Court Opinion

ID: 9710925
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:20:48.550362+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:01.112452
License: Public Domain

Allen, P. J.
(dissenting). This Court, in Wabeke v City of Holland, 54 Mich App 215, 219-221; 220 NW2d 756 (1974), and in Tack v Roseville, 67 Mich App 34, 39; 239 NW2d 752 (1976), set forth the standards of judicial review in determining whether a project confers a special benefit. The relative standards referred to read:
"3. Whether there is no benefit at all, or the amount of benefit, is peculiarly a decision best made by the legislative body imposing the assessment. Courts are reluctant to interfere in this legislative determination unless there is fraud, mistake, discrimination or where *42the absence of the benefits claimed appears with certainty.
"4. The concept that road improvements, including street widening in particular, automatically result in special benefits even when so determined by the legislative body, may be overturned where the record as a whole 'stretche[s] credulity’ or 'shows beyond fair dispute’ an overall harm to the property owners assessed, * * * .” Wabeke, supra, p 220. (Citations omitted.)
Upon employing these standards to the case at hand I cannot conclude that (a) the absence of special benefit appears with certainty or (b) the decision of the legislative body stretches credulity. Instead, I believe it stretches credulity to conclude that no special benefit was conferred.
Evidence introduced by the city conclusively established that prior to the improvement East-land Avenue was a dirt-slag-gravel roadway with numerous potholes, mud, gravel and frequent pools of standing water. Along its sides lay open ditches three feet deep which, following storm periods, filled with stagnant water and became a health hazard in terms of breeding mosquitoes. This was replaced with a 36-foot wide concrete roadway with curbing and gutters. The open ditches were covered and stagnant water run off through the gutters which were connected to existing storm sewers.
Plaintiff’s small retail store was some 50 feet wide, fronting on Groesbeck, and 80 feet long on Eastland. After allowing for its set-back from Groesbeck, there remained a parcel of industrially zoned vacant land 219 feet along Eastland and 106 feet deep. Even if we assume arguendo that the store building itself received no special benefit by reason of the improvement, it appears obvious that the vacant parcel was considerably enhanced in *43value thereby. Even plaintiffs expert witness, the city assessor from Madison Heights, conceded on cross-examination that if plaintiff tried to sell that portion of the vacant lot fronting on Eastland, prospective purchasers would be willing to pay more money as a result of such improvements. Alternatively, if plaintiff elected to retain the property and expand its present facilities, convenient access would be available from the newly paved street. In Wabeke, supra, this Court found that the elimination of standing pools of water, mud, debris and dirt and the installation of curb and gutter worked a special benefit. Subsequently, in Tack, supra, we stated that the elimination of open ditches, if financed by the assessment rather than being separately financed,1 constituted a special benefit.
The city’s final witness, a real estate broker and appraiser, testified that because of the improvements, the value of plaintiff’s property had increased 25% to 30%. Based on these facts I can only conclude that the absence of benefits claimed by plaintiff does not appear with certainty. Neither does the decision of the governing body stretch credulity. Accordingly, I would reverse the judgment of the trial court.

 "Video tapes, substantial portions of which were viewed by us, strikingly depict a general aesthetic uplifting of the area through the elimination of the ditches along the sides of the roadway. To this extent plaintiffs were obviously specially benefited. But most of this improvement was separately funded in a Chapter 20 program and was not included in the $4 per front foot assessment. Therefore, the trial court was correct in not including this benefit as part of the assessment.” 67 Mich App at 40-41. In the instant case the elimination of ditches was not funded by Chapter 20 but was funded through the assessment.