Opinion
No. 38851
Decided March 10, 1965.
Mandamus — Remedy not available, when — Failure to exhaust administrative remedies — Action to require issuance of business-use permit — To declare zoning ordinance invalid — Petition demurrable.
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Logan County.
This cause originated in the Court of Appeals as an action in mandamus. Appellant, relator in this action in mandamus, seeks a determination that a zoning ordinance of the city of Bellefontaine is void and an order to compel respondents, appellees herein, to issue him a permit to use for business purposes a building owned by him.
The Court of Appeals entered judgment in favor of appellees and dismissed the petition. The cause is presently before this court on an appeal as of right from the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
Mr. Harold C. Foreman, in propria persona. Mr. James B. West, city solicitor, for appellees.
An examination of the amended petition shows that nowhere therein, either in the first or second cause of action, does appellant allege that he exhausted or attempted to exhaust his administrative remedies by appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals. The exhaustion of administrative remedies is a condition precedent which must be fulfilled before one may resort to the courts to compel the issuance of a permit for a nonconforming use under a zoning ordinance or before the constitutionality of the ordinance may be attacked. State, ex rel. Lieux, v. City of Westlake, 154 Ohio St. 412, 96 N.E.2d 414.
Judgment affirmed.
TAFT, C.J., ZIMMERMAN, MATTHIAS, O'NEILL, HERBERT, SCHNEIDER and BROWN, JJ., concur.