Ryan v. Andriano

THE COURT.

Plaintiff appeals from the judgment of the superior court denying a writ of

mandamus

by which appellant sought to compel the respondent Board of Supervisors to grant a permit to conduct and maintain a stable for horses at No. 817 Thirty-sixth Avenue, San Francisco.

This stable had been in continuous operation for a period of twenty years prior to the date of the trial, April 5, 1926. Appellant, as a tenant, maintained the stable from 1914 to 1918. In 1918 appellant intended and desired to purchase the stable from the then owner, Mrs. Marie Gommet. As his purchase was contingent upon obtaining a permit, application for the same was made in the name of Mrs. Gommet. The respondents required appellant to make extensive sanitary improvements within certain time limits. These improvements were made and the permit issued. Appellant purchased the stable and continued to operate it. In 1922 appellant applied for permission to make additional improvements and it then being noticed that the permit was not in his own name he was instructed first to procure such a

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permit. Application, being made for this permit, protests were received by the respondent Board of Supervisors against the granting of the same. The matter was deferred from time to time until December, 1924, when the application for a permit was denied. During this two-year pendency of the application the respondents did not specify objectionable features to the stable and did not fix a time within which appellant should be required to remove such objections. The respondents’ denial of the application for a permit seems to be based upon the conclusion that the said stable is not in the interests of the welfare of the inhabitants in the vicinity of its location.

The stable ordinance No. 2639, new series, approved February 26, 1914, is substantially as follows:

Section 1. Prohibits the maintenance of a stable without a permit.

Section 2. Provides that those conducting stables at the time of the passage of the ordinance must obtain a permit within not to exceed six months.