An Ohio Appeals Court held that the State Constitution does not protect local ordinances requiring that homes built within the city have higher ceilings, and lower staircase slope than what was required by the 2005 state code enacted by the State Legislature. Following the adoption of the 2005 State Code, the City of Dublin sought a declaratory judgment against the Ohio Board of Building Standards challenging the application of portions of the State Code that conflicted with the City’s local building code. The City alleged that the State Code violated the Constitutional Home Rule Amendment. In granting the state’s motion for summary judgment, the trial court found that the City’s local ordinances were an exercise of the City’s “police power,” and that they conflicted with the state statutes, which the court determined were “general laws.” However, the court found that because the State Code did not purport to regulate electrical specifications, the City’s code could not conflict with it as to those specifications. On appeal, the Court stated that while the City’s ordinances might appear to be a valid exercise of local self-government, the Ohio Supreme Court had set forth a very stringent analysis that controlled the appeals court’s review. Using that analysis, the appeals court was required to find that the local ordinances at issue were not protected by the Home Rule Amendment. The Appeals Court also found that the state failed to show that Dublin’s electrical regulations conflicted with any state statute.
City of Dublin v. State, 2009 WL 638431 (Ohio Ct. App. 3/12/2009)
The opinion can be accessed at:
http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/10/2009/2009-Ohio-1102.pdf
