City of Los Altos v. Silvey

DEVINE, J.

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A preliminary injunction was issued against defendant Silvey restraining him from leasing part of his real property on Mountain View-Stevens Creek Road as a manufacturing and sales yard, and against the lessee, Dawes, directing him to desist from the use and to remove equipment, inventory and machinery from the premises. The owner appeals. The injunction was issued because the court impliedly found that the use of the premises for manufacture and sale of .boats and boat trailers violates the zoning ordinance of the City of Los Altos which became effective March 10, 1959, and which prohibits the use of the land for any use except single family residential. The land was in a tract that had been annexed to the city in 1956.

[608]

The building on the premises was constructed as a winery in 1886 and was used for its original purpose until 1937. Thereafter it was used variously as a storehouse, a factory for house trailers, and a factory for frames and screens. From 1951 to 1958 the property was leased to Paul Masson, who used it for bottling, labeling and crating of wines. An officer of Masson testified that it was a big bottling operation, with machinery like that used in canning, operated by steam, with a “lot of noise," and that all kinds of trucks came in and out, carrying containers of wine. It operated five days a week. At the end of 1958, Masson moved its operation to a newly finished plant, removing all of the machinery but not the boiler. When the zoning ordinance went into effect, the premises were idle and had been idle for a time not exactly defined, but at least two months. The building remained vacant, although defendant was making efforts to rent it, until March 1960 when it was rented to Dawes, operator of the boat and trailer business.

In the operation of the boat and trailer business, use was made of a joiner, electric power saws, air sanders and welding equipment. Mr. Dawes, who conducts the business, testified that it is of the type that a person who had a hobby building boats in his garage would have, that there is no noise to disturb anyone, that the average number of men working at the plant •is four, who park their automobiles on the lot during the day, and that about ten boats and thirty trailers have been manufactured in one year. The steam boiler is used for heating and for cleaning things. Retail sales take place at the plant occasionally. No neighbor or other person has made complaint to him. The building is in the center of a 22-acre parcel which is owned by defendant Silvey.