As reported in the June 5 Az Republic, the Az Court of Appeals has ruled Arizona cities and towns are free to reject developers' plans if they conflict with residents' values.
The appeals court affirmed Carefree's 2004 decision to deny a special-use permit to Valley developer GP Properties, which wanted to build a commercial boutique resort on 11 acres zoned residential. Residents opposed the resort, saying it was ill-suited for the area.
Another victory for the people!
Read the story here.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/06/05/20080605carefreeruling0605.html
3 comments:
One could wish this decision would apply to the Anthem Equity/Ford Development which will enormously damage the value of homes in Vistoso Vistas, but, Anthem's plan is not under a Conditional Use Permit as far as I know.
There are several reasons why this decision could not apply to the Anthem development. First, as Ferlin correctly points out, the Anthem development was not under a conditional use permit, but was rather the administrative approval of a development plan for a hard-zoned property. Second, and more importantly, the Court of Appeals designated the decision as a memorandum decision not for publication. Under Rule 28 of the Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure, a memorandum decision may not be used as precedent or cited in any court with only a few limited exceptions. Essentially this means that the decision is binding only as to the parties to that particular case.
The Republic indicated at several points in their article that this decision could possibly set precedent. That could occur, for example, if the Court of Appeals were to redesignate the decision as a published opinion, or if the Arizona Supreme Court were to grant review of the case and issue its own published opinion. However, in its current form, the decision has no precedential value under the rules. For now, nobody could use it to their advantage.
Tobin--- Thank you. Your legal knowledge is certainly a welcome addition to our blog. We appreciate your contribution.
Art
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