Court Opinion

ID: 9581423
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:14:52.204208+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:56.695565
License: Public Domain

FOLEY, P.J.
(dissenting). I would reverse the judgment and remand this matter for a determination of *463whether posting would have served any useful purpose. If the court determines that posting would not have been uesful, it should dismiss the respondents’ action. Additionally, even if posting would have served a useful purpose, the respondents should not be granted relief unless they can show that they were prejudiced by the failure to post.
The majority’s conclusion that posting is required whenever it is physically possible renders the words “where practical” superfluous. It is always possible to post. If there are no trees on the property, a sign may be posted. Even a swamp may be posted by floating a raft with the notice attached. The rules of construction require that every word of the ordinance have meaning and that a superfluous construction be avoided. County of Columbia v. Bylewski, 94 Wis. 2d 153, 164, 288 N.W.2d 129, 135 (1980).
A more reasonable construction is provided by Webster’s Third New International Dictionary to which Door County looks in defining terms in its zoning ordinance. Door County Zoning Ordinance sec. XI. Webster defines “practical” as “valuable in practice or action . . . USEFUL . . . .” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 1780 (1976). Under this definition, posting would be unnecessary if it was unlikely that any potentially interested party would read the posted notice. That possibility existed here. The land was an undeveloped tract on the outskirts of Fish Creek and, although it was adjacent to State Highway 42, there was no sidewalk. Inasmuch as the posting would have taken place in early February, it is probable that a party would have had to trudge through snow to read the posted notice.
Also, Door County has not followed its posting ordinance for ten years. The posting requirement was in addition to the notice required by state statute. If the respondents cannot show that they were prejudiced by *464Door County’s failure to post notice, the county’s failure should not invalidate its action. See Hallenborg v. Town Clerk, 275 N.E.2d 525, 530 (Mass 1971); Putney v. Township of Abington, 108 A.2d 134, 140 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1954). The question of whether the respondents were in any way prejudiced by Door County’s failure to post has not been addressed by the trial court or previously addressed by this court. Consideration of this issue is therefore not barred by the law of the case doctrine.