Court Opinion

ID: 9747485
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:17:54.161823+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:24.051839
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mb. Justice Eoberts :
The majority holds today that the appellee is not entitled to a variance because he inflicted the hardship upon himself. I cannot agree, and hence I must dissent.
The trial court found that the cost to prepare the site in question for residential development would be $44,531.50. In addition, the court found that a maximum of six single-family homes could be erected on the parcel. Since the parcel cost $40,000, the cost of improvements plus the land for each of the six homes would be approximately $14,000. In order to make a profit on this investment, the homes should cost five times the cost of the land plus site improvements—i.e., $70,000 each.
The majority does not dispute these figures. The majority holds, however, that the property was worth $40,000 only if apartments could be built on it. The majority then concludes that by paying what the land would be worth only if a variance were granted, the developer brought the hardship upon himself. He therefore cannot claim that his hardship was unnecessary, and is not entitled to a variance.
Admittedly there is no evidence as to the value of the land were it restricted to residential use, although the township’s expert witness testified that it would be “substantially less” than $40,000. But even if we as*562sume that the developer paid absolutely nothing for the land, the land would still be unusable for single-family residences. Dividing the cost of just the site improvements by six, we find that each lot would cost $7,421.91 to develop. Multiplying this by the five-to-one ratio necessary, each house would have to sell for $37,109.55. These expensive homes would be located in a neighborhood surrounded by $18,000 homes, with adjoining industrial uses, and backing onto railroad tracks. I cannot believe that homes in this price range would be any more marketable than the $70,000 homes projected by the developer and the trial court.
The developer did not bring this hardship upon himself. Single-family dwellings cannot profitably be erected on this parcel regardless of the price paid for the land, or even if the land cost nothing as demonstrated above. Accordingly the land is subject to a unique and unnecessary hardship, and I would affirm the trial court’s finding that appellee is entitled to a variance.