Court Opinion

ID: 9789920
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:43:56.503862+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:25.199934
License: Public Domain

Springer, J.,
with whom Gunderson, J., joins, dissenting:
The question in this case is whether or not a requirement of architectural approval in the Clark County building ordinance can be invoked to frustrate an approved building project on other than aesthetic grounds. I agree with the trial court that it cannot and would affirm the trial court’s judgment. I therefore dissent.
Respondent, CMC, desired to construct and operate a psychiatric hospital on certain real property located adjacent to a general care hospital, the Desert Springs Hospital, in Clark County, Nevada. Both the Desert Springs Hospital and the real property upon which the psychiatric hospital was to be built are owned by CMC and located within the vicinity of a residential neighborhood and elementary school.
On April 13, 1979, CMC applied for a C-P zoning change on the subject property for the purpose of constructing “parking lot facilities.”1 The Clark County Board of Commissioners (Board) approved the requested change on June 5, 1979. On August 3, 1979 CMC applied to the Clark County Planning Commission (Commission) for a conditional use permit and variance in order to construct and maintain an 80-bed psychiatric hospital on the property which had previously been rezoned C-P. The hospital was to be located within five feet of the side property lines.
Public notice for the use permit and zoning variance described the proposed facility merely as a “hospital,” not a *750psychiatric hospital.2 On October 2, 1979 the Board followed the recommendation of the Commission and approved the conditional use permit, as well as the zoning variance. In doing so, the Board modified the variance so as to require a minimum setback of 15 feet from the side line property. Thereafter, CMC spent $120,000.00 on the project and made financial commitments in excess of $2,000,000.00.
On November 20, 1980, CMC came before the county planning commission seeking architectural approval3 of the building plans as a condition of issuance of its building permit. The planning commission denied CMC’s application for architectural supervision “because there is not the proper buffer between this zone and the zones adjacent to it.”4 On January 20, 1981, the Board, following the recommendation of the Commission, denied the application for architectural supervision by a unanimous vote. As a result of this denial the Clark County building inspector refused to issue CMC a building permit.
CMC filed the present action on February 13, 1981, request*751ing a writ of mandamus commanding the county to grant CMC’s application for architectural supervision and a building permit.
On June 25, 1981, the district court ruled that CMC’s application for architectural supervision had been improperly denied. The court below found that
the record of the hearings before the County Commissions contained no substantial evidence that the buildings, structures and other improvements shown in and contemplated by the plans, data and information submitted to the county with said application for architectural supervision, will be or become unsightly, undesirable or obnoxious in appearance, as those terms are used in the context of said Chapter 29.52, or be or become incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood.
On July 2, 1981, a writ of mandamus was issued together with the district court’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.
This appeal followed.
The heart of this controversy centers around the construction that is to be given to Chapter 29.52 of the Clark County Code in determining the factors upon which the planning commission may consider in granting or denying architectural supervision. In its interpretation of the ordinance the court must look to the entire sentence and construe each clause in light of the purpose of the whole. State General Obligation Bond v. Koontz, 84 Nev. 130, 437 P.2d 72 (1968). The purpose of a statute is to be gathered from the whole act. Alexander v. Cosden Pipe Line Co., 290 U.S. 484 (1933). Resort may be had, not only to the context, but to the structure and scheme of the act. United States v. Cooper Corp., 312 U.S. 600 (1941).
It is apparent when viewing Chapter 29 of the Clark County Code that the criteria established for architectural supervision under 29.52 are limited to aesthetic and appearance considerations and are distinct from those factors which relate to the use of a proposed development or how a proposed use will affect the surrounding vicinity.
If a landowner seeks to obtain a conditional use permit or zoning variance pursuant to Chapter 29.66, that landowner must submit with his application certain plans which describe in detail his intended use and development of the property.5 *752These plans and specifications are virtually identical to those required for submission with an application for architectural supervision. Considerations such as flood control, noise control, traffic congestion, public safety and the like are factors which inevitably are taken into account when determining whether a proposed project should be approved in light of the surrounding neighborhood scheme. When an application is submitted for a zoning variance or conditional use permit, the Board may qualify the approval with whatever safeguards the Commission may deem necessary to protect neighboring properties. Under Chapter 29.66.010(g):
The board of county commissioners in granting the permits may establish conditions under which the lot or parcel of land may be used, or a building or structure is constructed or altered, or make requirements as to architecture, height of a building or structure, open spaces, parking areas or vehicle storage and conditions of operation of any enterprise, or may make any other condition, requirements or safeguards that the commission may consider necessary to prevent damages or prejudice to adjacent properties or detriment to the county and to secure substantially the objectives of the regulation or provision to which conditional use permit, variance or adjustment is requested and will provide adequately for the maintenance of the integrity and character of the district in which located. When deemed necessary, the board of county commissioners may require guarantees in such form as it may deem proper under the circumstances, to insure that the conditions designated in connection therewith are being or will be complied with. (Emphasis supplied.)
In the present controversy, CMC submitted virtually identical plans, data, and information with its application for architectural supervision as it did with its applications for a conditional use permit and zoning variance.
By modifying such plans and specifications only in respect to *753the 15-foot minimum setback, the Board necessarily approved the development of the subject property for use as a psychiatric hospital. Accordingly, by granting the variance in 1979, the county must have implicitly made a finding to the effect that a hospital built with a 15-foot setback would not materially or adversely affect the health and safety of persons in the community, injure the property of the surrounding neighborhood, or detrimentally affect the public welfare. Such an approval is final as to the intended use. Clark County Code, Chapter 29.66.010(h).
Despite the prior approval, the Board denied CMC’s application for architectural supervision for lack of “a proper buffer” zone around the hospital. Imposition of the buffer zone made it impossible to proceed with construction under the approval granted on October 7, 1979. The question is whether denial of architectural approval can be used to frustrate a previously approved project. The answer is that the architectural approval chapter is intended only to place a limitation on aesthetic qualities of the planned construction when there is a finding that the architectural design will be “unsightly, undesirable, or obnoxious” to such a degree as to “limit the optimum value of the land, impair the desirability of living conditions or otherwise affect the general prosperity or welfare.” No such finding was made nor could be made by the planning commission.
In summation, it would appear that Chapters 29.66 and 29.52 of the ordinance relate to different aspects of the zoning and planning procedures. Under Chapter 29.66 the county may grant a right to make special use of the property and it may require setback conditions, as was done in this instance. Under Chapter 29.52 the county must grant an application for architectural supervision based upon the “appearance” of the structure provided the plans are in substantial conformity with those previously approved and the proposed architectural design is not “unsightly, undesirable, or obnoxious” in appearance.
That a previously approved project cannot be invalidated by a subsequent denial of architectural approval on non-aesthetic grounds is made clear by a reading of the ordinance. The judgment of the trial court should be affirmed.

The C-P district is zoned primarily for office and professional uses. Clark County Code 29.25.

 Although the application for a conditional use permit before the Clark County Planning Commission merely referred to the proposed project as a “hospital,” the application for a variance, submitted to the Commission at the same time, referred to the proposed facility as a “psychiatric hospital.”

Clark County Code, Chapter 29.52 requires that the planning commission approve architectural plans in certain cases before a permit for construction is issued. In reviewing the plans from an architectural standpoint the planning commission is required to
endeavor to provide that such buildings . . . shall be designed and constructed so that they will not become unsightly, undesirable or obnoxious in appearance to the extent that they will hinder the orderly and harmonious development of the county, limit the opportunity to attain the optimum use and value of land and improvements, impair the desirability of living conditions in the same area or adjacent agricultural or residential areas, or otherwise adversely affect the general prosperity or welfare. (Emphasis added.)

It is quite apparent from the record that denial of architectural approval because there was no “proper buffer” was an ill-disguised attempt to frustrate a previously approved construction project. Thirty-nine persons appeared at the hearing to oppose the application, and the vice-chairman of the board remarked at the time that it should not have been approved in the first place and that there was “no sense in rehashing fault.” The board was later advised by its counsel that it was “tenuous indeed to argue . . . that imposition of a buffer area is warranted on the basis of [the language in the architectural approval section], yet was unwarranted when the variance application was granted.” It was also advised by counsel that “imposition of a buffer at this time would not only appear to be inconsistent with prior action but would also support an argument of reliance on prior action of the County on the part of CMC.” At oral argument counsel for appellants conceded that it may be fairly inferred from the record that the purpose for imposing an expanded setback on the project was to assure its ultimate demise.

Chapter 29.66.010(a) provides in pertinent part:
The application for a conditional use permit or variance permit as provided herein . . . shall be accompanied by the following data and information.
(1) Site development plan, drawn to scale to include building *752dimensions of existing and proposed structures; setback dimensions; yards and open space dimensions; parking space dimensions; location of signs; location of landscaping; and such other information as may be necessary;
(2) Floor plan, drawn to scale to indicate size of buildings and total square footage of buildings;
(3) Rendered elevation to indicate the architectural appearance of proposed buildings;
(Emphasis added.)