Court Opinion

ID: 9722123
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:17:12.485352+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:30.742230
License: Public Domain

ROBB, Judge,
dissents with separate opinion.
I respectfully dissent. The majority concludes that "the Bass Lake Board's classification of the Brewer residence as a duplex or multiplex was an arbitrary and capricious exercise of its power with regard to the increased sewer rate charges." Slip op. at 15. I disagree.
I begin by noting that the Brewers have not challenged the ordinance defining "duplex" or "multiplex" as a whole. They have challenged only the Bass Lake Board's application of the ordinance to them. Thus, the question is not whether the Bass Lake Board acted arbitrarily or capriciously in enacting the ordinance, but only if it acted arbitrarily or capriciously in applying the ordinance to their structure. And I reiterate, as stated by the majority, that "a trial court may not substitute its own judgment for the municipality's discretionary authority. That is, the trial court should only determine whether the municipality is acting pursuant to statutory authority." Slip op. at 8 (citing Farley Neighborhood Ass'n v. Speedway, 765 N.E.2d 1226, 1229 (Ind.2002)).
With that in mind, I believe that the Brewers have failed to carry their burden of proving that the Bass Lake Board's decision was in error. Bass Lake Board has apparently had for some time a standard for what constitutes a "duplex." It ultimately struck the word "duplex" in favor of the term "multiplex" and reduced the standard to an ordinance. The fact *961that how the Bass Lake Board has defined a duplex or multiplex is not how the English language dictionaries or the trial court or the majority would define the term is not determinative. Nor is the fact that the area where the Brewers live is zoned only for single-family residences controlling, as the zoning and sewer rate ordinances have different purposes. Although the two ordinances may use the same term, the term can be and is defined differently in order to meet the specific purpose of each ordinance.
A duplex, and subsequently a multiplex, was defined by the rate-making authority as a residential structure with more than one living area and the existence of separate cooking facilities. As there is no question that the Brewers' residence had two separate cooking areas, it was a duplex or multiplex as defined by the ordinance, and I would hold that the Bass Lake Board made the appropriate decision in classifying the Brewers' residence as such and charging the corresponding sewer rate. I would accordingly reverse the judgment of the trial court, and I therefore dissent.