Harrells Candy Kitchen v. Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority

The complaint in the cause was filed by the appellee, Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority, a body politic created by Chapter 31263, Laws of Florida, Special Acts 1955, to enjoin the erection of a pyramid or superstructure atop a building under construction near the runway to a height in excess of that allowed by the regulations adopted by the Airport Zoning Board of Sarasota and Manatee Counties pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 333, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. A temporary injunction was issued, the trial court declined to dissolve it, whereupon the defendant property owners, appellants in this Court, answered attacking the validity of the regulation and asserting among other things as a "second, separate and complete defense" the invalidity of Chapter 333, supra, because said statute "constitutes a deprivation of the property of these defendants without due process of law; constitutes an unlawful taking of the property of these defendants without just compensation; constitutes an unlawful exercise of the police power of the State of Florida in that the subject matter of said Chapter bears no relationship to the public or general welfare as regards these defendants and their property; and constitutes a law too vague and uncertain to be enforceable."