Karches v. City of Cincinnati
Supreme Court of Ohio
526 N.E.2d 1350 (1988)
Karches and Flerlage (plaintiffs) each owned riverfront property in Cincinnati's floodplain that was originally zoned for commercial (Business B) use when they acquired it, but the city rezoned both properties to RF-1 Riverfront in 1963. Karches's 1977 request to rezone to RF-2 so he could run an aggregate storage terminal was denied, and Flerlage's earlier attempt to run a basin marina failed and later rezoning discussions with the city went nowhere. The plaintiffs sued in 1980 claiming the RF-1 classification was an unconstitutional taking, dropped that suit when the city promised a 1983 ordinance revision would fix their problems, and then sued again when the 1983 revisions proved unsatisfactory. The trial court found the amended RF-1 zoning unreasonable, arbitrary, confiscatory, unrelated to public health, safety, or welfare, and a substantial interference with the plaintiffs' use of their land, declaring it unconstitutional and ordering rezoning; the court of appeals reversed on the ground that the constitutional question wasn't yet ripe for review.
Whether a zoning ordinance is unconstitutional when it denies a landowner the economically viable use of his land without substantially advancing a legitimate government interest.