State ex rel. Morehouse v. Hunt

235 Wis. 358, 291 N.W. 745 (1940)

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State ex rel. Morehouse v. Hunt

Wisconsin Supreme Court
235 Wis. 358, 291 N.W. 745 (1940)

  • Written by Tanya Munson, JD

Facts

A building that could house 20 to 25 students was used as a fraternity house in the University Heights area of Madison. In the early 1930s, the building was deeded by the fraternity to its mortgagee, the National Guardian Life Insurance Company (National Guardian) (defendant). National Guardian used the building as a rooming house until it was leased to the dean of the law school in 1934. National Guardian was unable to lease the property to another fraternity and listed the building for sale several times. In 1939, National Guardian sought a nonconforming-use permit for a renewed use of the building as a fraternity house. The building was located in a Class-A district, where building use was limited to single-family residences. There was an exception that a nonconforming use of a building could be continued if the building was devoted to such use when the zoning ordinance was enacted and so long as the nonconforming use was never discontinued. The building commissioner refused to grant National Guardian’s permit because the nonconforming use of the building was discontinued when National Guardian leased the building to the dean. The board of zoning appeals (the board) found that National Guardian did not intend to abandon its right to use the building as a fraternity house and the use of the building as a residence was intended only to be temporary. The board reversed the commissioner’s decision and granted the permit. Neighbors who owned and occupied a residence across the street from National Guardian’s building (the neighbors) (plaintiffs) procured a writ of certiorari from the court to review the decision of the zoning board. The circuit court judge reversed the decision of the zoning board.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Fowler, J.)

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