Court Opinion

ID: 9638639
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:49:22.094553+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:08.215443
License: Public Domain

Darrell Hickman, Justice, dissenting. Rather than go to the record to reverse this decision, we should only go to the record to affirm the decision. Rather than view the evidence most favorably to the appellant, we must view it most favorably to the appellee. Hamlin Flying Service, Inc. v. Breckenridge, 275 Ark. 188, 628 S.W.2d 312 (1982). Rather than search for a way to find an ordinance unconstitutional we must first presume it is constitutional and try to give it a construction which would meet constitutional tests if that construction is reasonable. Board of Adjustment of Fayetteville v. Osage Oil & Transportation, Inc., 258 Ark. 91, 522 S.W.2d 836 (1975), cert, denied 423 U.S. 941 (1975); Connors v. Riley, 395 F. Supp. 1244 (W.D. Ark. 1975). The majority opinion decides a case that essentially was not presented to the trial court, nor fairly represented as such on appeal. If our appellate rules are to have any significance, if parties who prevail in trials are to have any security in the judicial process, and if trial judges are to have any confidence in our approach to reviewing cases, this case must be affirmed. It is not for us to say how tall grass can grow, or what vehicles can be parked in a residential area, and those are not the questions to us. Our role in this case is simply to review two questions presented: Is the ordinance constitutional by any reasonable measure, and was there substantial evidence to support the trial court’s decision. The evidence stated most favorably to the appellee is this: Trice, the appellant, had been a source of irritation to his neighbors for some time because he ran a business from his home which is located in a residential area in Pine Bluff, an area that can be used for no other purpose except residential. Trice bought a vacant lot across the street from his house, which he admitted was purchased as a place to park his business vehicles, or just vehicles, as he insists. He was granted permission to build a garage on it but the permission was limited to using it for parking automobiles. In other words, he was deliberately deceptive. After several complaints were made of his use of the lot, a city official checked the lot on four separate days: November 16, 17, 18, and December 1, 1981. On those days the official noted what he thought were improper uses. According to his testimony, which was supported by photographs, on one day there was an 18-wheel trailer and a one-ton truck with a fuel tank parked on the property. There were also tall grass, tires, and a pile of lumber on the lot. Over the next two days the trailer was gone but the other things remained. On December 1,1981, an 18-wheel tractor-trailer was on the lot being cleaned by a steam cleaning service. Trice admitted he was using the lot for his business and he was charged with an improper use of the property. The circuit judge, sitting without a jury and charged with finding the facts, s jmply summed up the evidence by saying: He’s in the trucking business. . . . The garage was built for automobiles, personal use, and that was permitted. Maybe that shouldn’t have been permitted. I don’t know. But nevertheless, a ton and a half truck, a pickup truck, an automobile and an 18-wheeler with a truck bed and a pile of lumber indicates to me there is something going on there besides sleeping and eating, and I’m not condemning the work as such but if you are going to carry on that kind of operation you are going to have to find another place to do it. You can park your truck as I understand at your residence overnight, but you just simply can’t use that vacant lot over there as a place to operate from to unload excess lumber or to unload a torn-up truck bed or to clean up the equipment or repair the equipment. That’s a part of your business operation, and it does violate the ordinance. So all we must decide is whether there is substantial evidence that Trice was improperly using the property for something other than a residential purpose. Indeed it is not even disputed that was what Trice was doing, and there was no objection to the charge. So it is not a question of height of the grass, or notations by a civil servant of violations; it is a question of reviewing the facts found by a trial judge, which we must honor if substantially supported by the evidence. The majority concedes no objection was made as to the charges, but dwells on them anyway. The ordinance in question is a routine but comprehensive zoning ordinance that declares what uses property may be put to and necessarily what uses may not be employed. The ordinance is not in the record, only references were made to it at the trial. We cannot take judicial notice of a municipal ordinance. Orrell v. City of Hot Springs, 265 Ark. 267, 578 S.W.2d 18 (1979). The excerpt reprinted by the majority was furnished by the appellee and did not appear in the record. We can surmise there was a penal provision allowing a fine for each violation of the ordinance; that is not questioned, but the provision itself is not in the record. We do know there is no question that this neighborhood was exclusively zoned as a residential area. Residential zoned property may not, of course, be used for commercial, industrial, or agricultural uses, which are the other general categories, unless specifically authorized in the ordinance. The appellant specifically attacks one provision of the ordinance as unconstitutional; that provision defines the accessory uses to which an owner may put his property. It obviously controls this case, and is not even mentioned by the majority. The provision, quoted to us by the appellant, defines an accessory use as: A use customarily incidental, appropriate and subordinate to the principal use of land on building; and located on the same lot. The appellant argues in his brief this is an unconstitutional provision because these are broad unspecific terms “which do not lend themselves to ready measurement.” In Martin v. State, 261 Ark. 80, 547 S.W.2d 81 (1977), we upheld as constitutional some statutory language defining one kind of first degree battery as causing serious injury “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.” If the average person can comprehend that language, surely one can know what uses are customary, incidental, appropriate and subordinate to residential use. Necessarily it means, when the zoning ordinance is given a reasonable interpretation, that one cannot use such property for commercial, business, industrial or agricultural purposes. Common sense has to be applied to the interpretation of statutes and ordinances. Henderson v. Russell, 267 Ark. 140, 589 S.W.2d 565 (1979). Would it satisfy the majority if the ordinance had mentioned all the “Thou shall nots” instead of succinctly and clearly stating what the property could be used for? That would make much less sense than spelling out, as the ordinance apparently does, only what the property may be used for. I would not strain to strike down this ordinance, in the dark, so to speak. The appellant essentially says the ordinance is invalid because of the “accessory use” of the provision. And that is the question I would answer. The ordinary person would not have to speculate to the meaning of this provision. Jordon v. State, 274 Ark. 572, 626 S.W.2d 947 (1982). An ordinance which “ . . . defines boundaries sufficiently distinct for all citizens, policemen, juries and appellate judges is not impermissibly vague.” Davis v. Smith, 266 Ark. 112, 583 S.W.2d 37 (1979). See Martin v. State, supra. The provision of the ordinance under attack is part of a zoning code, the primary purpose of which is to define how one may and may not use property. There is a penal sanction for violations. This is a simple case. The appellant was obviously running a business on a residential lot, and that is what the trial court found. The appellant knew he could not run a trucking business there, yet he proceeded to do so. I would apply our usual rules of appellate procedure and affirm the case. I would make no blanket rule concerning any and all provisions of this ordinance on the chance the parties have submitted to us all relevant portions. See Bethea v. City of Little Rock, 272 Ark. 159, 612 S.W.2d 320 (1981). Hays, J., joins in this dissent.