Land Use Victory for Bellflower
Nov 01,2009
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Partner June Ailin scored a significant land use victory for the City of Bellflower when the Second District Court of Appeal reversed a lower court judgment on October 19, 2009.
In an unpublished opinion in the case of Triumph Transport, Inc. v. City of Bellflower, 2nd Civil Case No. B209586, the Court of Appeal concluded a moratorium on trucking yards in the city’s light industrial zone was applicable to a trucking use for which a business license and zoning clearance were sought several weeks before the moratorium went into effect.
Bellflower’s light industrial areas include many non-industrial non-conforming uses, and the property in question in this case is located between an apartment building and a mobile home park. The city adopted the moratorium pending adoption of an amendment to its zoning ordinance to require a conditional use permit for such uses in order to minimize impacts on non-conforming uses. The moratorium provided a trucking yard could be established during the moratorium provided a conditional use permit was obtained, but the prospective business operator insisted he had a vested right in the zoning as it existed when he filed his business license application.
The Court of Appeal rejected the vested right argument and found the moratorium applicable to the proposed use.
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