Court Opinion

ID: 9718509
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:26:14.945167+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:59.890333
License: Public Domain

M. J. Kelly, J.
Two cases are consolidated for this appeal.
Initially, plaintiff appeals by leave granted (Docket No. 77-41) from a November 3, 1976, Oakland County Circuit Court order that defendants refer plaintiff’s application for a Class C liquor license to the planning commission and police department, and then to reconsider the application. This Court on April 11, 1977, restrained defendants from depleting the remaining quota of available liquor licenses pending further order of the Court.
Plaintiff also appeals from the trial court’s final order of June 9, 1977 (Docket #77-2411) dismissing plaintiff’s complaint for superintending control. This Court ordered the cases (77-41 & 77-2411) consolidated on July 7, 1977. The parties *611raise no issues in case No. 77-2411 that were not raised in case No. 77-41.
On June 27, 1975, plaintiff applied to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) for a Class C liquor license to be used at its Orchard Mall location in West Bloomfield Township. This application was referred by the MLCC to the West Bloomfield Township Board for its consideration.
The. board resolution outlining procedures for license determinations provides that the board shall refer all applications to the planning commission and the police department before reaching a decision. At trial, the township clerk testified that plaintiff’s application had never been referred to the planning commission or to the police department. The attorney for the township, however, stipulated that the planning commission and the police department would not have objected to approval of the application. Local approval was ultimately denied.
The township clerk further testified that the basis for the decision was that there was already one establishment in the mall which had a liquor license. It was also the consensus of the seven board members that there were already too many licensed establishments in the area. She admitted that the "one license per mall” policy was not contained in the township resolution and that no study had been done to support the reasonableness of such a policy. According to the concise statement of facts, approval was denied because the area in and around the mall was "saturated” with taverns and bars. Only two establishments in the area had Class C licenses in June of 1975.
In June of 1976 the plaintiff reapplied, this time for a "tavern” license. Once again, the application was referred to the West Bloomfield Township *612Board. On July 20, 1976, the chairman of the township liquor license committee informed the plaintiff that the "one license per mall” policy had not changed. The board was also concerned about the concentration of taverns and bars in any given area of the township and felt that the intersection where Orchard Mall is located "had reached the saturation point”. Plaintiff’s attorneys appeared before the township board on September 7, 1976. Their attempt to seek review of the denial resulted in a reaffirmation of the denial.
On May 2, 1977, the township adopted new "liquor establishment requirements” with regard to local approval of liquor licenses. On May 18, 1977, plaintiff’s original application again came before the board after being referred to the planning commission and police department in compliance with the lower court order of November 3, 1976. The application was denied a second time.
After denying plaintiff’s original application, the board approved the transfer of an existing Class C license to Bloomfield Charlie’s which bordered Orchard Mall. Also approved after June of 1975 was the granting of a new license to a bowling alley south of the Maple-Orchard Lake intersection, plaintiff being north. The application for the bowling alley had been submitted in 1972.
On appeal plaintiff challenges the township board resolution, which provides that the board shall have unlimited discretion concerning the approval of a new liquor license, as unconstitutionally overbroad. Furthermore, plaintiff claims the township board acted arbitrarily and capriciously in disapproving its application.
The Michigan Supreme Court has stated:
"[T]he power of the local communities to control *613alcoholic beverage traffic is extremely broad but does not permit local legislative bodies to act arbitrarily and capriciously and further, when the local bodies conduct themselves in such a manner their actions are reviewable by the courts.”
Bundo v Walled Lake, 395 Mich 679, 700-701; 238 NW2d 154, 164 (1976). See MCLA 436.17; MSA 18.988. Plaintiff, however, must establish a showing of an abuse of discretion or an arbitrary exercise of power on the part of the township board. 395 Mich at 701.
The phrase "one license per mall” is impermissibly vague since what constitutes a mall is not defined. Furthermore, the township was required to publish the resolution under MCLA 42.8; MSA 5.46(8), and failed to do so. Cf. Mallchok v Liquor Control Commission, 72 Mich App 341; 249 NW2d 415 (1976). A record or certified copy of a published resolution would have provided "prima facie evidence of the existence and validity of such * * * resolution * * * ”. MCLA 600.2116; MSA 27A.2116. Since the township has failed to publish as required by law, we hold it has failed to establish a prima facie case of the existence and validity of the resolution. The failure to publish renders the resolution ineffective.
The township denied the instant license relying on the resolution and also because the area had become "saturated”. There is no evidence concerning what constitutes a saturated area. We, therefore, reverse and remand the case for further proceedings before the township board, and if denial results, for the board to provide a statement of reasons for denial of the license other than the "one license per mall” argument, and for a definition of "saturated area”.
On remand, the board does not have to justify *614further the two liquor licenses which were given to other establishments in the same area after plaintiff was denied a license. The license given to Bloomfield Charlie’s, aside from not being within the same mall, was a transfer of an existing license, and, therefore, inapplicable to the instant issue.
Furthermore, the liquor license granted to the bowling alley, some distance away from the Orchard Mall, was applied for by the bowling alley prior to plaintiff’s instant application. The granting of that license also has little bearing on this case.
Reversed and remanded. Costs to the prevailing party on remand.
D. E. Holbrook, Jr., J., concurred.