No. 23-330

Ani Creation, Inc., dba Rasta, et al. v. City of Myrtle Beach Board of Zoning Appeals, et al.

Lower Court: South Carolina
Docketed: 2023-09-28
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Tags: amortization board-of-zoning-appeals business-rights civil-rights constitutional-claims due-process penn-central-test takings takings-clause zoning zoning-ordinance
Key Terms:
DueProcess Takings Patent
Latest Conference: 2024-01-05
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Does a city's zoning ordinance prohibiting an existing business from selling legal products constitute a taking?

Question Presented (from Petition)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED The City of Myrtle Beach enacted a new zoning Ordinance in 2018 which outlawed the sale of legal consumer goods being sold by Petitioners for the past thirty years. The Ordinance gives the offending businesses a little more than four months to comply or be subject to criminal or civil penalties. South Carolina law requires all challenges to zoning Ordinances to appear before the Board of Zoning Appeals. Further, South Carolina law does not allow the Board of Zoning Appeals to hear constitutional arguments. The questions are as follows: 1. When a city adopts a new zoning Ordinance that prohibits an existing business from selling its legal products, is it a taking? 2. May a court deny an existing business the right to a hearing consistent with Penn Central Trans. Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104 (1978) and the Due Process Clause when South Carolina law (S.C. Code § 6-29-800) prohibits the Board of Zoning Appeals from considering constitutional claims? 3. Can the government, consistent with the Takings and Due Process Clauses, require a business to stop selling legal consumer goods which it has sold for over thirty years within a four-month amortization period?

Docket Entries

2024-01-08
Petition DENIED.
2023-11-29
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/5/2024.
2023-11-10
Brief of respondents City of Myrtle Beach Board of Zoning Appeals, et al. in opposition filed.
2023-10-10
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including November 29, 2023.
2023-10-06
Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 30, 2023 to November 29, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
2023-09-26

Attorneys

Ani Creation, Inc. d/b/a Rasta, et al.
Gene M. Connell Jr.Kelaher, Connell & Connor, P.C., Petitioner
Gene M. Connell Jr.Kelaher, Connell & Connor, P.C., Petitioner
City of Myrtle Beach Board of Zoning Appeals, et al.
Michael Warner BattleBattle Law Firm, LLC, Respondent
Michael Warner BattleBattle Law Firm, LLC, Respondent