Court Opinion

ID: 9688196
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 17:38:11.142412+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:35.999469
License: Public Domain

Williams, J.
(concurring in part). This case raises two issues about the availability of a city zoning referendum. First of all, is there any right to referendum a zoning ordinance in a home-rule city? Second, is the referendary petition valid in the instant case? The petition combines both a referendum and an initiative. (We previously held that in home-rule cities there is no right to zone by initiative. Korash v Livonia, 388 Mich 737; 202 NW2d 803 [1972].)
We hold there is a right to referendum a zoning ordinance but that the instant petition is fatally defective because it attempts to combine a zoning referendum and an initiative.
*473I —FACTS
On March 2, 1971, codefendant Portage City Commission adopted an ordinance to re-zone property owned by codefendant Village Green Properties, Inc. Proper notice and hearing procedures were complied with and the ordinance was passed by more than a three-quarters vote of the Commission. Portage is a home-rule city having a population exceeding 25,000 persons.
Plaintiffs, adjacent landowners, protested and filed a petition with the Portage City Clerk on March 26, 1971, seeking under Portage City Charter §§ 5.8-5.13, repeal or, in the alternative, referendum. The petition also requested Commission passage of, or, in the alternative, initiative passage of an altogether new zoning proposal affecting approximately 80 of the 150 acres rezoned on March 2, 1971. At the subsequent Commission meeting on March 30, 1971, none of the citizens’ requested actions were taken nor were steps taken to put these initiative and referendum requests to a public vote.
Plaintiffs filed suit on April 9, 1971. On March 6, 1972, summary judgment was granted defendants on two counts (no right to referendum and no right to initiative). One count (unreasonableness of ordinance) was dismissed by stipulation. The Court of Appeals affirmed on March 2, 1973. (Docket No. 13864 [unreported]). We granted leave on June 21, 1973. 389 Mich 810 (1973).
II —RIGHT TO REFERENDUM
As in Korash, supra, which involved the question whether or not initiative is permissible with respect to zoning ordinances, the instant question whether or not there is a right to referendum is *474purely a, question of statutory construction. Did the Legislature intend to authorize home-rule cities to repeal zoning ordinances both by ordinance and referendum, or, just by ordinance?
The two statutes under scrutiny here are the same two statutes involved in Korash. First the home-rule act, MCLA 117.4i(3)(6); MSA 5.2082(3)(6) which provides in part:
"Sec. 4i. Each city may in its charter provide:
* * #
"(3) For the establishment of districts or zones within which the use of land and structures, the height, the area, the size and location of buildings and required open spaces for light and ventilation of such buildings and the density of population may be regulated by ordinance. Such regulations in 1 or more districts may differ from those in other districts.
* # *
"(6) For the initiative and referendum on all matters within the scope of its powers and for the recall of all of its officials;”
Second, the city or village zoning-enabling act, MCLA 125.584; MSA 5.2934 provides:
"Sec. 4. The legislative body of any city or village may provide by ordinance for the manner in which such regulations and boundaries of districts or zones shall be determined and enforced, or from time to time amended, supplemented or changed: Provided, however, That a public hearing shall be held before any such regulations shall become effective: And provided further, That not less than 15 days’ notice of the time and place of such public hearing shall first be published in an official paper or a paper of general circulation in such city or village, and that not less than 15 days’ notice of the time and place of such public hearing shall first be given by registered United States mail to each public utility company and to each railroad company *475owning or operating any public utility or railroad within the districts or zones affected, and a hearing be granted any person interested at the time and place specified. In cities having a population of 25,000 or more according to the last federal or state census, the legislative body may appoint a commission to recommend in the first instance the boundaries of districts and appropriate regulations to be enforced therein. Such commission shall thereupon make a tentative report and hold public hearings thereon at such times and places as the legislative body shall require before submitting its final report. In cities having a population of 25,000 or more according to the last federal or state census, said legislative body shall not in the first instance determine the boundaries of districts nor impose regulations until after the final report of a commission so appointed. In cities having a population of 25,000 or more according to the last federal or state census, the hearing as above provided before the legislative body shall not take place until such final report of such commission has been received, nor shall the ordinance or maps be amended after they are adopted in the first instance until the proposed amendment has been submitted to such commission and it has made report thereon. In either case the legislative body may adopt such ordinance and maps with or without amendments, or refer same again to the commission for a further report. Where a city has a city plan commission or corresponding commission the legislative body may appoint such commission to perform the duties above specified. After the ordinance and maps have in the first instance been approved by the legislative body of a city or village, amendments or supplements thereto may be made from time to time as above provided, but in case a protest against a proposed amendment, supplement or change be presented, duly signed by the owners of 20 per centum or more of the frontage proposed to be altered, or by the owners of 20 per centum or more of the frontage immediately in the rear thereof, or by the owners of 20 per centum of the frontage directly opposite the frontage proposed to be altered, such amendment shall not be passed except by the 3/4 vote of such legislative body.”
*476As we noted in Korash, the question boils down to whether the exercise of charter-authorized right to referendum1 (initiative in Korash) is compatible with the city’s zoning-enabling act authority to zone.2 In Korash, the intrinsic failure of initiative practice to adhere to the strict preenactment procedures prescribed in the zoning-enabling act such as public hearing, appointment of a study commission, etc., mandated initiative’s disallowance.
Referendum is a different case. The zoning-enabling act’s procedural steps have already been followed with respect to the amendatory zoning ordinance prior to the point in time when referendum becomes available. The aim of referendum is retention of the status quo existing prior to legislative adoption of the amendatory zoning ordinance. The status quo was, again, achieved through compliance with the statutory zoning enactment procedures. As a result, referendum’s aim of retention of the status quo does not conflict with the zoning-enabling act’s aim of guaranteeing certain procedural steps prior to the passage of new zoning legislation.
The Legislature has recognized that the role of referendum is an important one in our democratic society. Where there is no contrary statutory compulsion, we will not infringe upon the Legislature’s provision for that procedure.
Thus we join the majority of jurisdictions allowing referendum in this context. Fort Collins v Dooney, — Colo —; 496 P2d 316 (1972); Johnston v City of Claremont, 49 Cal 2d 826; 323 P2d 71 (1958); Meridian Development Co v Edison Twp, 91 NJ Super 310; 220 A2d 121 (1966); State, ex rel *477Hunzicker, v Pulliam, 168 Okla 632; 37 P2d 417; 96 ALR 1294 (1934); Hilltop Realty, Inc v South Euclid, 110 Ohio App 535; 164 NE2d 180 (1960); Dwyer v City Council of the City of Berkeley, 200 Cal 505; 253 P 932 (1927); O’Loane v O’Rourke, 231 Cal App 2d 774; 42 Cal Rptr 283 (1965).
Because there is no statutory conflict with the provisions of the zoning-enabling act, we hold that the charter-established right to referendum as authorized by the home-rule act is valid. Plaintiffs therefore had a legal right in the instant case to petition for referendary proceedings. The Court of Appeals is reversed on this point.
Ill —THE REFERENDARY PETITION
Plaintiff’s petition for referendum requested the Commission to repeal an amendatory zoning ordinance, or, if they did not do that, to place it on referendum. In addition, the petition requested passage of a new and different amendatory zoning ordinance, or, if they did not do that, to place it on initiative.
The purpose of such petition was to request the city to repeal an amendatory zoning ordinance and substitute a new and different one for it, or to put the whole matter up for public vote.
The City Commission actually neither repealed its own amendatory ordinance nor passed the one petitioned for. Nor was any action taken to give a referendum and initiative to the people.
As a matter of fact, the petition for referendum and initiative would put the city clerk in a dilemma. To attempt to satisfy the petition he would be required to frame a proposition asking the voter whether the voter wished to vote for or against repealing the Commission-passed amenda*478tory zoning ordinance and passing the petitioned-for substitute amendatory zoning ordinance. But as we have already recognized, the second half of the petition requests an initiative which was held illegal in Korash. The city clerk would therefore be faced with a proposition that was.half legal and half illegal.
Obviously the clerk could not put a half illegal proposition to the people. Nor could he attempt to reform the proposition for two reasons. First, he has no legislated authority to reform a petition but merely to perform the ministerial act of accepting or rejecting the propositions to be put to the people. Second, assuming the clerk had the power to reform a petition for voter action, he would not in this instance be able to accurately reflect the intention of the petition signers to reform it. It would be impossible to know whether the signers of the petition would or would not have signed, had they known they could not vote on the combined referendum and initiative but only on the referendum, as the initiative is illegal. In other words some or all of the signers might not care to repeal the proposed amendatory ordinance unless the initiative ordinance was substituted for it.
We conclude that the city clerk could not legally, on the basis of the instant petition, put the requested referendum to the people.
IV —CONCLUSION
We hold that passage of an amendatory zoning ordinance in a home-rule city is subject to charter-established right to. referendum. The Court of Appeals is reversed on this point.
We further hold, for reasons enumerated in Section III, supra, that the instant referendary *479petition was invalid. As a result, we affirm the Court of Appeals’ disposition, i.e., affirmance of the trial court summary judgment in favor of appellees.
Reversed in part; affirmed in part; disposition affirmed.
Costs to appellees.
T. M. Kavanagh, C. J., and Swainson, J., concurred with Williams, J.

 City of Portage Charter § 5.8 grants the right of initiative or referendum on "any ordinance”.

 This question with respect to referendum was specifically reserved in Korash, 388 Mich 737, 744-745, fn 4.