Court Opinion

ID: 9719102
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:42:27.514729+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:24:03.697011
License: Public Domain

SCHULTZ, Justice
(dissenting).
The fundamental justification for amending a zoning ordinance is a change in conditions making the amendment reasonably necessary to protect the public interest. 8 E. McQuillin, The Law of Municipal Corporations § 25.67b, at 170 (3d rev. ed. 1976). Here, the trial court found that there was no significant change in the general location from the 1983-84 zoning ordinance to the 1985 downzoning. Under the facts of this case, I would conclude that the action of the city council was unreasonable and should be declared invalid.
From the time this property was annexed by the city in 1956 until 1985, the city has never zoned the property in a manner that would prevent the construction of multifamily residences. In 1962 the city commissioned a comprehensive zoning plan which affected the property but allowed multi-family dwellings. In the 1960s and 1970s the surrounding property was highly developed. In 1978 the property was rezoned and a new comprehensive plan adopted. Following extensive studies a new ordinance was adopted in 1983. Because of a defect it was readopted during the spring of 1985. While the property was downzoned during this period, multi-resident dwellings were still allowed.
At the insistence of a group of neighbors and over the recommendation of its planning and zoning commission, the city council, four months after its latest ordinance, rezoned the property to a type of district which disallows multi-dwelling construction. Neighbors also use the land for recreational purposes, and their representatives had previously attempted to have the same undeveloped property made into a city park.
Because of its location near the stadium and the hospital, this property is best used as multi-family dwellings. The object of zoning is to put property to its best use.
*168I am aware that zoning is not static and existing ordinances are subject to reasonable revision as the need appears and that ordinances may be amended any time circumstances and conditions warrant such action. Jaffe v. City of Davenport, 179 N.W.2d 554, 556 (Iowa 1970) (citing Hanna v. Rathje, 171 N.W.2d 876, 879 (Iowa 1969), and Anderson v. City of Cedar Rapids, 168 N.W.2d 739, 743 (Iowa 1969)).
In determining whether circumstances and conditions warrant amending ordinances, each case must be decided on its own facts. Jaffe, 179 N.W.2d at 556. When an ordinance is amended within a short period of time and there have been no changes in conditions or circumstances or no mistakes, injustices or other good reasons, stability and innate fairness require that the city proceed with utmost caution in making these additional alterations. If not, the very purpose of zoning will be destroyed. 8 E. McQuillin, § 25.68, at 171.
What was the reason for the ordinance amendment? After this action was filed, the city set forth the purported reasons for the rezoning. Traffic, pollution and congestion are not new to the area and were present both four months and two years earlier when the city studied this tract. This rezoning procedure was instituted by neighbors and not by the city or its planning staff. The obvious reason for the rezoning was neighborhood pressure. While I do not challenge or condemn the political process, I do not believe that the city council acted reasonably under the circumstances. It ignored the best use of the property and the interest of the general public in having housing convenient to Iowa City’s largest employer. It bowed to a group who has enjoyed the use of this property and wishes to dictate its further use at the owners’ expense. Without a careful restudy of the property in the area, the council had no legitimate reason to make changes. I would reverse the trial court.