Opinion
No. 5113.
Argued March 5, 1963.
Decided March 29, 1963.
1. Where a municipal zoning ordinance permitted the operation of hotels and motels in a residence district but placed a restrictive definition and a limitation on what constitutes a "hotel" by requiring a minimum of twenty rooms, and failed to define "motels", restrictively or otherwise, it was held to have been the intent of the legislative body to treat motels as distinct from hotels and not to subject motels to the same limitations imposed on hotels.
2. Administrative construction of an ordinance by zoning authorities is neither conclusive nor binding on the Supreme Court as construction of ordinance but is entitled to consideration.
3. Motels may properly be classified separately from hotels for purposes of zoning.
This is a zoning appeal to the Superior Court (RSA 31:77) by the plaintiffs from a decision of the board of adjustment of the city of Claremont, sustaining the decision of its building inspector in issuing two building permits to the defendants Charles Hardy and Barbara Hardy, for the development of a motel on the premises owned by them. The facts are not in dispute and the parties have agreed that for the purposes of this case the zoning ordinance of the city of Claremont is valid and that the proceedings and decisions of the board of adjustment in this case are procedurally correct and are supported by the evidence. The dispute is limited to a question of the interpretation of the zoning ordinance. The defendants' property is located in a residence zone adjacent to that of the plaintiffs and it is agreed that the defendants' premises are insufficient in size to meet the requirement of a minimum of twenty rooms specified for a hotel as defined in the zoning ordinance (article 1, section 1).
The pertinent provisions of the zoning ordinance of the city of Claremont and its amendments are as follows:
1. Article 1, section 1 of ordinance 27 adopted March 5, 1952, which defines various words and terms and defines the word "hotel" as: "A building in which twenty rooms or more are available for hire and incidental hotel services are provided."
2. Article III, section 5, sub-section 2-7 of ordinance 27 adopted March 5, 1952, provided among various permissible uses in residence zones: "Hotels, where lot area allows 1350 square feet per sleeping room."
3. Sub-section 2-7 as amended by ordinance 27B adopted May 7, 1952: "Hotels, where the lot area allows 1350 square feet per sleeping room, and private rooming and boarding houses, including tourist homes."
4. Sub-section 2-7 as amended by ordinance 42 adopted December 2, 1953: "Hotels and motels, where the lot area allows 1350 square feet per sleeping room."
The Superior Court (Sullivan, J.) transferred without ruling the following questions:
"1. Whether under the zoning ordinance of the City of Claremont, the Board of Adjustment erred in holding that an establishment may be operated as a motel in a residential zone;
"2. Whether under the said Zoning Ordinance the term `motel' is synonymous with `hotel' and is subject to the same limitations as imposed upon hotels as defined under Article 1, Section 1 of Ordinance 27 of 1952 as amended;
"3. Whether it was erroneous as a matter of law under the Claremont Zoning Ordinance for the Board of Adjustment to find that dining facilities may be provided as an accessory use at a motel establishment to be located in the residential zone."
Shulins Duncan (Mr. Richard C. Duncan orally), for the plaintiffs.
Sulloway, Hollis, Godfrey Soden and Joseph S. Ransmeier (Mr. Ransmeier orally), for the defendants Charles Hardy and Barbara Hardy.
Although three questions have been transferred without ruling to this court, counsel have treated the second question as the "primary and main issue in this case." In other words the question is whether, under the zoning ordinance of the city of Claremont, the term "motel" is synonymous with the term "hotel" and is subject to the same limitations as imposed on hotels as defined in article 1, section 1 of ordinance 27 as amended. This ordinance defines a hotel as "A building in which twenty rooms or more are available for hire and incidental hotel services are provided." We conclude that the answer to this question is "no" for the reasons hereinafter stated.
The plaintiffs argue that motels are a modern development of hotels, have many similarities thereto and have been classed as synonymous in certain zoning cases. Maturi v. Balint (Supr. Ct.) 130 N.Y.S.2d 122; Schermer v. Fremar Corp., 36 N.J. Super. 46; Purdy v. Moise, 223 S.C. 298. Additionally it is pointed out that hotels and motels have been classified together for purposes other than zoning. Weiser v. Albuquerque Oil Gasoline Co., 64 N.M. 137; Davis v. State (Fla.), 87 So.2d 416; Parrish v. Newbury (Ky.App.), 279 S.W.2d 229. On the other hand the defendants rely on cases which have reached a contrary conclusion or have emphasized the differences between motels and hotels. Von der Heide v. Zoning Board (N. Y.), 282 App. Div. 1076; Hotel Syracuse v. Motel Syracuse, 283 App. Div. 182, aff'd 309 N.Y. 831; see Costa v. Board of Appeals of Watertown, 340 Mass. 380, 381. In each case, however, the court seeks to ascertain the meaning and intent of the specific municipal zoning ordinance or the governing legislative act (Manchester v. Webster, 100 N.H. 409, 411) which frequently carries more weight than generalized statements from conflicting cases. Annot. 22 A.L.R. 2d 774; Pierro v. Baxendale, 20 N.J. 17; Haar, Land-Use Planning 192 (1959).
In the present case the zoning ordinance of the city of Claremont has placed a restrictive definition and a limitation on what constitutes a hotel by requiring a minimum of twenty rooms. It has not defined motels, restrictively or otherwise, but has indicated an intention to treat motels as distinct from hotels. Cf. Johnson v. Shaw, 101 N.H. 182, 188. The following stipulation in the reserved case is significant: "10. The Claremont ordinance has not previously been construed to impose a twenty-room minimum size requirement upon motels, but on the other hand, the only motels for which permits have been issued under the ordinance have been upon the basis of permits for less than twenty rooms and such permits have been issued without variance proceedings." While the administrative construction of the ordinance by the zoning authorities is neither conclusive nor binding on this court in its construction of the ordinance, it is entitled to consideration. Manchester v. Webster, 100 N.H. 409, 411; 1 Yokley, Zoning Law Practice, s. 184 (1962 supp.). The cases which have held motels and hotels to be synonymous are generally those in which motels are not mentioned in the zoning ordinance. This is not true of the zoning ordinance involved in this litigation. In this state motels have been separately classified for various purposes. RSA 353:4 I (supp); Laws 1959, c. 67. There is no legislation which prohibits such separate classification for the purpose of zoning. 6 Powell, Real Property, s. 872, p. 137 (1958).
While motels may also be subject to the same limitations as hotels for zoning purposes, in this case, however, the limitations with respect to hotels contained in article 1, section 1 of the Claremont zoning ordinance were not made applicable to motels. The permit for a motel issued to the defendants under the zoning ordinance of the city of Claremont was proper and is not subject to the limitations imposed on hotels for a minimum of twenty rooms. See 8 McQuillin, Municipal Corporations (3d ed. rev. 1957), s. 25.128; 1 Rathkopf, The Law of Zoning Planning, ch. 17 (1960); 2 Metzenbaum, Law of Zoning, p. 1611 (1963 supp.).
Appeal dismissed.
All concurred.