Lake House wins in court

The owners of The Lake House have won a court battle that allows them to continue operating their restaurant on Lake Vandalia.
And the city will allow that victory to stand without a fight.
Six days before a jury trial was set to begin, a judge has ruled unconstitutional an ordinance that the city argued prohibits Steve “Luke” and Latisha Mabry from running a restaurant on the lake.
Circuit Judge Michael McHaney issued an order last Thursday in which he granted a motion by the Mabrys’ attorney to declare that 1988 ordinance unconstitutional.
Then, on Monday night, the Vandalia City Council voted unanimously not to contest the court decision.
McHaney filed his order 10 days after hearing arguments on that issue from the Mabrys’ attorney, David Cates of Swansea, and Ryan Connor of the city’s legal firm, Burnside, Johnston and Connor.
Also at that Dec. 1 hearing, the attorneys presented arguments on a motion in which Cates asked for a summary judgment in the Mabrys’ favor.
McHaney’s ruling brings an end to the case that was initiated when the city filed on June 25 of last year a motion for declaratory judgment, asking the court to order the Mabrys’ to cease the operation of The Lake House.
In its complaint, the city claimed that the Mabrys’ property bears single-family residential zoning as a result of a 1988 ordinance formulated through an agreement with previous owners of that property.
The city claimed that in 1988, James and Ann Hediger agreed to subject that property to residential zoning in exchange for installing a boat dock on the lake.
When Cates argued that the city does not have control over property outside its municipal boundaries, the city maintained that it has that right due to state statutes related to the operation of municipal waterworks.
Cates contended that the city has that right only when it pertains to preventing or dealing with pollution of its waterworks, and that that is not the issue in this case.
McHaney agreed.
“At his disposition,” McHaney said in his order, “Vandalia Mayor Rick Gottman admitted that the issue with the restaurant has nothing to do with pollution, rather that the property ‘…is not zoned for a restaurant or business. It’s zoned single-family.’
“During argument(s), the city stated that this case is not about zoning or pollution, but is only about ‘boat docks.’
“Regardless of what this case is or is not ‘about,’ the city fails to cite any case or statute to support its contention that allowing the Hedigers to build a boat dock 20 years ago now gives it extraterritorial jurisdiction with which to shut down the Mabrys’ restaurant,” McHaney said.
“The city admits that the ordinance has absolutely no clear and present relation to public safety, nor does the restaurant pose a single threat to the public health or safety.
“Accordingly, the court finds that (the ordinance) is unconstitutional in its entirety, both on its face and as applied to (this) case,” in violation of the state Constitution.
The city’s complaint was an issue for some members of the Fayette County Board as the board voted on requests from the Mabrys for a liquor license.
The board voted 10-4 in April 2013 to reject the license application, and a vote two months later ended in a 7-7 tie. Their request for a license was approved in September 2013 in a 7-6 vote after board Chairman Steve Knebel told members that the Mabrys had been approved by health officials to operate their restaurant and that the city’s case against the couple had nothing to do with its request for a liquor license.