Parker v. County of Madison

In this land use case, the sole issue is whether, after amending a subdivision ordinance without making any provision to “grandfather’ ’ pending applications, a local governing body may lawfully invoke an unwritten “practice” of applying prior law to a pending application, and thereafter approve a subdivision prohibited by the amendment. We answer that question in the negative and reverse.

The relevant facts are not in dispute. In 1989, appellees John D. Zaleski, II, and Cynthia Zaleski, his wife (collectively, the developer), decided to purchase and develop approximately 79 acres of land on…