoyance of neighbors. We think that annoyance of neighbors comprehends the noises, fumes and lights referred to by Mr. Klein. We also believe that traffic congestion includes the traffic hazards. We will therefore consider the reasons as delineated by appellant: congestion of traffic and annoyance to neighbors, as the prime reason for denying the application. Confining ourselves to the known reasons as expressed by Mr. Klein for the denial of the application, that is, traffic congestion hazard, and the discomforts arising from noise, fumes and lights, we find that each falls within the purview of the standards established by Section 3 of the ordinance, supra, and each one is a subject bearing a substantial relation to or reasonably necessary for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and general welfare to warrant regulation through the exercise of the police power. All have found judicial approval in church zoning cases as conditions having a substantial relation to the public welfare.