COURT OF APPEALS DECISION DATED AND FILED June 19, 2008 David R. Schanker Clerk of Court of Appeals |
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This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. A party may file with the Supreme Court a petition to review an adverse decision by the Court of Appeals. See Wis. Stat. § 808.10 and Rule 809.62. |
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APPEAL
from a judgment of the circuit court for
Before Dykman, Vergeront and Lundsten, JJ.
¶1 PER CURIAM. The appellants, landowners in
the Town of
¶2 A town ordinance enacted in August 2005 permits landowners to maintain one camping unit on properties in single family residential zoning districts (R-1). The appellants, who own R-1 lots, applied for nonconforming use permits to place two camping units on their properties. In a series of hearings between July 2006 and January 2007 the appellants, and others, presented the Zoning Board of Appeals with evidence that they had maintained two camping units on their properties in prior years, as permitted by the covenants governing use of their lots.[1] The appellants all received the nonconforming use permits they requested.
¶3 Craig Doubek, Joe Pavlas and Ray Stacy commenced this action
in February 2007, within thirty days of the last permit hearing. They alleged that the Town’s ordinances
before August 2005 had also limited R-1
property owners to one camping unit per lot, and argued that the permits must be
rescinded under the principle that a lawful prior use is the prerequisite to a
nonconforming use permit. See Foresight, Inc. v. Babl, 211
¶4 The appellants were not named as defendants in the action and the trial court denied the Zoning Board’s motion to join the appellants as parties. The circuit court agreed with the plaintiffs that the Town’s prior ordinances permitted no more than one camping unit per lot, and granted the relief requested in the complaint. The court also denied the Zoning Board’s motion to dismiss the action as untimely with regard to all permits issued before January 2007. On appeal the appellants contend that the action was timely only as to Chris and Anne Davenport, Steven and Gerry Lippelt, and Marvin and Jennifer Wrege, who received their permits as a result of the January 2007 hearing.
¶5
¶6 The circuit court held that the Wis. Stat. § 62.23(7)(e)10. limitation did not apply
because the Zoning Board acted illegally when it issued the permits. In support of its decision the court cited Goldberg
v. City of Milwaukee Board of Zoning Appeals, 115 Wis. 2d 517, 522-23,
340 N.W.2d 558 (Ct. App. 1983), which holds that the thirty-day limitation does
not apply to decisions that are void because they exceed the zoning board’s
authority. In Goldberg, the board issued
a permit and then revised it without notice to the permit holder.
¶7 As to Chris and Anne Davenport, Steven and Gerry Lippelt, and
Marvin and Jennifer Wrege, neither the Zoning Board nor Doubek, Pavlas and
Stacy have filed a brief in this appeal.
On February 21, 2008, we issued a delinquency notice stating that if the
respondents did not file their briefs within five days, or show good cause for
an extended briefing deadline, “the judgment or order appealed from will be
disposed of summarily and may be summarily reversed ….” On March 5, 2008, we issued an order noting
the respondents’ failure to file briefs or otherwise respond to our February 21
notice, and declared that we would only consider the appellants’ brief when
deciding the appeal. We conclude that by
failing to file briefs, the Zoning Board and Doubek, Pavlas and Stacy have
conceded that the appellants’ brief correctly argues that the trial court erred
by declaring the non-conforming use permits void. See Charolais Breeding Ranches, Ltd. v. FPC
Sec. Corp., 90
By the Court.—Judgment reversed and cause remanded.
This opinion will not be published. See Wis. Stat. Rule 809.23(1)(b)5.