Court Opinion

ID: 9745063
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:31:48.74622+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:25:43.095819
License: Public Domain

CHIPMAN, Judge,
dissenting.
I dissent.
I agree with the majority that the ordinary rules of statutory construction are to be applied when construing municipal ordinances, Woerner, supra, but we also must interpret the ordinance as it is written, Board of Zoning Appeals of Elkhart County v. New Testament Bible Church, (1980) Ind. App., 411 N.E.2d 681, and the words not defined in the ordinance must be taken in their plain, ordinary and usual sense. Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals of Marion County v. Shell Oil Company, (1979) Ind.App., 395 N.E.2d 1283.
If the ordinance defines use as “the employment or occupation of a building . .. for a person’s service, benefit or enjoyment” then a change of use must be a change in the employment or occupation of a building for a person’s benefit. In this case the building was formerly employed or occupied by a carpet store and later was employed or occupied by an adult book store. This is obviously a change in the employment or occupation of the building.
The majority seems to emphasize that the change involved here is from one type of store to another type of store which relieved Pleasureland from having to request a certificate of occupancy. I disagree with this reasoning. Apparently the majority is interpreting the ordinance to say a change of use is a change in the use classification of the occupation or employment of a building for a person’s benefit. This added requirement does not appear in the ordinance and by interpreting the ordinance this way the majority has not abided by the rules of statutory construction listed above and it has disregarded the purpose of the certificate of occupancy requirement.
Under § 11 of the zoning ordinance,
“A certificate of occupancy to be issued by the Executive Secretary shall be required for any of the following...
2. Change in use of an existing building.
*757No such occupancy, use or change of use, shall take place until a certificate of occupancy therefore shall have been issued.
Written application for a certificate of occupancy for the use of vacant land, or for a change in the use of land or of a building, or for change in a non-conforming use, as herein provided, shall be made to the Executive Secretary.
If the proposed use is in conformity with the provisions of this Ordinance, the certificate of occupancy therefore shall be issued within three days after the application for the same has been made. Each certificate of occupancy shall state that the building or proposed use of a building or land complies with all provisions of this ordinance....”
As implied by § 11, the purpose of requiring a certificate of occupancy is to ensure the proposed use is in conformance with all the provisions of the zoning ordinance. In addition to complying with the conforming use1 requirement of the various Use Districts, stores and other uses must also eom-ply with the parking provisions2 and lot size and coverage provisions contained in the ordinance.
In essence then, the certificate of occupancy requirement serves as a monitoring function to ensure that a change in use is not only a conforming use, but also that it complies with the ordinance’s parking provisions and lot size and coverage provisions.
In footnote 2 of its opinion, the majority questions the validity of this function of the certificate of occupancy. While I agree it is of questionable validity, that issue has not properly been raised before us and we therefore must apply the ordinance as it is drafted.
I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.

. A “conforming use” is defined in § 7(e) as “one which is in accordance with the specified ‘uses permitted.’ ”

. Section 7 covers off street parking requirements with an objective of “providing safety to the public through the elimination of congestion of the public streets.” Section 7(d) notes that § 7 applies to a change of use. This section lists different parking space requirements for various business and non-business uses including airports, banks, stores, hospitals, stadiums, motels, junk yards, etc.