Henry County v. Tim Jones Properties

County board of commissioners' arbitrary rezoning of property which made it impossible for a real estate company to build cluster homes amounted to an unconstitutional taking.

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In its order declaring unconstitutional the re-zoning decision of the Board of Commissioners of Henry County, the trial court found that the commissioners’ imposition of a zoning classification to the subject property was arbitrary and capricious and amounted to an unconstitutional taking, and that the zoning classification imposed amounted to”exclusionary zoning.” We granted Henry County’s application for discretionary review and asked the parties to address whether the trial court erred in making these findings.

In 1997, appellee Tim Jones Properties “TJP” entered into a contract to purchase a 129-acre parcel of land in Henry County on Jonesboro Road approximately one-half mile west of its intersection with Interstate 75.1 The contract was contingent upon the property being re-zoned from “RA/Agricultural” to a mix of commercial use and residential use at density levels acceptable to the purchaser. TJP filed a re-zoning application for “Planned Development,” which sought to use 26 acres for commercial development and 103 acres for residences of 1300 -1700 square feet on 6,000 square-foot lots. TJP amended its application to seek residential zoning that permitted single-family detached cluster homes “R-M” since the “Planned Development” zoning classification did not permit 6,000 square-foot lots. Henry County’s board of commissioners rezoned the property to “Planned Development” that allowed commercial and residential development, but required extensive street, landscaping, and recreational improvements. In addition, the “Planned Development” classification required the residential portion of the development to be 75 “R-2″ 18,000 sq. ft lot size and 1300 sq. ft. minimum house size and allowed only 25 of the residential area to be “R-3″ 12,000 sq.ft. lot with minimum house size of 1050 sq. ft.. TJP filed suit, seeking a declaratory judgment that certain provisions of the new zoning were void and that the new zoning was unconstitutional.

Henry County v. Tim Jones Properties

County board of commissioners' arbitrary rezoning of property which made it impossible for a real estate company to build cluster homes amounted to an unconstitutional taking.

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