Tag: Iowa Court of Appeals

Local ordinance requiring conditional use permit for business selling alcohol not preempted by state liquor licensing law

Gary Taylor

by Gary Taylor

Lime Lounge, LLC v. City of Des Moines

Iowa Court of Appeals, February 8, 2023

Lime Lounge owns and operates a bar in the East Village of Des Moines. To sell alcoholic beverages in Iowa an establishment must obtain a liquor control license from the state Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD). Among other requirements, the applicant for the license must first file the application with the local authority – in this case the city of Des Moines – for its approval. If the local authority disapproves of the application, the applicant has the ability to appeal the decision to the administrator of the ABD.

To sell alcoholic beverages in Des Moines an establishment must, among other things, be granted a conditional use permit (CUP), which places different requirements on establishments than the liquor control license. Depending on the type of business it is engaged in, a business is required to meet standards related to noise, litter, hours of operation, and others. The city will not consider a liquor control license application until the CUP is approved.

Lime Lounge obtained a CUP from the Des Moines Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) and had their liquor control license approved in 2011. In 2015, the ZBA amended Lime Lounge’s CUP after multiple noise complaints. The ZBA revoked Lime Lounge’s CUP in March 2016. Lime Lounge challenged the revocation, but the revocation was upheld on appeal. On May 14, 2019, Des Moines filed a complaint with the ABD to revoke Lime Lounge’s state liquor license on the basis of the establishment’s failure to comply with local ordinances. Lime Lounge resisted the city’s complaint by filing a temporary injunction, but the district court dismissed Lime Lounge’s suit. Lime Lounge appealed.

Preemption. Lime Lounge’s first argument was that the Des Moines zoning code requirement of a CUP for an establishment selling liquor was preempted by the state alcoholic beverage control law found in chapter 123 of the Iowa Code because the zoning code requires an additional permit and fees in order to obtain a state liquor license. Lime Lounge asserted that the doctrine of express preemption, which “applies where the legislature has specifically prohibited local action in a given area,” rendered the Des Moines ordinance illegal.

Courts will look to the “specific language used by the legislature” to determine whether express preemption applies. Although Iowa Code section 123.37(1) provides, “The power to establish licenses and permits and levy taxes as imposed in this chapter is vested exclusively with the state. Unless specifically provided, a local authority shall not require the obtaining of a special license or permit for the sale of alcoholic beverages at any establishment….” the Court of Appeals determined that this did not apply to the city’s CUP permitting scheme because the zoning provisions related to the use of land. It agreed with the conclusion of the district court that “[t]he ordinance does not require a permit for the sale of alcohol, it requires a permit to use certain premises for the sale of alcohol. It’s a land-use regulation, not a regulation on the sale of alcohol. Thus, the requirement to obtain a CUP is not a permit requirement ‘for the sale of alcoholic beverages'” as contemplated by chapter 123. The Court of Appeals further observed that chapter 123 provides:

Local authorities may adopt ordinances or regulations for the location of the premises of liquor control licensed and retail wine or beer permitted establishments and local authorities may adopt ordinances, not in conflict with this chapter and that do not diminish the hours during which alcoholic beverages may be sold or consumed at retail, governing any other activities or matters which may affect the retail sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages and the health, welfare and morals of the community involved.

Iowa Code 123.39(2)

Equal Protection. Lime Lounge also asserted the the Des Moines zoning ordinance violates the Equal Protection clause of the Iowa and United State Constitutions, which has been interpreted by courts to direct that “all persons similarly situated should be treated alike.” Whether this ideal has been met in the context of economic legislation is determined through a “rational basis” test. If the regulation is “rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose” then the regulation will be deemed valid.

Lime Lounge alleged the varied requirements—particularly the necessity of obtaining a CUP and the fees necessary to do so—imposed on different establishments such as restaurants, bars, and retail establishments are arbitrary, and that the municipal ordinance allows the ZBA to “impose virtually any condition which it can contemplate—and, more onerously—on an individualized basis.”

The court disagreed with both allegations. The city has a legitimate purpose in ensuring the health, welfare, and safety of the community. The distinctions drawn in the ordinance between bars, restaurants and other retail establishments is rationally related to that purpose because each has different characteristics of operation. For example, bars tend to operate later in the evening than restaurants, create more noise from music and patrons, and have increased law enforcement requirements. Requiring additional permitting for these and other businesses that are more likely to exhibit greater nuisance behaviors is rationally related to protecting the community.

The court also disagreed that the ordinance allows the ZBA “unfettered discretion” in imposing permitting restrictions. The ZBA is in fact constrained by criteria found in the ordinance for imposing conditions related to public health and safety, noise, traffic congestion, and nuisance prevention. The East Village of Des Moines is a mixed-use neighborhood, containing both commercial and residential buildings. Tailoring certain zoning restrictions related to noise, congestion, and other nuisance behavior to the specific circumstances of the area is rationally related to promoting the community’s welfare.

Spot zoning. Finally Lime Lounge asserted that the code section amounted to illegal spot zoning, but the court dismissed that assertion by noting the similarities between the city’s treatment of Lime Lounge and those of several of its East Village contemporaries. Furthermore, the noise restrictions and other directives limiting nuisance behavior fall squarely within the city’s police power.

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Condemnation and demolition of historic Keokuk church not a taking. 657A not the sole procedure for abating a dangerous building

Gary Taylor

by Gary Taylor

Christ Vision, Inc., v. City Keokuk

Iowa Court of Appeals, January 25, 2023

Built in 1876, the former Unitarian Church in Keokuk had fallen into serious disrepair by 2005. That year the city sent a letter to the church’s owner – Christ Vision – asking the owner to address deteriorating brick and falling moldings. Christ Vision took no action for three years, so the city delcared the building unsafe to occupy in 2008, informing Christ Vision that “no person shall remain in or enter any building that has been so posted except to enter for repair or demolish….” Christ Vision representatives spoke with city officials numerous times, and presented (unfunded) plans for rehabilitation, but by December 2016 Christ Vision still had made no repairs. By then the church had gaping holes in the roof, fallen plaster and bricks, depressions in the floor, water in the basement, and other serious deficiencies. The city filed for a declaration of nuisance, and after a hearing the district court found in December 2016 that the church’s hazardous condition constituted a nuisance and ordered abatement. The court told Christ Vision that, at a minimum, the roof would need to be replaced and “any hazardous conditions with the structure that make it unsafe to occupy” would need to be fixed. Otherwise, the building would need to be demolished or deeded to the city. The court ordered Christ Vision to create a written abatement plan with a timeline by March 2017, but when that did not happen, and had not happened even by October 2017, the city approved a contract for the church’s demolition. Christ Vision applied for a temporary injunction, but (and i am skipping some irrelevant facts here) the city began demolition before the hearing on the injunction. Two years later Christ Vision filed this lawsuit, alleging a taking, trespass, and conversion of personal property.

Taking. Christ Vision alleged that the city’s nuisance action amounted to an illegal taking; however, the Court of Appeals noted that in City of Eagle Grove v. Cahalan, 904 N.W.2d 552, 561 (Iowa 2017) the Iowa Supreme Court held that the state’s exercise of its related police powers over abandoned property did not constitute a taking, even though Eagle Grove’s action denied the owner of “all economically beneficial or productive” use of the property. The Court of Appeals confirmed that a landowner has no vested property right in a nuisance, and so in demolishing the church in compliance with an unchallenged court order (the December 2016 order) the city did not take anything. “Bottom line, Keokuk could enforce its nuisance law without compensating Christ Vision for its losses stemming from that enforcement.”

Due Process. Christ Vision did not did not contest contest the procedural history of the December 2016 order, but rather insisted that the order did not automatically authorize demolition of the church once the March 2017 deadline was missed. It argued that the city then needed to Follow Chapter 657A before it could demolish the building. The Court of Appeals disagreed, noting that Iowa Code 657A.11(2) states “This chapter does not prevent a person from using other remedies or procedures to enforce building or housing ordinances or to correct or remove public nuisances.” The city followed its own nuisance ordinance and state law. The fact that the city demolished the church prior to the hearing on the temporary injunction was of no effect because there was not yet an injunction in place, meaning it was still lawful for the city to proceed under the December 2016 order.

Trespass and conversion. Because Christ Vision did not challenge the court’s authority to permit the city to demolish the building once the owner missed the abatement deadline the city was within its rights to enter the premises. “[C]onduct otherwise a trespass is often justifiable by reason of authority vested in the person who does the act.” Nothing in the December 2016 order imposed on the city a duty to help preserve the church; to the contrary, the onus was on Christ Vision to take action. As for the claim of conversion, Christ Vision claimed the city interfered with its right to personal property by demolishing the church with the property still inside. There was no evidence, however, that Christ Vision requested access to the church to remove personal property once it knew demolition was imminent or any time prior.

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Denial of rezoning is a legislative action not easily overturned

Gary Taylor

by Gary Taylor

Fettkether v. Grundy County Board of Supervisors

Iowa Court of Appeals, December 7, 2022

The Fettkethers requested rezoning of 12 1/2 acres of property from A-1 agricultural district to R-2 suburban residence district. On July 27, 2020 the Grundy County Planning and Zoning Commission considered the request, and after reviewing the application materials and listening to the Fettkethers and comments from the public voted unanimously to recommend denial of the request. On August 24, after proper notice was published, the Board of Supervisors (Board) met to consider the request, after which the Board voted 4-1 to deny the rezoning. As is often the case, litigation ensued. Sparing you some of the procedural machinations, the issues raised by the Fettkethers at the Court of Appeals were (1) the failure of the Board to make written findings, (2) the Board’s denial was not supported by substantial evidence, and was illegal, unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious.

Standard of judicial review. At the outset, both parties got the court’s standard of review wrong. They cited Bontrager Auto Service, v. Iowa City Board of Adjustment, 748 N.W.2d 483 (Iowa 2008) for the principle that the court should review the Boards findings de novo (translation: anew, without reference to any legal conclusion or assumption made by the previous court or other decision-making body); however, Bontrager was a review of a decision by a zoning board of adjustment, the standards for which are set out in Iowa Code chapter 414. In this case, which was a review of a rezoning decision by an elected body, “a court’s scope of review is limited…[to a] review for the correction of errors at law.” A court should only overturn if the decision “violates a statute, is not supported by substantial evidence, or is unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious.”

Written findings of fact. Again relying on Bontrager, the Fettkethers were “adamant in their claim the Board must make written findings of fact.” Again, however, the reliance on Bontrager was misplaced. Iowa courts have never extended the requirement for written findings of fact in board of adjustment cases to a board of supervisors’ legislative proceedings. “The comment-argument format cannot be confused with the evidentiary-adjudicatory hearing found in the board of adjustment setting, where findings and conclusions are mandatory.”

Substantial evidence. The Fettkethers contended there was not substantial evidence to support the rezoning denial because without written findings of fact “no [substantial evidence decision] can withstand appellate scrutiny”; however, having dispensed with the written findings argument already, the court found the record complete. It then moved on to examine the record in light of the standards of review for rezonings that by now should be etched in all our minds:

Zoning decisions are entitled to a strong presumption of validity.

A party challenging a zoning decision bears the burden of showing the decision was unreasonable, arbitrary, capricious or discriminatory, with no reasonable relationship to the promotion of public health, safety, or welfare.

The court will not substitute its judgment for that of the zoning authority. Thus, if the reasonableness of the zoning decision is fairly debatable and the decision is facially valid, the court will not interfere with the [Board’s] action.

The court found that the Board considered concerns related to traffic, dust, safety, character of the area, preservation of habitat, preservation of agricultural land, location of the development, and access through a narrow bridge. It also found that the Board considered the county’s comprehensive plan and found that the Fettkethers’ proposal was contraindicated by at least two of the policies designed to protect high quality farmground. Thus, the Fettkethers did not meet their burden of showing the Board’s decision was unreasonable, illegal, arbitrary or capricious.

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Failure to comply with previous ZBA SUP conditions does not render “illegal” ZBA’s decision to grant same party another SUP

Gary Taylor

by Gary Taylor

Brinkley v. City of Milford Zoning Board of Adjustment

Iowa Court of Appeals, November 2, 2022

In May 2021, Okoboji Community School District (OCSD) submitted applications to the Milford Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) seeking special use permits for the construction of a bus barn and a multipurpose building on its high school campus. The next month, the ZBA discussed OCSD’s applications during a special meeting, which the Brinkleys and their representatives attended. The Brinkleys raised multiple issues with the project, primarily focusing on OCSD’s failure to fully comply with a 2004 ZBA decision imposing a condition that OCSD must “plant, cultivate and maintain vegetative screening in an adequate and appropriate manner on the School’s property adjacent to the north, west and south of the Brinkley property” to receive a special use permit. It was essentially indisputable that OCSD had not installed or maintain the required vegetative screening along substantial portions of the border between the properties. Nevertheless, at the conclusion of the hearing on the special use permit the ZBA approved the application. One of the conditions attached to the approval was that “The vegetative screens plan as presented by the school must be planted within 12 months after the ‘substantial completion’ of the school project.” The Brinkleys filed a petition for writ of certiorari, arguing the ZBA acted without substantial evidence and illegally by granting the special use permit despite OCSD’s failure to plant the vegetative screen required in the 2004 ZBA decision. The district court found the ZBA acted legally, and this appeal was taken.

The Court of Appeals found nothing illegal or arbitrary about the ZBA’s decision. Upon review the court concluded that the ZBA was not unreasonable in concluding that OCSD met the criteria for special use permits found in the Milford zoning ordinance, nor was it unreasonable to allow the 12-month window from project completion to install new vegetative screening. On the issue of the city’s failure to enforce the screening condition from 2004, “[a]lthough the city had an obligation to enforce its zoning requirements, such [failure to carry out its] duty does not equate to an illegality.” Mandamus action could have provided the Brinkleys a vehicle to compel compliance with the 2004 decision, but that avenue was lost when the ZBA granted the current permit.

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A path is not a street

Gary Taylor

by Gary Taylor and Luke Seaberg

Cornbelt Running Club v. City of Riverdale

Iowa Court of Appeals, March 2, 2022

The City of Riverdale fenced and gated a portion of a public right of way adjacent to South Kensington Street to prevent bicyclists and runners from using a five-foot-wide asphalt-paved path within the right of way as a short cut between two recreational trails.

In the above diagram, the path is the dark strip ending in a triangle and the fence is the line bisecting the dark strip.

Cornbelt Running Club (Club) sued the city, claiming the fence amounted to an improper closure of a street, thereby creating a public nuisance under Iowa Code 657.2(5), which states:

The following are nuisances:
….
5. The obstructing or encumbering by fences, buildings, or otherwise the public roads,
private ways, streets, alleys, commons, landing places, or burying grounds

Iowa Code 657.2

The city countered that a fence is only a nuisance if, in the context of this case, it crosses a street, and the path is not a street because it is not open to vehicles. Relying on its interpretation of state statutes defining “street,” “public roads,” and others the district court concluded that the path was not, in fact, a street, and therefore no nuisance could exist. The Club appealed.

The Court of Appeals determined the following statutory definitions were relevant to the case:

“Road” or “street” means the entire width between property lines through private property or the designated width through public property of every way or place of whatever nature if any part of such way or place is open to the use of the public, as a matter of right, for purposes of vehicular traffic.

Iowa Code 306.3(8)

“Vehicle” means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway. “Vehicle” does not include:
a. Any device moved by human power, including a low-speed electric bicycle….

Iowa Code 321.1(90)

The Court of Appeals concluded that the district court was correct. Te paved path was not a street because it was not open to the public as a matter of right for vehicular traffic; therefore, the fence across the path could not be deemed a nuisance. The Club argued that previous cases found sidewalks to be part of a street, but the Court distinguished those cases as addressing sidewalks that ran alongside streets, which was not the case here.

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Subdivision is a local, often subjective, decision

ejchr

by: Sarah L.C. Runkel

Bussanmas v. Des Moines
(Iowa Court of Appeals, July 18, 2018)

In 2015, Nicholas Bussanmas purchased a 2.34 acre lot zoned in a residential district in Des Moines, IA with the intention of subdividing the land for development. In April 2016, the City Plan and Zoning Commission recommended denying the proposal of the three-lot plat based largely on objections from neighbors that the lot served as a natural watershed. The Des Moines City Council denied the subdivision request in June finding principally that subdivision of the land may have negative effects on stormwater flow in the neighborhood.

Bussanmas appealed the decision to district court and then to the Iowa Court of Appeals. The Iowa Court of Appeals confirmed the decision of the district court, agreeing that the Des Moines City Council presented reasonable evidence that the property should not be subdivided according to Iowa Code Section 354.8 and Des Moines Municipal Code’s subdivision regulations.

The Court of Appeals concluded that:

“The Council clearly considered all of the relevant evidence and balanced that evidence as required by section 354.8(1), including the interests of Bussanmas, the neighbors, and the City, and it determined Bussanmas’s preliminary plat must be rejected. We agree with the district court that there is sufficient evidence to support the Council’s decision to reject the preliminary plat.”

According to Iowa Code Section 354.8, governing bodies shall review proposed subdivisions based on reasonable standards and applicable ordinances. Approval of a proposed subdivision is contingent upon the proposal’s conformity to the comprehensive plan, a balance between the proprietor, future use, and the public interest.

Subdivision is a process delegated to local governments. The decision for approval or denial should be based on reasonable evidence and evaluated by the standards in the comprehensive plan and local ordinances. This leaves the scope of influencing factors open to the reasonable interpretation of the local elected body.

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City Council member’s removal from office violated his procedural due process protections

Gary Taylor

by Gary Taylor

Burke v. City Council of City of Lansing
Iowa Court of Appeals, February 22, 2017

Members of the Lansing City Council voted to remove city council member William Burke from office for claimed violations of our open meetings law (OML).  On one occasion the council issued an agenda for a closed session “to discuss strategy in matters that are presently in litigation or where litigation is imminent.”  After the agenda was issued, the city clerk requested an opinion from the Lansing city attorney as to whether the two topics she understood to be up for discussion actually qualified for closed session under the OML.  The city attorney opined that the topics did not, in fact, qualify for closed session.  The clerk forwarded the memo to the city council members, including Burke.  Burke notified the clerk that he disagreed with the clerk’s characterization of the purposes of the meeting as the clerk had reported them to the city attorney.  When the scheduled meeting was held the council voted 2-1 to go into closed session, with Burke being one of the two council members to vote in favor.  Later, the council held another special meeting on an unrelated matter.  Twenty-four-hour notice was not given.

Tensions between the council and residents resulted in an investigation by the Allamakee County attorney into the council’s actions.  The county attorney filed a petition alleging the two meetings violated the OML.  The attorney retained to represent the council and its members concluded the county attorney had “made some legitimate allegations,” and predicted fines, costs and attorney’s fees will likely be assessed against each council member.  The attorney set forth a potential settlement strategy she had discussed with the county attorney that would require Burke to resign from the council in exchange for dismissal of the lawsuit.  After a closed session of the council which Burke did not attend, the mayor petitioned the council to remove Burke from office for “willful misconduct and maladministration in office” in his handling of several matters relating to OML which resulted in litigation against the city and members of the council.  After a special meeting, the council voted 4-0 to remove Burke from office (Burke abstained from the vote).  Thereafter Burke challenged his removal in district court, raising several issues with the council’s proceedings.  The district court denied Burke’s petition, and Burke appealed.  The sole issue considered by the Court of Appeals was procedural due process.

Burke argued that the removal proceeding was fundamentally unfair because each member of the council who voted on his removal had a pecuniary conflict of interest in deciding his fate, and the “council itself generated the factual record necessary to sustain its decision, which perpetuates its conflict of interest.”  The Court of Appeals determined that Burke did not receive a “fair trial in a fair tribunal” as required by the Constitution.  The council members understood that they would eliminate their own financial exposure for possible violations of the OML if they removed Burke.  Furthermore, the council combined the prosecutorial function (by authorizing initiation of the removal process) with the adjudicative function (by presenting their own witness testimony to document their own personal knowledge of the grounds for removal).

Because the removal proceeding violated Burke’s right to procedural due process, the Court of Appeals sided with Burke and reversed the order of the district court.

 

 

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Awarding title to city under abandonment statute not an unconstitutional taking

Gary Taylor

by Gary Taylor

Nicol and Street v. City of Monroe
Iowa Court of Appeals, May 3, 2017

Nicol and Street took title to property in Monroe, Iowa by warranty deed in 2013.  Beginning in May 2013, and over the two years that followed, the city sent them five letters regarding their failure to maintain the property.  Nicol and Street failed to take action, and so in April 2015 the city filed municipal infractions against the couple for several violations regarding junk, vehicles, and garbage on the property.  After a hearing in August 2015 the court entered judgments assessing civil penalties, and ordering them to fully abate the violations.  They did not do so.  Additionally, they failed to pay property taxes since purchasing the property, and utilities were not turned on at the property after June 2015.

In January 2016 the city petitioned for title to the property, alleging it was abandoned under Iowa Code 657A.10A.  Nicol and Street moved for dismissal, alleging that the statute is an unconstitutional taking of private property for a public purpose without just compensation.  The court denied the motion, and found at the end of a bench trial that the property met the definition of “abandoned” under the statute.  It entered an order awarding title to the city, and the couple appealed.

Statutes are presumed to be constitutional, and to prove otherwise a petitioner must “negate every reasonable basis upon which the statute could be upheld as constitutional.”  In determining whether the statute is reasonable, courts consider “such things as the nature of the menace against which it will protect, the availability and effectiveness of other less drastic protective steps, and the loss which appellants will suffer from the imposition of the ordinance.”

The Court of Appeals reviewed the procedural safeguards incorporated into 657A.10A, including that the city cannot act less than 60 days from the filing of the petition and must show that the owner did not make a good-faith effort to comply with the order, and concluded that awarding title to the property is a reasonable “final resort against those property owners who have otherwise failed to comply with housing codes, building codes, nuisance laws, or tax assessments when less drastic steps toward compliance have failed.”  It further noted:

Even in the event of a complete taking, the State is not required to compensate a property owner if it can show that the owner’s bundle of rights never included the right to use the land in the way the regulation forbids….657A.10A provides a sanction for those who use their property in a manner that was already prohibited.  Because the statute does no more than duplicate the result that could have been achieved in the courts by adjacent landowners under the law of private nuisance, or by the State [in the case of public nuisances] it is not a constitutional taking for which compensation is required.

Judgment for the city of Monroe.

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Untimely Filing Fatal to Appeal of Board of Adjustment Decision

ejchr

McCleary v. City of Des Moines Zoning Board of Adjustment
(Iowa Court of Appeals, April 19, 2017)

In September 2014, McCleary applied to the Des Moines Zoning Board of Adjustment seeking several conditional use permits and variances to allow him to operate a pet boarding business out of his home. A public hearing was held on September 22. The board voted to deny all of McCleary’s requests on October 23, 2014. On November 25, 2014 McCleary filed a petition for writ of certiorari appealing the board’s decision. Because of constitutional claims, the case was first sent to federal court. On March 11 the federal district court dismissed all McCleary’s federal claims and the case was remanded to state court.

On October 6, 2015 the Board of Adjustment filed a motion to dismiss arguing that McCleary’s petition for a writ of certiorari was late. State law allows for appeals to be filed only in the 30 days after a decision is made final. On November 2, McCleary filed a motion to disqualify the board’s attorney as that same attorney had previously represented McCleary in another matter. The district court determined on December 18 that McCleary’s petition was indeed untimely. The court also concluded that the plaintiff did not provide substantial evidence that his prior relationship with the defendant’s attorney bore “any relationship to the instant matter.” The district court granted the board’s motion to dismiss.

McCleary appealed that dismissal to the Iowa Court of Appeals. They reviewed the district court’s decisions in the areas of the timeliness of McCleary’s appeal as well as whether the board’s counsel should have been disqualified.

Timeliness Iowa Code section 414.15 establishes the right to appeal a decision from a zoning board and provides “[s]uch petition shall be presented to the court within thirty days after the filing of the decision in the office of the board.” Because McCleary filed his appeal more than 30 days after the board made its decision, the district court did not have jurisdiction to hear it. McCleary asserted that his motion for declaratory relief was not subject to the same timeliness requirements as writs of certiorari. The Court of appeals disagrees. “Regardless of the avenue of relief McCleary chose, he was still appealing the decision of the zoning board and was subject to the statutory requirements of such an appeal.”

Disqualifying Counsel Because the attorney representing the board had previously been involved in representing McCleary, he claimed that the attorney should be disqualified.In determining if a prior relationship is enough to disqualify an attorney the court must determine if the two matters are substantially related. To do so, the court examines three factors:

  1. the nature and scope of the prior representation;
  2. the nature of the present lawsuit; and
  3. whether the client might have disclosed a confidence to [their] attorney in the prior representation which could be relevant to the present action.

The attorney described their prior relationship as, “providing a model letter of intent for a business purchase and reviewing a draft of the letter written either by [the former partner] or by Mr. McCleary.” He also stated that he, “did not meet Mr. McCleary in person and recall no further involvement in the transaction.” McCleary claims a connection exists because the prior representation involved the same property on which he eventually attempted to establish his pet boarding business.  The court failed to see how assisting McCleary’s representation in the property transaction would make him privy to any information that would be relevant to this zoning variance request.

On both matters the court of appeals affirmed the ruling of the district court.

Conditional Uses/Special Uses, Iowa Court of Appeals, Zoning board of adjustment
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Substantial evidence supported ZBA’s denial of conditional use permit for liquor sales

Gary Taylor

by Gary Taylor

Shop N Save Food v. City of Des Moines Zoning Board of Adjustment
Iowa Court of Appeals, August 2, 2017

Shop N Save applied for a conditional use permit (CUP) that would allow the business to sell wine and beer.  The store in question is located in a C-1 neighborhood retail commercial district in Des Moines.  Previous owners of the store had been permitted to sell liquor, beer, and wine, but the store’s liquor license was suspended for the year leading up to the CUP application, and due to changes in the city’s zoning regulations the new owner was required to seek a CUP to resume alcohol sales.

At the beginning of the hearing on the CUP, city staff presented its report to the Des Moines Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) recommending approval of the CUP subject to ten conditions.  Staff presented the ZBA with letters from local neighborhood associations, as well as police reports from the neighborhood.  Staff noted, however, that the Shop N Save had either been closed or barred from selling alcohol for most or all of the time covered by the police reports.

Counsel for Shop N Save, in his presentation, conceded “there had been problems in the past” with crime around this Shop N Save, but asserted the new owner was willing to work with the neighborhood associations to address those problems.  In responding to the testimony of the neighborhood association representatives that voiced concerns about crime, Shop N Save counsel resisted their recommendations for the imposition of conditions over and above those recommended by staff, and suggested the best course would be to “come up with a plan together.”

ZBA members questioned the legitimacy of the ownership transfer. Shop N Save counsel acknowledged that the store was being run by “a combination of [old and new management] but it’s generally the new management…running the store” and admitted that the official transfer of ownership had not yet occurred.

In a 4-1 vote the ZBA denied the CUP, citing concerns about the ambiguity in the ownership transfer and the problematic history of the location.  Shop N Save appealed this decision to the district court, which affirmed the denial, finding substantial evidence for the ZBA’s decision.  Shop N Save appealed to the Iowa Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals highlighted several well-settled points of law concerning the consideration of conditional use permits by zoning boards of adjustment, and by courts reviewing those decisions, that are worth reviewing:

  • A conditional use permit is meant to provide flexibility in what otherwise would be the rigidity of zoning ordinances, while at the same time controlling troublesome aspects of somewhat incompatible uses by requiring certain restrictions and standards.
  • It is the burden of the applicant to show that all the conditions of the ordinance are satisfied.
  • A decision by a zoning board of adjustment enjoys a strong presumption of validity.
  • A board may deny a conditional use permit for reasons relating to public health, safety, and welfare, but generalized or unsupported neighborhood opposition does not, by itself, provide a legally sufficient reason for a CUP denial.
  • If the reasonableness of the board’s action is open to a fair difference of opinion, the court may not substitute its decision for that of the board.
  • An appellate court is bound by the district court’s factual findings if they are supported by substantial evidence in the record. Evidence is “substantial” if a reasonable person would find it adequate to reach the given conclusion, even if a reviewing court might draw a contrary reference.

Shop N Save argued that the ordinance requirement that “the proposed location, design, construction and operation of the particular use adequately safeguards the health, safety, and general welfare of persons residing in the adjoining or surrounding residential area” may not even apply to the sale of beer and wine because the sale of such products is separate from the “physical characteristics of the property.”  The Court of Appeals rejected this argument, finding that the language is broad enough to regulate not only the location, design, and construction of the business but its operation as well.  The Court further found that the ZBA’s denial was based on more than generalized or unsupported neighborhood opposition, and included reliance on specific incidents described in neighbors’ testimonies, and on the dramatic reduction in crime that resulted when liquor sales were ended at a similarly situated convenience store in another neighborhood.  Finally, the Court found the ZBA was well within its authority to consider the pending owners’ “tepid” responsiveness to neighbors’ serious reservations as a signal that past problems were likely to continue into the future, regardless of any conditions the ZBA could impose.

The ZBA’s denial was affirmed.

Conditional Uses/Special Uses, Iowa Court of Appeals ,
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