Court Opinion

ID: 9850796
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:03:03.338553+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:43.516461
License: Public Domain

Griffin, J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent. Plaintiff appeals as of right a judgment of the circuit court upholding the constitutionality of defendant’s A-l zoning classification. I would affirm.
Plaintiff challenges the constitutionality of the zoning ordinance on the basis of due process. In order to challenge a zoning ordinance on due process grounds, a plaintiff must establish:
[FJirst, that there is no reasonable governmental *535interest being advanced by the present zoning classification itself ... or secondly, that an ordinance may be unreasonable because of the purely arbitrary, capricious and unfounded exclusion of other types of legitimate land use from the area in question. [Kropf v Sterling Heights, 391 Mich 139, 158; 215 NW2d 179 (1974).]
In A & B Enterprises v Madison Twp, 197 Mich App 160, 162; 494 NW2d 761 (1992), this Court outlined the rules of judicial review of such a challenge:
(1) the ordinance is presumed valid; (2) the challenger has the burden of proving that the ordinance is an arbitrary and unreasonable restriction upon the owner’s use of the property; that the provision in question is an arbitrary fiat, a whimsical ipse dixit; and that there is no room for a legitimate difference of opinion concerning its reasonableness; and (3) the reviewing court gives considerable weight to the findings of the trial judge.
Although both parties agree that the preservation of a community’s rural character is a legitimate planning objective, they dispute the effectiveness of the township’s zoning ordinance in achieving this goal. At trial, conflicting expert testimony was adduced by the parties on this point. Nevertheless, I agree with the lower court that plaintiff failed to carry its burden of proving that the ordinance was unconstitutional. One of plaintiff’s own witnesses agreed that there is a legitimate difference of opinion among planners concerning the effectiveness of this type of zoning in preserving rural character. A & B Enterprises, supra.
The majority apparently concludes that the zoning classification is unreasonable because of permitted uses that include golf courses and recre*536ational areas. I disagree and view spacious and expansive areas for golfing and recreation as consistent with the objectives of the ordinance. The majority has mischaracterized the goal of the zoning classification as preserving farmland. The agreed-upon purpose of the zoning classification is to preserve the area’s rural character, not necessarily farmland..
Regarding the ten-acre versus five-acre residential lot size, I find no constitutional violation. On this issue, the majority has simply substituted its judgment for that of the trier of fact. Findings of fact by a trial court should be reviewed with great deference and set aside only if clearly erroneous. MCR 2.613(C). In light of the contested facts adduced below, I find no clear error.
After thorough review, I conclude that thé trial court did not err in ruling that plaintiff had failed to sustain its burden of proving that the zoning classification was unreasonable or arbitrary.