Court reviews a zoning board's decision to deny a permissible use permit for rural property

JERRY KITTRELL v. WILSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE, ET AL. (Tenn. Ct. App. August 4, 2011)

The owner of a piece of rural property in Wilson County applied for a "permissible use" permit that would allow him to display vehicles for sale on the property. The County planning staff recommended against issuance of a permit, reasoning that the proposed use was not consistent with other uses permitted in an A-1 (agricultural) zoning district. The owner appealed to the Board of Zoning Appeals, which agreed to issue the permit, but limited the use to "no more than 10 serviceable items being on the property at any given time."

The owner challenged the limitation by filing a petition for writ of certiorari in the Wilson County Chancery Court. The court determined that the BZA had acted arbitrarily and had exceeded its authority by placing a condition on the owner's use of the property of a type not contemplated by the controlling ordinance, and it removed that condition. We affirm the removal of the condition, but we reverse the trial court's holding that the BZA had violated the property owner's substantive due process rights.

Opinion available at:
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2011/kittrellj_080411.pdf

Court reviews citations issued against a property owner for failing to obtain permits

METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE v. RICHARD A. DEMONBREUN (Tenn. Ct. App. June 29, 2011)

Property owner seeks review of the trial court's decision that two citations were properly issued against him because he did not have a permit for hosting historic home events on his property as required by the Metropolitan Government. We affirm.

Opinion available at:
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2011/demonbreunr_062911.pdf