Court Opinion

ID: 9731058
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:31:44.691382+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:12.678736
License: Public Domain

Caporale, J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent, for it seems to me that the majority has decided this case not on the basis of the trial record which was made, but on the basis of a trial record it assumes could have been made. The fact of the matter is that the trial record presented to us develops virtually none of the evidence required by Neb. Rev. Stat. § 19-910 (Reissue 1991) for the grant of a variance.
Not only do we not have any evidence of when the zoning ordinance in question was adopted, we have no evidence that the disparity in the elevations of the Barrett and Semin properties is at all unusual in the pertinent zoning area. All the record tells us in this regard is that the Barrett property is the highest one in the block and that the land slopes downward toward the Semin property.
Nor do I understand how in the face of a silent record the majority can conclude that the district court neither made an error of law nor abused its discretion in impliedly finding that “the variance would not create a substantial detriment to the adjacent property, that the character of the district would not be changed, and that the variance would not produce a substantial detriment to the public good or substantially impair the intent and purpose of the zoning regulation.”.
Bearing in mind that whether Semin has the right to maintain his lights and cameras is not before us, what demonstrates that an 80-inch-high fence does not interfere with the enjoyment of *553his property by, for example, restricting his view, as was the case in Frank v. Russell, 160 Neb. 354, 70 N.W.2d 306 (1955), or restricting the amount of air circulation and sunlight, as was the case in Bowman v. City of York, 240 Neb. 201, 482 N.W.2d 537 (1992)? Nothing. Bearing in mind that Barrett’s fence will project 26 feet closer to the front lot line of her property than other fences in the zoning district are permitted to project, what demonstrates that the variance does not change the character of the district by, for example, changing its harmonious appearance, as was the case in Frank v. Russell, supra? Nothing. Bearing in mind that extra 26-foot projection, what demonstrates that the variance does not produce a substantial detriment to the public good or substantially impair the intent and purpose of the.zoning regulation by, for example, limiting visibility for those using the street abutting the Barrett property? Nothing.
Section 19-910 confers upon boards of adjustment the very limited authority to exempt from the operation of a zoning regulation property which, because of a statutorily specified extraordinary or exceptional situation or condition existing at the time of the adoption of the regulation, causes the owner thereof exceptional and undue hardship of the statutorily described types; provided, however, that the exemption does not work a substantial detriment to adjacent property, does not change the character of the district, and does not substantially impair the intent and purpose of the regulation. Thus, harsh as the result may appear to be, the contention of the board of adjustment that Barrett’s remedy, if any, lies elsewhere in the law is legally correct, and I would therefore reverse the judgment of the district court.
By permitting its compassion to override its reason, the majority has ignored the narrow scope of § 19-910 and this court’s prior application of that statutory language. See, e.g., Bowman v. City of York, supra. In so doing, the majority has converted boards of adjustment into courts of equity with the power to abate what may be only private nuisances, thus proving, once again, the wisdom of the rubric that hard cases make bad law. Northern Securities Co. v. United States, 193 U.S. 197, 24 S. Ct. 436, 48 L. Ed. 679 (1904) (Holmes, J., *554dissenting).
Fahrnbruch, J., joins in this dissent.