Agenda - Planning Commission - 12/03/2009

Home

September 25, 2009 I Volume 3 I No. 18 Zoning Bulletin terest of the owner of the property affected, and not related to the () general plan for the community as a whole." "In other words, a zon- ing amendment which favors a particular landowner over adjacent landowners will be viewed as an arbitrary and discriminatory use of zoning authority unless there is 'substantial evidence of change in the neighborhood in order to justify the rezoning ....'" Here, the court found that the amendments: allowed the Inn to "conduct highly commercial operations within an area restricted to one-and two-family dwellings;" and effectively exempted the Inn from having to apply for a use permit to operate a restaurant. The amendments "significantly altered and expanded the activities previ- ously allowed" in the residential zone, and "effectively rezoned" the Inn from residential to commercial. Significantly, the only business af- fected by the amendments was the Inn. Since there was no change in the neighborhood that justified the rezone, such preferential treat- m~nt,said the court, constituted impermissiblespot zoning. See also: Drews v. City of Hattiesburg, 904 So:2d 138 (Miss. 2005). Case Note: In its decision, the court rejected the city's argument that the amendments were only "text amendments" and not a rezoning. The court admonished that the "labeling of an action as a 'text amendment' does not make it so if the [c]ity's actions effectively rezone a residential plot for a commercial use." Preemption-Township brings condemnation action for development rights at private airport . and ownership of surrounding property .', Landowner argues township's authority to condemn the property is preempted by federal and state law Citation: Township of Reading ton v. Solberg Aviation Co., 2009 WL 2513665 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2009) NEW JERSEY (08/19/09)-Solberg Aviation Co. ("Solberg") owned approximately.726 acres of land in the township (the "Prop- erty"). The Property contained a small airport, with airport facili- ties occupying between seventy and 102 acres. The remainder of the Property contained farmland, open fields, woodlands, wetlands and stream corridors. 4 @ 2009 Thomson Reuters 74 /~ ( ) ./ ( ) '-.~... I I I I i , ! , I ! ! i I I I I I !