Cherokee County v. Martin

The county's failure to make the zoning of plaintiff's property expressly conditional on compliance with his plan to build an assisted living facility prevented the county from insisting on strict compliance with the plan.

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At Steve Martin’s request, Cherokee County rezoned his property to a “Planned Unit Development” PUD classification based on his site plan showing that a portion of the property would be used for an “assisted living” facility. Cherokee County did not make the zoning conditional on compliance with the site plan. When Martin sought a development permit to build a multi-family apartment building in the designated area, Cherokee County refused the permit, explaining that only an “assisted living” facility could be built there. The question on appeal is whether Cherokee County’s failure to expressly condition the PUD zoning on compliance with the proposed site plan a procedure available under its ordinance nevertheless allowed it to insist on strict compliance with that plan. We hold it did not and therefore affirm the trial court’s judgment in favor of Martin.

Easlan Capital of Atlanta, Inc., filed a rezoning application on behalf of itself and Martin to have their adjoining properties reclassified as PUD. The mixed use development was to consist of single family residential lots on Easlan Capital’s property and “assisted living” units and retail and office buildings on Martin’s property. The application urged that the community needed “assisted living for the elderly.” The summary of the proposal referred to the assisted-living units as “MultiFamily” units having no less than 500 square feet each. The attached site plan displayed an assisted-living facility with 142 units.

Cherokee County v. Martin

The county's failure to make the zoning of plaintiff's property expressly conditional on compliance with his plan to build an assisted living facility prevented the county from insisting on strict compliance with the plan.

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