Archived News:

City Zoning Board Can Consider City Inspector's Mistake When Deciding Whether to Grant a Variance

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals recently decided a case, Accent Developers, LLC v. City of Menomonie Board of Zoning Appeals, that confirmed a zoning board can (but does not have to) consider the role a government official played in a zoning violation when deciding whether to grant a variance.  The case involved a situation where a developer mistakenly poured a building's footings within a setback, the City's building inspector inspected and approved the footings without noticing the violation, and the developer then constructed a majority of the building before the mistake was noticed.  The City's zoning board granted the developer's application for a variance on the grounds that enforcing the setback would cause the developer unnecessary hardship in a case where the hardship was not solely self-created because the developer had relied in part on the City inspector's approval of the footings.  A neighboring property owner objected to the variance and sued to have the zoning board's grant of the variance overturned, arguing that the zoning board should not have considered the City inspector's mistake in deciding whether to grant the variance.  The Court of Appeals upheld the zoning board's decision to grant the variance, finding that while a municipality cannot be estopped from enforcing its zoning laws based on the mistakes of municipal officials, a zoning board can still properly consider the role its officials played when deciding whether to grant a zoning variance. 

Go to In The News

This page is intended to provide general information about various legal issues and developments.  It is not intended to be a complete list of all recent legal developments.  This page does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon in dealing with specific factual or legal matters.