Bossman v. Village of Riverton
Case Date: 08/29/1997
Court: 4th District Appellate
Docket No: 4-97-0047
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IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FOURTH DISTRICT HEINZ BOSSMAN, MARIE BOSSMAN, JAMES ) Appeal from HIBBETT, BEVERLY HIBBETT, PETER RAPACZ, ) Circuit Court of SHARON RAPACZ, W. THOMAS SANTARELLI, ) Sangamon County and SHIRLEY SANTARELLI, ) No. 96MR0002 Plaintiffs-Appellants, ) v. ) THE VILLAGE OF RIVERTON, GEORGEANA, ) LYONS, CHARLES R. BURRIS, and CAROL J. ) BURRIS, Trustees of the Charles R. ) Burris and Carol J. Burris Revocable ) Living Trust Dated October 1, 1993, ) Defendants-Appellees, ) and ) Honorable CASEY'S GENERAL STORES, INC., ) Donald M. Cadagin, Defendant-Intervenor. ) Judge Presiding. _________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE COOK delivered the opinion of the court: Plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment that an ordinance rezoning neighboring property was unconstitutional. The trial court, in a one-sentence order, entered summary judg- ment for defendants. Plaintiffs appeal. We hold, based on the clear and convincing evidence contained in the record, that the rezoning was spot zoning. We reverse and remand with directions for the trial court to enter summary judgment in favor of plain- tiffs. The Village of Riverton (Village) is a community of 2,700 persons, located about 10 miles east of Springfield. At the southwest corner of Lincoln Avenue and Seventh Street in Riverton, in an area zoned R-1 (residential), the Charles R. Burris and Carol J. Burris Revocable Living Trust dated October 1, 1993 (Burris Trust), owned a portion of a residential lot, with a frontage on Seventh Street of 50 feet. The rest of the Burris Trust lot had been taken for Lincoln Avenue, which at one time was State Route 36. Immediately south of the Burris Trust lot, Georgeana Lyons owned a lot improved with a single-family home. Defendant-intervenor, Casey's General Stores, Inc. (Casey's), purchased the Burris Trust and Lyons properties, then filed a petition with the village board of trustees (Board), seeking reclassification of the properties from R-1 to C-1 (commercial). On December 4, 1995, the Board enacted ordinance 95-30, reclassifying the properties C-1. Three of the plaintiff families (Bossman, Rapacz and Santarelli) own residential properties on the corners of Lincoln and Seventh; the other (Hibbett) owns a residential property that adjoins the Burris Trust and Lyons properties on the west. The Village was named a defendant in the declaratory judgment action, as were Lyons and the Burris Trust. Casey's was allowed to intervene as a defendant. To the north of the Burris Trust and Lyons properties, on Seventh Street, there is residential zoning for approximately three blocks (700 feet), at which point the C-1 zoning for Riverton's downtown commercial district begins. To the east of the properties, on Lincoln Avenue, there is residential zoning for approximately three blocks (960 feet), at which point C-1 zoning begins for a commercial district around Lincoln Avenue's intersection with the interstate highway. To the south of the properties, on Seventh Street, there is residential zoning for a similar distance, after which there is agricultural zoning to the Village limits. All the property west of the properties to the Village limits (approximately 2,240 feet) is zoned residential. The block on which the properties are located is residential, as are the adjacent blocks in all directions (there is only one long block to the south, with only one cross street before the agri- cultural zoning). Casey's argued the integrity of the R-1 zoning had been destroyed before it entered the picture. The Interurban Restau- rant is located across Seventh Street in the second block north of the Burris Trust and Lyons properties, in a building whose commercial use predated the adoption of the Village zoning ordinance in 1968. Across Seventh Street from the restaurant is an elementary school and church. The Village water plant (de- scribed in the Village's brief as "an industrial eyesore") is located across Seventh Street, south of the Burris Trust and Lyons properties. The land to the south of the properties is pretty much vacant. There is a Knights of Columbus Hall, a permitted special use, four blocks southwest of the Burris Trust and Lyons properties, on the west side of Third Street. There is a church west of the properties, on the north side of Lincoln Avenue, about 1 |