Tillitson v. City of Urbana

Defendant, the city of Urbana, appeals from a decree of the circuit court of Champaign County which found the city's zoning ordinance invalid insofar as it restricted to residential use certain real estate owned by the plaintiffs, Swayne Tillitson, Marilyn C. McLintock, Phyllis Fritchey, Joseph A. Yeazel, and Edith B. Yeazel, and which enjoined the municipality from interfering with the erection of a gasoline filling station upon the premises. The trial judge has certified that the validity of a municipal ordinance is involved and that public interest requires a direct appeal to this court. The property in question consists of two adjoining lots situated at the northeast corner of the intersection of Green Street, an east-west four-lane thoroughfare connecting the cities of Champaign and Urbana, and Lincoln Avenue, a north-south highway having direct access to Interstate Route 74 presently under construction. The lot owned by Tillitson, McLintock, and Fritchey extends 118 feet along Lincoln Avenue and about 70 feet along Green Street. The other parcel, owned by the Yeazels, adjoins the Tillitson lot on the east and fronts on Green Street some 75 feet. Both properties are now improved with 2 1/2-story residences approximately 60 years old, which have in the past been converted into rooming houses to accommodate University of Illinois students. Immediately across the street from this property, at the southeast corner of the Green Street-Lincoln Avenue intersection, is a Standard Oil service station which has been in operation for about 30 years. Although the northwest and southwest corners of the intersection are presently occupied by older-type two-story residences, the former is zoned for neighborhood businesses while the southwest corner is part of a several block area situated south of Green Street and west of Lincoln Avenue which is largely owned by the University of Illinois and is to be developed into student dormitories and automobile parking areas. One block west on the north side of Green Street is situated both a Shell Oil service station and a Texaco service station, the latter being presently unoccupied. Two apartment houses are located immediately north of the Tillitson property on Lincoln Avenue and other apartment houses are located one block south on both sides of Lincoln Avenue. The University of Illinois facilities cover a many-block area commencing one block west of the Green Street-Lincoln Avenue intersection, and the remainder of the immediate area consists largely of older-type residences which have been converted into either rooming houses or student apartments.