Albright v. City of Portage

The underlying facts in this zoning referendum case are not in dispute. Plaintiff purchased approximately sixty-five acres of unimproved wooded land in Portage, Michigan. The property had been classified since 1965 as R-lc, single family residential, and is surrounded by similarly zoned property, a church, and Interstate 94. In December 1986, plaintiff filed an application with defendant City of Portage, seeking to rezone a portion of his property to os-l, office, in order to construct four office buildings. Although several advantages of the requested rezoning were noted, Brian Bowling, the…