Agenda - Planning Commission - 10/15/2015

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August 25, 2015 1 Volume 9 1 Issue 16 Zoning Bulletin also held that the Township's Zoning Ordinance: (1) unlawfully vested authority in the Commission and Trustees to approve or deny zoning certificates; and (2) unlawfully applied the Zoning Ordinance's Chapter 520 development plan process to permitted uses whereas that procedure only applied to planned residential developments where the Commis- sion and Trustees had authority to review and approve per R.C. 519.021.8. In so holding, the court explained that "[a] zoning regulation is `presumed to be constitutional unless deteimined by a court to be clearly arbitrary and unreasonable and without substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare of the community.' " The court also explained the source of Ohio township zoning powers: "Town- ships are strictly statutory creatures, created under R.C. Chapter 503, whose powers are not derived from the Constitution as are counties and municipalities. . . . Authority for township zoning is a delegated power of the Ohio General Assembly set forth in R.C. Chapter 519." A township's authority to regulate zoning as well as the implementation process is set forth in R.C. 519.02. A township's power to regulate zon- ing with regard to planned unit developments is set forth in R.C. 519.021. Analyzing those statutory provisions, as well as related case law, the court of appeals here found that "[t]he zoning inspector has sole author- ity to approve or deny zoning certificates" and that "the enforcing of the township zoning law is not a proper function of the zoning commission." Here, the court found that the Township's Zoning Ordinance gave zoning certificate review of development plans to the zoning Commis- sion and provided no procedure for processing zoning certificate applications. Accordingly, the court found that "[t]he express acts by the Commission and Trustees denying Willow's zoning certificate applica- tion, usurping the sole power of the Inspector, exceeded the authority of those bodies, not only under [Ohio statutory law,] R.C. 519.16, 519.17 and [related case law] . . . but also of the [Township's Zoning Ordi- nance], as enacted." The court therefore found that the Zoning Ordi- nance's zoning certificate application process was unlawful. The court noted that the duty to review plans for permitted uses lies with a zoning inspector. Thus, where a township has delegated enforce- ment and zoning certificate powers to a zoning inspector, the only statu- tory authority (R.C. Chapter 519) vested in a zoning commission or board of trustees would be to review development plans for planned unit developments. (R.C. 519.021.) Here, the court found that the Township Zoning Ordinance's requirement that planned residential developments be submitted for Commission and Trustee review and approval was endorsed by R.C. 591.021. However, the court also found that the Town- ship Zoning Ordinance (510.05(b)) subjected permitted uses such as Willow's to a review process that the Commission and Trustees had no statutory authority to conduct since they were not governed by R.C. 4 © 2015 Thomson Reuters