Court Opinion

ID: 9852544
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:32:33.811527+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:29.419048
License: Public Domain

Acting Justice G. THOMAS COOPER,
(dissenting).
This Court would reverse not only the Court of Appeals, but also the Charleston County Planning and Zoning Commission and the Charleston County Council for enactment of Ordinance # 1300, the Peters Point Planned Development. Ordinance # 1300 created a Planned Development, an entity described and authorized in Section 6-29-740 of the South Carolina Code as an independent, distinct zoning district. In doing so, the majority finds:
... it highly implausible that, in setting forth a maximum density of 1 unit per 10 acres for AG-10 Districts, and then allowing for an increase of up to 1 unit per 5 acres for a Planned Development, the County intended to authorize the approval of a Planned Development which would completely vitiate the maximum density requirements set forth in Section 4.5.3B.
However, that is exactly what the Act and the Charleston County Zoning and Land Development Regulations (ZLDR) allows the Charleston County Council to do. Its decision is supported by the State statute and the Charleston County Comprehensive Plan and the Charleston County ZLDR. To reverse the action of County Council flies in the face of this Court’s frequent pronouncement that it will acknowledge and respect the actions of the pertinent legislative body if its actions are “fairly debatable.” Bear Enterprises v. County of Greenville, 319 S.C. 137, 459 S.E.2d 883 (S.C.Ct.App.1995); Rush v. City of Greenville, 246 S.C. 268, 143 S.E.2d 527 (1965).
Courts have no prerogative to pass upon the wisdom of the municipality’s decision unless such decision is “so unreasonable as to impair or destroy citizen’s constitutional rights”; and the decision should not be overturned by a court so long *162as the decision is “fairly debatable.” This policy of judicial restraint has been echoed in a recent decision.
We have long recognized the principal that the power to zone is exclusively for the legislature and that zoning decisions will not be interfered with when made in the exercise of the governing body’s police power to accomplish the desired end unless there is a plain violation of the citizens’ constitutional rights.
Knowles v. City of Aiken, 305 S.C. 219, 224, 407 S.E.2d 639, 642 (1991) (internal citations omitted). Modern legal treatises frequently define a “Planned District” as a “Planned Unit Development.”
“Planned unit development” means an area of land, controlled by a landowner, to be developed as a single entity for a number of dwelling units, and commercial and industrial uses, if any, the plan for which does not correspond in lot size, bulk, or type of dwelling or commercial or industrial use, density, lot coverage and required open space to the regulations established in any one or more districts created, from time to time, under the provisions of a municipal zoning ordinance enacted pursuant to the conventional zoning enabling act of the state.
Julian Conrad Juergensmeyer & Thomas E. Roberts, Land Use Planning and Development Regulation Law 283 (2007). This definition is not dissimilar to South Carolina Code Section 6-29-740.
The essential question is, therefore, does the Charleston County Ordinance # 1300 conflict with the Charleston County Comprehensive Plan or with the ZLDR? And, if so, can the County Council enact an Ordinance which overrides the perceived conflict?
Because of its flexibility as a land use approval mechanism, the PUD may create a conflict with the formal land use and intensity designations of a comprehensive land use plan. The extent to which such a conflict is fatal depends on whether the comprehensive plan in the particular jurisdiction is considered advisory only, or whether state legislation mandates that local zoning regulations be consistent with the comprehensive plan. In those states in which the comprehensive plan is advisory only, the courts have reject*163ed arguments that approval of a PUD was invalid because it was inconsistent with the comprehensive plan or amounted to spot zoning.
Brian W. Blaesser, Discretionary Land Use Controls: Avoiding Invitations to Abuse of Discretion 288-289 (2009 Ed.).
Code Section 6-29-720(B) requires that in adopting a zoning ordinance, the regulations must be made in accordance with the comprehensive plan for the jurisdiction. The comprehensive plan for Charleston County clearly states that the land use plan area designations and residential density guidelines are recommendations to the County Council (see County of Charleston Comprehensive Plan Section 3-2-5b and Section 3-2-8(4)). Similarly, in Evans v. Teton County, 139 Idaho 71, 73 P.3d 84 (2003), a neighbor challenged approval of a planned unit development and subdivision on the basis of nonconformity with the local plan. The Supreme Court of Idaho discussed the relationship as follows:
A comprehensive plan is not a legally controlling zoning law, it serves as a guide to local government agencies charged with making zoning decisions .... The “in accordance with” language of [the zoning enabling legislation] does not require zoning decisions to strictly conform to the land use designations of the comprehensive plan .... However, a board of county commissioners cannot ignore their comprehensive plan when adopting or amending zoning ordinances .... Whether approval of a zone change is “in accordance with” the comprehensive plan is a question of fact, which can only be overturned when the factual findings supporting the zone change are clearly erroneous.
Julian Conrad Juergensmeyer & Thomas E. Roberts, Land Use Planning and Development Regulation Law 283 (2007).
The court conducted its review on the basis of a strong presumption of validity and proceeded on the basis that it must affirm the Board of Commissioners unless it violated constitutional or statutory standards, exceeded its statutory authority, followed unlawful procedures, was not supported by substantial evidence, or was arbitrary and capricious. In other words the courts used the “fairly debatable” standard accorded to legislative decisions.
*164I disagree with the majority’s holding that the Charleston County Council cannot modify or supersede its own zoning ordinance, if done within the confines of South Carolina Code Section 6-29-740. The statute plainly states:
Planned development districts may provide for variations from other ordinances and the regulations of other established zoning districts concerning use, setbacks, lot size, density, bulk, and other requirements to accommodate flexibility in the arrangement of uses for the general purpose of promoting and protecting the public health, safety, and general welfare.
And, when adopted, the planned development district becomes a new and distinct zoning district.
Ordinance # 1300 found “... after thorough consideration, the County Planning Commission recommended in favor of the proposed rezoning; ... the rezoning complies in all respects with Article 3.4 of the Charleston County Zoning and Land Development Regulations; ... the development plan meets the objectives of Article 3.5 the Charleston County Zoning and Land Development Regulations; ... and the development plan conforms to and implements the Charleston County Comprehensive Plan.”
In my opinion, the Court of Appeals correctly ruled that the County Council’s actions were authorized and not arbitrary, unreasonable, or in devious abuse of its discretion if the action of the Council in adopting the ordinance was fairly debatable.