E. G. FOGG, III, AND A. S. FOGG, D/B/A A. & E. INVESTMENT COMPANY, APPELLANTS,
v.
CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, APPELLEE
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Property owners challenged a zoning ordinance prohibiting drive-in operations in a C-1 business district, seeking to build a dairy products retail store with drive-in service. The Florida District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court, holding that the ordinance as applied to the dairy store lacked any substantial relation to public welfare and was arbitrary and discriminatory when the city permitted drive-in operations for gas stations, banks, and savings and loan businesses.
The court reversed, holding that the ordinance as applied to the dairy products store has no substantial relation to public welfare and is arbitrary and discriminatory. The prohibition was invalid because the city failed to demonstrate any connection to health, morals, or general welfare, while simultaneously permitting drive-in operations for gas stations, banks, and savings and loan businesses in the same zone.
“The 'public welfare' with which the City and the courts must be concerned is the welfare of the whole community. A benefit or anticipated benefit to a special group within the City is not enough.”
Establishes the legal standard that zoning restrictions must serve the entire community's welfare, not merely protect existing merchants from competition.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellants owned property in South Miami zoned C-1 (business district) subject to a prohibition on drive-in operations. They applied for a building pe…
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The appellant owns property in the City of South Miami. The property is zoned for business, but its C-l classification is subj ect to a provision which prohibits “a drive-in operation.”1 The appellant was denied a building permit to build a dairy products retail store because the type of store planned was one where the customer drives in and purchases the products without getting out of his car. Appellant filed a complaint in chancery seeking a declaration that: (1) the provision against a “drive-in operation” was void because it was arbitrary and unreasonable, and (2) the operation of a Farm Store retail dairy establishment is a C-l Business District usage under the zoning ordinance. The chancellor held that the ordinance was valid and that a Farm Store was prohibited by the ordinance. This appeal is from that decree. We reverse upon a holding that the ordinance, as applied to this particular business, has no relation to public welfare.
*220The chancellor defined a “drive-in operation” as a place where people can drive up in an automobile and be served without having to alight from the automobile. We find nothing in this record upon which this definition could be predicated, but without a doubt, it is a good one. Cf., State ex rel. Spiccia v. Abate, Ohio App., 196 N.E.2d 346 (1964), aff’d 2 Ohio St.2d 129, 207 N.E.2d 234 (1965). We hold that the chancellor did not err in holding that the ordinance purported to exclude all business activities where the customer does not alight from his car.
The record indicates that the City made no contention that public safety or public health was involved, but relied entirely upon the opinion of its expert witnesses that the provision prohibiting “drive-in operations” contributed to the public welfare of the City by providing a sort of “continuity” to the retail business section of the City. It was urged that all of the merchants benefit by a requirement that the customer alight from his car to malee a purchase because once the . customer is out of his car he is a prospective [customer of all the merchants.2
The chancellor set forth the essential question thus presented:
“Now, the only question in the world here is may the City constitutionally pass an ordinance which limits this particular plaintiff from building a drive-in on this area because to build a drive-in in the area would react to the disadvantage of all business people located within the C-l zone and would tend to detract from the development of the zone because it would cause other people not to want to develop retail stores there because they know that it’s easier for somebody to drive in and buy their milk than it is by walking in. This is the real constitutional question involved. Can it be done constitutionally?
“The City’s position, it’s finally disclosed, is that people who buy, invest and build retail stores in the C-l zone understand that when somebody goes down there to buy a pair of shoes for the kids, that while there they walk next door to the drug store and buy some liniment, and then while there they walk next door and go into the little retail store and buy a gallon of milk, and that this is what they call continuity of something or another, and this is very advantageous. I assume they are talking about to the business people because it depends on the woman whether *221she wants to go next door or drive into the drive-in. So they must be talking about economics and regulation of comr petition through zoning. This is really what you’re saying.”
While we agree with the chancellor’s statement of the question, we must disagree with his answer.3 The “public welfare” with which the City and the courts must be concerned is the welfare of the whole community. A benefit or anticipated benefit to a special group within the City is not enough. Burritt v. Harris, Fla.1965, 172 So.2d 820; City of Miami Beach v. Seacoast Towers-Miami Beach, Fla.App.1963, 156 So.2d 528; cf., Rabin v. Conner, Fla.1965, 174 So.2d 721.
It was disclosed that the City made exceptions by permitting drive-in operations in the area in question for a gasoline service station, a bank and a savings and loan business. To permit drive-in operations for such businesses and deny it to a dairy products store would appear to be arbitrary and discriminatory. This is so, because as stated above, as to such businesses the City made no showing that the prohibition against drive-in operations had any relation to the health, morals and general welfare. This is not to say that as to some other businesses authorized to be' conducted in the area, as to which a drive-in operation would bring about excess traffic, noise in late hours, or tend to promote the gathering of unsavory elements or rowdyism, the City would not then have sufficient reasons of public policy to enforce the restriction against such drive-in operations. Clearly the proposed dairy product store drive-in operation was not shown to be in that category.
Having concluded that the exclusion of the use in question, as to plaintiff’s business, has no substantial relation to the general welfare, we hold that the chancellor erred in holding that the prohibition against drive-in retail 'dairy products stores was not invalid. Wherefore, we reverse the decree in part and remand the cause for the entry of a decree in accordance with the views herein expressed.
Reversed and remanded.
(dissenting).
I cannot concur with the majority opinion. The plaintiff has attacked the validity of the ordinance, not merely as it applies to any specific property, and the wisdom of the municipality in enacting this ordinance for the general welfare of the community has been shown to be debatable. Therefore, it is my view that the chancellor’s decree should be affirmed under the “fairly debatable” rule.
HENDRY, Chief Judge
(dissenting).
I cannot concur with the majority opinion. The plaintiff has attacked the validity of the ordinance, not merely as it applies to any specific property, and the wisdom of the municipality in enacting this ordinance for the general welfare of the community has been shown to be debatable. Therefore, it is my view that the chancellor’s decree should be affirmed under the “fairly debatable” rule.
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Davis v. Sails, 318 So. 2d 214 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975)…batable and will be stricken down.’ Also see Tollius v. City of Miami, Fla., 96 So. 2d 122; City of Miami Beach v. Prevatt, Fla., 97 So. 2d 473.” (177 So. 2d at pages 361 and 362; underlining added) In Fogg v. City of South Miami, Fla.App.3rd 1966, 183 So. 2d 219, the court considered a case wherein a parcel of property was zoned in a classification to permit business but to prohibit a “drive-in operation”. The owner of the property attacked the zoning as being arbitrary and unreasonable and, of course, the…
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Skaggs-Albertson's v. ABC Liquors, Inc., 363 So. 2d 1082 (Fla. 1978)…eterias, Inc. # 3 v. Faith Lutheran Church, 151 So. 2d 426 (Fla. 1963); Continental Con-Dev Co. v. Shallberg, 267 So. 2d 40 (Fla. 4th DCA 1972). . See also Wyatt v. City of Pensacola, 196 So. 2d 777 (Fla. 1st DCA 1967); Fogg v. City of South Miami, 183 So. 2d 219 (Fla. 3d DCA 1966); Abdo v. City of Daytonia Beach, 147 So. 2d 598 (Fla. 1st DCA 1962). . In Baker v. State, 159 Fla. 286, 31 So. 2d 275 (1947), a preemptory writ of mandamus was issued by the circuit judge, ordering the Director of State Beverage…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Withrow v. Albert E. Perron & the Fla. Indus. Comm'n, 172 So. 2d 820 (Fla. 1965)
- The City OF Miami Beach v. Seacoast Towers-Miami Beach, Inc., 156 So. 2d 528 (Fla. 3d DCA 1963)
- Rabin v. Doyle Conner, 174 So. 2d 721 (Fla. 1965)