Court Opinion

ID: 9703987
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:16:26.00406+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:53.738223
License: Public Domain

McGregor, J.,
(dissenting). On March 12, 1971, an official of the Community Improvement and Inspection Service of the City of Grand Rapids issued a permit to Naegele Advertising Company for the construction of a 15-foot by 55-foot advertising sign in a planned industrial district (PID) *457near Plymouth Road and Interstate 96, in Grand Rapids. As the construction of the sign progressed, Don V. Souter, one of the plaintiffs, observed the construction and checked with city officials concerning its legality. He received information from both the city attorney and the city manager that the sign was not in conformity with the City Zoning Ordinance concerning PID.
The sign, nevertheless, was completed. An appeal was subsequently brought before the Board of Zoning Appeals for the City of Grand Rapids by petition filed July 20, 1973. The Board considered the matter at three of its meetings and on September 20,1973, passed the following resolution:
"Be it resolved that the relief requested in the application by Mr. Souter be rejected for the following reasons and findings of fact:
"1. The ordinance as originally adopted did not contain adequate prohibition against erection of billboards in a planned industrial district and was subsequently amended by Ordinance No. 72-32 adopted April 25, 1972 expressly prohibiting billboards within this district.
"2. The time of beginning substantial construction upon the billboard is not sufficiently clear for this Board to determine that the billboard would be governed by the 1969 Zoning Ordinance or that in effect prior to that time which permitted billboards. Motion to deny this request was made by Mrs. Brooks, seconded by Mr. Winter and carried: Yeas 8, Nays 0.”
On October 11, 1973, plaintiffs brought this action for superintending control to the Kent County circuit court. The trial judge, sitting as finder of fact, held that the action of the Board of Zoning Appeals was correct in that the ordinance allowed the issuance of the permit at the time it was issued, and failure to procure prior approval by *458the Director of Planning was excusable, since the construction of the sign did comply with various provisions of the Grand Rapids code.
Plaintiffs now bring this appeal, asserting that the construction of an advertising sign in a planned industrial district was not permitted by the city ordinances of Grand Rapids and that, even if it was, the procedure defined in the ordinance was not followed. Therefore, the granting of the permit was without legal authority and should be revoked.
Paragraph V, ch 61, art 20, § 5.232 of the Grand Rapids City Code, which was in effect on March 12, 1971, provides:
"Use Regulations. Any use permitted in the 1-1 Light Industrial Zone and ancillary service-type uses, trade schools with sleeping quarters, project-oriented industrial engineering with consultant offices, project-oriented recreational facilities and printing establishments shall not be permitted in the PID Zone.”
Paragraph V, ch 61, art 19, §5.222(8), in enumerating the permissible uses in an 1-1 zone, provides:
"Advertising signs with a sign surface not exceeding eighteen (18) feet by fifty-five (55) feet”.
An advertising sign of the dimensions 15 feet by 55 feet was permissible in an 1-1 zone. By reference, the same sign is not permissible in a PID zone. The addition to § 5.232 of the language "Advertising signs shall not be permitted in this zone district”, in April, 1972, supports that interpretation. At the very least, the addition of new language indicates that the initial intent, if such an intent existed, to exclude advertising signs from a *459PID zone was not expressed by the language of the statute and needed a clear expression.
However, ch 61, art 20, §5.233(4), does require that site plans for individual lots within a PID zone "shall first be approved by the Planning Director and other departments concerned as to compliance with the Grand Rapids Codes and the provisions hereof before final working drawings are started for the structure. The site plan shall include * * * free-standing signs”. (Emphasis added.) This provision was not complied with in the instant case.
In this regard, it is important to look to ch 61, art 23, § 5.273, which provides:
"No oversight or dereliction on the part of the Director of Community Improvement and Inspection Services or his authorized assistants or any official or employee of the City of Grand Rapids vested with the duty or authority to issue permits or licenses shall legalize, authorize, waive or excuse the violation of any of the provisions of this ordinance. No permit, nor any license for any use, building or purpose shall be issued by any official or employee of the City of Grand Rapids if the same would be in conflict with the provisions of this ordinance. Any person or license so issued shall be null and raid. "(Emphasis added.)
Therefore, by the clear language of § 5.273, the failure to comply with the provisions of § 5.233(4) rendered the permit issued in this case null and void.
The defendant sign company certainly cannot, either by commencing or completing construction on the sign, validate an otherwise invalid permit. I do not think that the trial court was correct in holding that the provisions of § 5.233(4) can simply be ignored where, in retrospect, it appears that compliance or noncompliance therewith would ul*460timately end in a similar result. Such, a holding would effectively emasculate the clear language of both § 5.273 and § 5.233(4), in that a person would be able to build a structure in a PID zone without gaining the necessary prior approval, and then subsequently attempt to justify such noncompliance by claiming that to do so was unnecessary since the structure did, in fact, comply with the zone’s use regulations. Such a result is contrary to the language of the above ordinances. It would change the language of § 5.233(4) to read that prior approval is needed only where the structure is later found to be nonconforming. Similarly, the language of § 5.273 would be changed to read that a null and void permit is only null and void if the structure is again later found to be nonconforming. The above ordinances clearly provide otherwise.
The real problem present in the foregoing is that the overall planning system by the city is disrupted and the prior approval provisions of § 5.233(4) are destroyed. It is only after the structure is built or contruction is commenced that the trial court’s holding would allow the safeguards contained therein to be employed.
The decision of the Zoning Board of Appeals for the City of Grand Rapids and the decision of the trial court should be reversed.