COLE, ET UX
v.
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, ET AL.
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Property owners challenged a zoning ordinance that rezoned their residential lots to permit apartment or hotel use. The trial court initially dismissed the complaint, the appellate court reversed, and the trial court, after taking testimony, dismissed again on the ground that reviewing zoning decisions would improperly substitute judicial for municipal judgment.
A trial court may not substitute its judgment for that of the city council regarding zoning decisions, even when presented with detailed evidence and arguments about the zoning ordinance's validity. The complaint, though potentially stating legal theories, does not authorize judicial second-guessing of municipal zoning authority.
“The court is still of the opinion that it is wholly unable to decide this case any other way than by substituting its judgment for that of the city council as to how this property should be zoned. This is not the function of the court.”
Establishes the core holding that trial courts lack authority to review zoning decisions on their merits.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe Coles owned lots in a Miami Beach subdivision zoned for single-family residential use. The City of Miami Beach passed an ordinance rezoning the lo…
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Initially this court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint. It did so because it felt that the complaint did not state a cause of action and that the court was being asked to substitute its judgment for that of the city council in contravention of well settled rules on this subject.
On appeal, the court of appeal reversed. It said that this court was in error and that the complaint alleging that the ordinance changing the zoning of the lots in question so as to permit their use for apartments or hotel sites was so vague and indefinite, that a legal construction of it was impossible; that it would permit uses inconsistent with those permitted in the subdivision; that it was in reality spot zoning and not harmonious with zoning for the remainder of the subdivision and that it deprived plaintiffs, who had used their own lots in the subdivision for single family purposes, of property without due process of law, stated a cause of action.
Thereupon, this court, acting in obedience to the mandate of the court of appeal, vacated the prior judgment, required the defendants to answer the complaint and took voluminous testimony from the parties.
The court is still of the opinion that it is wholly unable to decide this case any other way than by substituting its judgment for that of the city council as to how this property should be zoned. This is not the function of the court. The Florida courts, including the Court of Appeal for the Third District, have repeatedly so held and disapproved trial courts doing this very thing on innumerable occasions. They have said that if the court did so, it would become a zoning board for each municipality in the state. City of Miami Beach v. Silver, Fla. 1953, 67 So. 2d 646; City of Miami Beach *46v. Prevatt, Fla. 1957, 97 So. 2d 473; Town of Surfside v. Abelson, Fla. App. 1958, 106 So. 2d 108; Bessemer Properties, Inc. v. Miami Shores Village, Fla. App. 1959, 110 So. 2d 87, 88.
If this court is to guess about the matter, it will do so, but as far as deciding the right or wrong of the action of the city council of Miami Beach in rezoning, especially when the city council has passed on it both ways, this it is unable to do.
Accordingly, it is the judgment of the court that the complaint be and it is hereby dismissed at the cost of the plaintiffs.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- City OF Miami Beach v. Prevatt, 97 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 1957)
- Town OF Surfside v. Abelson, 106 So. 2d 108 (Fla. 3d DCA 1958)
- City of Miami Beach v. Silver, 67 So. 2d 646 (Fla. 1953)
- Bessemer Props. v. Miami Shores Vill., 110 So. 2d 87 (Fla. 3d DCA 1959)