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Friday, June 08, 2007
Ind. Decisions - Appeals Court rules in Clarksville Developer Lynn's favor
Larry Thomas of the New Albany Tribune reports on Wednesday's opinion in Robert Lynn Company, Inc. v. Town of Clarksville Board of Zoning Appeals and Town of Clarksville Plan Commission (see ILB entry here - 5th case):
The Indiana Court of Appeals has struck down provisions in Clarksville zoning and subdivision control ordinances that give the town’s Plan Commission the right to grant variances and has overturned a 2004 Board of Zoning Appeals ruling against Robert Lynn Co. for the second phase of its Meyer Manor. * * *On Sept. 7, 2004, the Board of Zoning appeals granted Robert Lynn Co.’s application for development standards variances for both sections of Meyer Manor, conditional upon the Plan Commission’s approval of the developer’s amended subdivision plat.
Bob Lynn, the company’s president, had agreed not to build duplexes where they were permitted by right in exchange for smaller lots in other portions of Meyer Manor.
Meyer Manor is located off Charlestown Road near Ind. 60.
On Nov. 1, 2004, the zoning panel rescinded its variance approval, but Lynn did not receive notice of the hearing until he attended a separate Plan Commission meeting two days later. At the Nov. 3 meeting, the Plan Commission rejected Lynn’s petition for a development standards variance and his application for an amended plat.
Lynn sued the Plan Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals on Nov. 29, 2004, in Clark Superior Court 1. On Jan. 5, 2006, former Clark Superior Court 1 Judge Jerome F. Jacobi ruled in Lynn’s favor. The following month, after the town filed a motion to correct errors, Jacobi reversed his previous ruling.
Court of Appeals Judge Terry A. Crone, writing for Judges Patrick D. Sullivan and Michael P. Barnes, found that state law does not grant plan commissions the power to grant variances and that Jacobi’s original ruling in Lynn’s favor was correct.
“We think that the trial court had it right the first time around,” Crone wrote.
Despite its ruling that Indiana law does not grant plan commission’s the authority to review variances, the Court of Appeals ordered the Clarksville Plan Commission to conduct another hearing regarding the variances granted conditional approval by the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 8, 2007 08:05 AM
Posted to Indiana Decisions